NFT Use Case: Museums

Digital technology is becoming increasingly integrated into our everyday lives. That’s why many museums and public collections are searching for ways to showcase their collections to more people. In the museum of the future, this will no longer be a problem, as in addition to limited exhibition space, the values stored in storerooms and vaults can be made available to the public using NFT technology.

The world’s largest museums hold far more treasures and objects than they can display. Private and public collections around the world have gathered a staggering number of objects. The challenge is to see how NFT technology can be applied on a large scale outside the traditional exhibition space. Everyone is looking for solutions to how digital culture can meet the expectations of visitors.

While digital art has been present in modern art museums for some time, and NFT and AI art are increasingly being placed in traditional exhibition spaces, a breakthrough is still to come. The potential of NFT goes far beyond the museum space. There is a growing tendency not to bring NFT and digital art into exhibition spaces, but rather to make the hidden values of museums public in digital spaces.

What does the digitalization process look like?

Digitization of an artwork does not mean that it can be viewed by anyone outside a museum, but it is a step towards making it accessible to more people around the world. At the start of this costly process, it is worth considering whom you are digitizing for, how and for what purpose.

It’s not for us to decide what strategy a museum chooses, but it seems clear that institutions with high visitor numbers have a strong support system, while most local or smaller museums often struggle financially. The NFT can democratize the distinction between small and large institutions, as a collection with a better strategy in the digital space can generate significant income from its collections. The NFT could also be a major source of revenue for day-to-day operations soon.

Personalized Experience at your fingertips.

Besides the experience of a great exhibition, most of the time you can take home some of your own photographs, a catalogue, or a colorful art book. These rarely give back the experience itself or make it shareable. Many people, even if they are interested in the subject matter, often do not get to the exhibitions, but now there is no other way to provide any kind of compensation for this experience.

The British Museum has successfully issued NFTs in 2021. 200 NFTs were issued to celebrate the opening of the exhibition?The Great Picture Book of Everything?by the famous Japanese artist?Hokusai. The artist’s well-known work?‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’?is still on Opensea today. Of course, the success of the museum NFT raises the question of who or what can ensure the authenticity of such a collection, as NFT forgery is unfortunately a common phenomenon in the world of digital platforms.

In metaverses and virtual galleries, events are already being organized for fans to attend. Why shouldn’t museum do the same? It’s a fascinating question whether we can immerse ourselves in the beauty of the artworks on display in a virtual space, but it’s certainly an interesting experiment worth trying.

Simpler solutions for NFT beginners

Museums all over the world organize great travelling exhibitions and attract quite a lot of visitors with such special large collections. With digital exhibition spaces, the capacity of exhibition spaces can be multiplied. Thematic collections, and specialized artefacts, could be displayed to the public at a minimal cost.

Supporting collections could supplement ticket revenues and offer the opportunity to showcase digital copies of well-known works of art in the living room or showcase lesser-known pieces through the museum’s quality collection. By purchasing an NFT pass, we could pre-fund collections worthy of support, bringing attention to special subjects that few have enjoyed until now.

“NFTs can be a new frontier, not only in enhancing our experience of art but also in supporting the preservation of art, allowing a wider range of patrons to participate in cultural preservation,” says?William Rudolf Lobkowicz, organizer of?NFT Castle. The Galaxis.xyz team recently invited NFT Castle conference attendees to play a new and exciting game with a special card, the?Galaxis Wallet Card. We combined the real art experience with digital NFT collecting at the?Lobkowicz Castle?in Prague. In this case, we used an NFT card like a bank card and a mobile phone to make the museum treasure hunt exciting.

The Dream of an Internet Museum

When the internet was born, many of us dreamed of how much would be available online. Much of it has been realized, but mostly from unverifiable sources, with poor-quality photos and, at worst, completely wrong information. The application of NFT in museums could even allow the creation of a large information resource that would open the door to culture for everyone. High-quality information from original sources would be combined with sustainable art patronage and value preservation.

There are already brave experiments on the internet, but a big breakthrough is still to come. It is a fact that an amateur image of the Mona Lisa is no substitute for the real thing, but the serious question is when a digital NFT version of the greatest classics will appear on my wall, in high quality and with valuable features.

The proliferation of NFT technology allows anyone, anywhere, anytime to access our greatest treasures or to discover never-before-seen treasures and works of art that have been gathering dust in the depths of our storerooms. The NFT not only offers opportunities for modern artists but is also a great tool for better understanding any slice of our cultural history.

“Since the beginning of NFT technology, the?Galaxis.xyz?team has been working to make the benefits of digital technology available to everyone, adding useful features to our NFT collections. As a technology provider, we serve the needs that our partners expect from us to spread digital culture in a new way. One of the latest examples is our soon-to-be-launched Tokaido Cats collection, which we hope will showcase the creative ways in which NFT customers can be organized into a community of support for art and museum culture. In our vision, such thematic communities will form the greater whole of Galaxis,” says András Kristóf, founder of Galaxis.xyz.