The Garage

In a traditional art ecosystem there are different types of venues that include The Garage, The Salon, The Gallery, The Magazine, The Auction House and The Museum. I think many of these traditional art institution concepts have twins in the Tezos generative art ecosystem.

My favorite art ecosystem venue is The Garage. What is The Garage? In the traditional art ecosystem, The Garage can be an actual garage! As a concept The Garage represents the experimental art place with low risk and small audiences. Garages are provisional or established. Some artists may start in The Garage and move on and other artists love the freedom of The Garage and stay in it their whole career. As a physical space, The Garage might be a shared performance space, an open call for art, a group show, a regional exhibition, or a "put down your blanket down on the sidewalk on the local gallery-openings day and put your artwork on it and hope someone buys it" event. It could also be a basement, a living room, or an improvised, repurposed space... or a website. Garages are smaller and more accessible. They are often inviting to those who are new. They are places where risk is accepted because there is little to lose. Often they are places where lots of collaboration happens out of necessity. Many established artists miss their early days of being in The Garage because they value the freedom to be themselves and explore the frontier and take risks that wouldn't fly in a more established space. Many artists revisit The Garage later in their career when they need a refresh or a recentering.

Where is The Garage in the Tezos generative art ecosystem? fx(hash)! I believe fxhash to be one of the places in the ecosystem that is most like The Garage for generative artists working with nfts as an art form. With Tezos' low transactional cost and general low cost to participate both as a collector and an artist, Tezos encourages experimentation. fx(hash) isn't a curated community (that would be The Gallery's territory) and fx(hash) is open for anyone to try things. An artist publishing for the first time might find their work is judged on it's artistic merit rather than on clout. fx(hash) a place for freedom of expression and experimentation.

I love fx(hash) because it is The Garage to me. I love discovering new work, new artists, and building my collection of artwork that I find delightful. I appreciate the risk taking that artists do on fx(hash)

In the Tezos art space, I believe fx(text) functions as The Magazine and it sticks with it's open approach and welcoming of experimentation. Also, fx(text) is how I learned about how to use fx(hash). Although it's a podcast, I would put it out there that the Waiting To Be Signed podcast represents a more curated news source and therefore fills the shoes of The Magazine for both the Tezos and fx(hash) ecosystem and also for generative art in general.

Beyond the Garage, who or what institutions or websites are are acting as The Gallery, The Salon, and the Museum in the Tezos ecosystem?

Feel free to @bre me on Twitter to carry on the conversation. - Bre