Launched in 2012 as the first programme of its kind in the region, Campus Art Dubai (CAD) is part of Art Dubai’s extensive non-commercial programming that continuously develops each year to meet the changing needs of the UAE’s creative community.
Dubai Culture & Arts Authority is the Strategic Partner of Campus Art Dubai.
Campus Art Dubai 9.0 Blockchain Edition, was an 8-week programme that started in January 2022, for UAE based artists with experience in the fields of photography, videography, visual art, animation, sound or new media art.
Seminars occurred once a week and were facilitated via Zoom, the programme aimed to provide applicants with an in-depth overview of the NFT world, led by a host of local and global leading experts in the blockchain and its applications for artists, it also provided an opportunity for the artists to be mentored one-on-one throughout the process.
The programme covered a wide range of topics such as:
Artists that had a proven track record of working within the digital realm with experience in areas such as photography, video art, visual art, animation, sound art or new media art were able to apply.
The programme culminated with the artists showcasing their works at the first ever Art Dubai Digital and minting their own NFTs – which are now on sale on Materia’s platform.
The educational programme was powered by Materia – a high end contemporary art platform on Blockchain.
Introduction and Business Section – Alexandr Chevtaev
A serial tech entrepreneur with a main focus on Blockchain, decentralized systems & secure data exchange solutions and NFT. Alexandr is a co-founder and board member of several companies in the Blockchain sector including the NFT multi-chain platform Artifact and fine art NFT marketplace Materia.
Alexandr has a deep practical knowledge in decentralized business models, cryptocurrencies and impact of Blockchain on existing systems & processes.
He holds a MBA from IE Business School and is a professor of Blockchain in the Business World in IE University which recognized as #1 university in Europe for entrepreneurship.
Art and Innovation Mentor – Patricia Ezpeleta
Patricia is an entrepreneur involved in different ventures linked to contemporary fine art and digital art.
She is a co-founder of Artifact Art LTD, a technology startup with several projects on blockchain technology. One of them is Materia, a platform for digital art on the blockchain that will be launched in 2022, for which she acts as project manager leading the content strategy, marketing and communication team.
Patricia studied Law and Political science at the university of La Sorbonne (Paris, France) and at the University Autonoma of Madrid. She has a deep expertise in NFT market and blockchain technology which she applies to bring innovation to arts.
Patricia is also collaborating as a consultant with non-profit organisations such as the Tara foundation, helping women entrepreneurs all over the world.
Art and Tech Mentor – Kate Vass
Ms Vass is a founder and creative director of Kate Vass Galerie, headquartered in Zurich, focusing on generative art (new media art, digital, NFTs). Kate Vass Galerie is the first physical gallery globally hosted the first blockchain art show introducing NFTs in 2018 & various early historical exhibitions around A.I., generative art & NFTs.
Ms Vass has worked with private & corporate collectors in top tier international banks for more than 15 years & advised on wealth planning & alternative asset investments (art, crypto), followed by the opening of her advisory firm F.A.R.E. Consulting in 2016, specializing in finance, art, innovation strategies, as well as consulting fintech & art tech startups. Kate has always been supportive towards female artists of any kind, contributing personally over the years to support some of them & building up her contemporary art collection & extensive library. It led to the opening of the #womensupportingwomen foundation supporting women in art & tech introduced at the Vancouver Biennale in 2020. Ms Vass regularly writes about art & tech & speaks at the panels & conferences.
KVG has hosted various educational events to promote & advise on new emerging technology & art and the complexity of collecting art in the digital era. All her businesses support gender & racial equality & sustainability.
Digital Artist – Andres Reisinger
Andres Reisinger is one of the most sought-after digital artists of the 21C. Originally from Argentina, he now creates carefully curated projects in his studio in Barcelona. His instantly-recognizable dream-like imagery have drawn interest from a plethora of multi-million dollar collectors, brands and international art galleries alike. He is named as one of “Forbes 30 under 30” artists creating and designing the future of the arts and is the winner of the “Young Guns” Art Directors Club New York City.
