SEATTLE — It's a place where high tech meets high art.
"You're at the Seattle NFT Museum right in Belltown," said Peter Hamilton, co-founder of the museum.
Ok, for those who don't know, the acronym NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. So what is that?
"I think the best way to describe it is that it's really just a certificate of ownership," said Jennifer Wong, co-founder of the museum. "So it's a way for you to have a digital contract saying that you have ownership of a specific asset."
Since this art form is so new, the museum has set up a space just to enlighten visitors on the subject.
"When you walk into the museum, one of the first exhibitions you see are about education," Wong said. "We want to teach people about NFT's, blockchains, which are really the technologies behind NFT 's, and then also be able to showcase different themes around NFT art with our curation."
"Unlike a gallery, we're not selling this art, it is here for educational purposes and to inspire our community, we don't take a percentage of ownership or our commission," Hamilton said.
The museum not only has international artists on display but local ones too.
"You'll also see Seattle artists always on display. I think that's part of the museum's mission is to bring awareness around the artists that are here in our community."
But what all these artists have in common is the chance to make some serious money.
"There's a huge range in value of art that we show," Hamilton said. "We're showing it for education, but certainly, we have works that are $500,000 in value up to $1 or even $2 million in value."
"So much of this is really new today," Wong said. "Whether it's on the technology side or the art side, everyone's always talking about the new artists they're seeing or the new applications for this technology."
So while we're all used to seeing art in a frame, the next Picasso may come on a flat-screen.
"When you're buying an NFT you're buying a ticket on the journey of that artist and you're investing in their career.”
The Seattle NFT Museum is open Wednesday - Monday in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood.
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