SearchLight is excited to participate in the SuperRare Space Race. Spaces are independently run storefronts on SuperRare where we will be able to curate art and artists, promote sales, run auctions, and collect commissions. To learn more about Spaces, read the docs and learn more here: https://docs.superrare.com/space-race.
Below is the SearchLight proposal. Voting will start on November 15, 2021. We will share a link to vote at that time.
Space name / team name: SearchLight
Name of primary contact: Rebecca Rose, JenJoy Roybal, Kas Vegas
Names of additional Space admins: Soo-Young Lee, Pilar Cote, Paiman, Joyce Korotkin
SuperRare username(s) of everyone who will be a Space admin: sculpturings, vizmesh, jenjoyroybal, kasvegas, pilarcote, studiopaiman, JoKorot, Dr.Lemny Perez, Kilsy Curiel
Short bio of you and/or your team:
SearchLight is the community-led curatorial body that creates and manages a pre-qualified NFT Artist Pool for the global NFT community. The team provides signature shows, performances and exhibitions that help institutions, businesses and collectors achieve their goals with innovative blockchain technology.
Our curators have spoken on numerous panels including Sotheby’s Institute, Vital Spaces, Women in NFTs, Indigenous Groups Bridging into Crypto Art, Ars Electronica, Zero1 Festival, Modernism Museum of Mt. Dora, and Craft in America, among others, and are confirmed to speak on forthcoming panels at NFT.NYC and ASMP NY. Admins have worked with prominent artists. A leading member on the team co-founded NFTs.Tips, a non-profit with 36,000 members of the NFT community, including a vast array of artists, collectors and arts professionals.
Admins have also been Artists in Residence at Ox-Bow/SAIC and have won grants co-sponsored by The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation, The Joan Mitchell Foundation, The Andrew Mellon Foundation, The Willem de Kooning Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropic.
Website & Social Media Links:
Website: https://www.searchlight.art 1
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/searchnfts 3
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/searchlightnfts
Summary/manifesto of your Space. What is the unique value prop/elevator pitch? What type of art will you focus on? How will your Space stand out among the crowd?
Searchlight is committed to advancing the practice of NFT creators. We not only seek out artists far and wide, but once they are part of our vetted Artists Pool we foster their development by offering special programming and opportunities that further their growth; as such, our artists are bringing compelling and unique perspectives to the NFT space as a whole.
We balance elevating high-caliber, underrepresented artists alongside a cadre of well-established names with the intent to support them throughout their NFT artistic journey. Our vision is to incubate emerging and mid-level NFT artists to catapult them into sovereign careers.
Our experienced team of curators collaborates to develop thought-provoking concepts for exhibitions and events, and they spend countless hours reviewing and discovering artists across platforms and communities, dedicated to finding the best possible talent for each exhibition. It’s our passion. A labor of love.
The goal is to support the NFT community by raising the visibility of NFT artists, and introduce them to a broader audience while addressing important ideas and themes in the crypto-art space.
Describe you/your team’s experience curating and promoting artwork:
Members of the team have curated countless exhibitions both together and individually.Recent examples include being the primary curation team for NFT.NYC, alongside Christie’s Auction house; two multi-venue exhibitions presented during The Miami Bitcoin Conference in June 2021; an exhibition at The Blockchain Center in New York celebrating LGBTQ Month; Renaissance Protocol, A two-day event in Manhattan, curated by the community highlighting emerging themes in the NFT space, including photography, AI/GAN, generative, glitch and many more; Stratosphere, a 500+ artist exhibition in Beijing that utilized 500 screens and a metaverse; The Meta-Mangerie, One of the largest ever NFT installations in NYC featuring 200+ artists over 5 days; Influences in New York, a show that experimented with new ways of digital presentation; Persian NFT Empire at JO7 Gallery; and exhibitions at Highline 9, Soho House, Hong Kong; Pranksy’s Place; 100 x Art for Decentraland Art Week, CryptoVoxels, Spatial.io, MakersPlace, and events and programming at The Triad Theatre in New York.
SearchLight is experienced with full-stack marketing and communications for exhibitions and events. We are pioneering strategies for exhibitions that leverage familiar tools like social media campaigns, Twitter spaces, Clubhouse rooms, interactive exhibition catalogues, and POAPS with immersive experiences in the metaverse through educational docent tours in multiple languages.
Our programming aims range from curating thematic, enticing exhibitions that cascade across the prestigious SuperRare platform, the metaverse, IRL galleries and events, to museum exhibitions on tour, auction houses, and into the history books for future generations to learn from and engage with.
Describe you/your team’s experience organizing exhibitions, making art sales, running auctions, networking with collectors, etc.
All team members have experience with NFT art sales and running auctions. Members of our team have had success helping to sell major NFT projects such as NFT Matters Podcast, NFT Heroes, Zero Contact with Anthony Hopkins, Ethereals, 0N1Force, Frogland, Muttniks x SpaceX, Zoe Strekkel NFT Fashion, Black NFT Art, Huxley, Oscars Swag Bag 2021 x Profanity. Members are influential in the space, leading Clubhouse rooms, Twitter Spaces, and overseeing Discords for various communities and projects.
SearchLight developed a white-glove service for collectors that started with a VIP dinner during the Miami Bitcoin conference. Each collector received a digital swag bag of 40 NFTs as an introduction to the SearchLight Artists Pool. As part of the exhibition, we organized and ran a VIP Collector’s Preview in Clubhouse rooms where artists discussed their work directly to prospective buyers. This led to sales and exposure where some of our artists saw their very first NFT sales. We continue to cultivate our Collector’s Circle.
Are there new artists you’d like to bring into the Space in the first six months? What is your relationship to them?
Searchlight has a vetted artists pool of over 400 artists and we have a close relationship with all of them.
Are there any artists already in the CryptoArt space that you are planning to work with for this Space? Have they committed to participating yet?
Yes, and yes!
Please provide any additional details you can about how you plan to operate this Space; e.g. cadence of exhibitions, auction strategy, number of artworks, other ideas for promoting your art and artists, etc.
SearchLight will conduct monthly exhibitions and continue to develop thoughtful, relevant conceptual framing for our shows. We will continue to conduct quarterly Calls for Artists and calls for submission on an as-needed basis. Auction strategies will be state-of-the-art and are confidential. Further exploration of the programming will help determine the number of artists per show.
How do you plan to structure commission rates for the artists who release in your Space?
TBD: SearchLight has such a wide selection of artists, so each show would probably require appropriate consideration. It is not a one-size-fits-all scenario at this time.
To you, what is the importance of NFTs as a medium/technology? Where do you see the NFT and CryptoArt space in five years?
We’re believers. The medium/technology is here to stay and we want to chart the new frontier. Our goal is to contribute to the NFT space as a whole by seeking collectors and galleries outside of crypto, consult and teach them about crypto art, how to safely open wallets and securely maintain them to bring mainstream awareness of NFTs to every Joe on the street to the extent where collecting NFTs and minting works becomes as commonplace and accepted as walking into a traditional art gallery and buying a painting off a wall.
If your Space were a cocktail or a dish, what would it be and why?
Whatever you’d request as your last meal; because our space will delight your utter fantasy and free your mind!
Anything else you’d like the community to consider?
SearchLight is by the people for the people #NFTs4thePeople!!
We are one of the few groups focusing on emerging and mid-career artists because we believe it is important to develop ALL rungs of the NFT art ecosystem to strengthen its longevity.
*Top image: artist Reinhard Schmid
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