His market has grown from strength to strength, with recent works fetching up to half a million dollars in auction (The Shipping, $450,000, Nifty Gateway, 22 February 2021).
Is a Stockholm-based artist whose practice stretches between installation, sculpture and photography in an attempt to reframe the complexity of the so-called multicultural society. With a focus on existing within a threshold in a state of exile, his work explores socio-political infrastructures and how they might be reimagined. Kouri holds an MFA from the Royal Institute of Art (Stockholm) and a BFA from Concordia University (Montreal), as well as a BA in Philosophy from Södertörn University (Stockholm).
Sér is a music Producer/Dj | realtime Audio-Visual composer & performer based in Dubai. She expresses her inspiration by tapping into the multi-genre music and art world. She explores and experiments with Surrealist, organic sounds and textures in the form of Downtempo/Electronica music. Her pieces communicate emotional, social and cultural concepts that are prominent in her journey of self-discovery. The art of communication is what inspires her work and is the reason behind her executions.
Al Lamki’s art, predominantly works on canvas, speaks of a lifelong fascination with the relationship between mankind and their surrounding habitats both wild and constructed. The sentiments of Edward T. Hall have informed both Al Lamki’s approach to art and his perspectives:
“The relationship between man and the cultural dimension is one in which both man and his environment participate in moulding each other”.
Tehran born Hossein Khosravi studied photography, graphic design, printing and art. His work is inspired by his world and reality. Subject matters can vary from specific places to living souls he encounters throughout life. He aims to create new figures, new perspectives in a new world contradicted by his traditional Iranian surroundings that are present in his pieces. He currently lives and works in Tehran. most of his works are digital collages he made mixing his photography and other pictures around him. He’s now working on a series called ‘Another timeline’.
Ichraq Bouzidi is an artist who likes to explore and work in a variety of media ranging from illustration to conceptual videos and immersive art. With a subtle minimalistic approach, Bouzidi creates work that resounds and resonates with images culled from the realm of memories, dreams and emotions, in which the duality between clarity of content and its ambiguity is the focus point. Ichraq Bouzidi currently lives and works in Dubai.
A multidisciplinary visual artist born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in New York City. He received his B.A. in Neuroscience, Biology and Studio Art from Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT), where he developed a scientific vocabulary that translated into his practice. He works across mediums, and explores themes of racial politics, of migration, of death and legacy, and of sexuality that emerged from personal experiences.
Born in France. She graduated in spatial Design from the National College ENSAAMA, Olivier de Serres in Paris. She has been based in the UAE since 2009. She works with oil painting media questioning the representation of landscape, repetition and network.
Mrinal is a self-taught digital artist who experiments with art and technology to create new art forms, new dimensions, new patterns, new symbols, and new realities. He uses different digital mediums like 3D, augmented reality, AI, and sound design . His work explores themes of cyber-culture, the internet, and the metaverse.
Ameni Abida is a Tunisian self-taught artist and exhibitions coordinator at an upcoming museum in Qatar. When she is not working, she paints, both physically and digitally. She is specifically interested in the processes of recreating conventional artistic techniques in the digital, as well as their inclusion in the world of NFTs.
A doctor by training, Farid Rasulov suddenly became involved in the visual arts after his graduation from university, to the great surprise of his friends and family and made great strides in a relatively short period of time. Rasulov is active across a wide range of artistic media – large scale paintings, installations, 3D graphics, animation and sculpture. His works are usually intellectually provocative.
Mit Borrás is a visual artist based in Madrid and Berlin. His work examines the relationship between human, nature and technology and their purpose of evolution. He has developed a work complex that encompasses visions of a post-human state of consciousness. Its center of focus is based on the interconnectivity between biodiversity and technological progress and the philosophical concept of adaptation as a method of surpassing categorial limits of existence.
