Artissima and Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT announce Beyond Production – a conceptual platform capable of stimulating and fostering reflections on the most innovative trends of contemporary art – and in 2021 launch the new project Surfing NFT  in synergy with the OGR Award and in collaboration with professionals of the digital and legal sector, Artshell e LCA.

Surfing NFT sets out to offer a new perspective on the contemporary understanding of NFTs and their relationship with contemporary art, its value chain and the market.

Concentrating on the complex and sophisticated relationship between art, technology and innovation, the project Surfing NFT invites the contemporary artists presented by the galleries of Artissima to experiment the production of a work using NFTs (“Non Fungible Token”) and the blockchain technology in a specialized context, where the focus is on the quality of the work, not just its value as property.

Underlining the fundamental role of curating in the production of the work, the selection of the artists and the accompaniment to sale, Surfing NFT actively involves art galleries, viewing them as an indispensable mediators through which to work with the protagonists of contemporary artistic experimentation.

Thanks to the support of Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT, Artissima is offering 5 artists – selected by an international curatorial board through a call – and their respective galleries the possibility of producing a digital work registered with NFT, uploading it to the blockchain and visualizing it on a dedicated project platform specifically created by Artshell, but without the obligation to sell it with the traditional process of trade in crypto-currencies.

The 5 chosen artists will receive a budget of 8000 euros each, made available by Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT. The works will be presented on the dedicated platform in February 2022, on the occasion of an event held at OGR Torino, one of the most dynamic centres of cultural experimentation and production on a European level. Among the 5 works, one will be selected as the winner of the OGR Award and will be acquired by Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT for its collection.

The selection committee, composed of Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Director, Castello di Rivoli, Rivoli-Torino, Daniel Birnbaum, Artistic Director, Acute Art, London, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine Gallery, London, identified at the 28th edition of the fair the five artists selected for the project #SurfingNFT among which will be awarded the winner of the OGR Award 2022.

The selected artists are: Darren Bader (Galleria Franco Noero), Claudia Comte (König Galerie), Matteo Nasini (Clima), Sarah Ortmeyer (Dvir Gallery), Damon Zucconi (Veda).