What is Cocreate?
We're a collaborative AI art platform 🤖
What does that mean? 🧐
We’ve built a way for people to combine any two of their NFTs to produce a new hybrid work of art 🖼️
Please take a look at the post + thread below for more info! 👇
https://t.co/0YjLNWkjBB
I'm going to start doing an occasional "Shout Out" series
Just simple spotlights of people who I admire in crypto
First up this week is @derekedws!
He is a friend, a mentor, a partner at @Collab_Currency, the alpha & omega of chads, the oracle of @artblocks_io, a co-curator of @glitchmarfa + much more
This dude is one of the kindest folks in the industry and def among the people I've learned most from over the years
Follow him if you don't already, and if you're building something in crypto (especially consumer facing) reach out to the fund 🙌
You would be lucky to have them invest, for real
"Do you have any advice for emerging artists starting out in NFTs?" 🧐
I get asked this question a lot, here is my quick spiel:
🔹Most advice out there is garbage (including mine)
🔹Trust your intuition, you know yourself best
🔹Consistency is important, from social media to finding time for artistic practice
🔹Build authentic relationships with peers & collectors
🔹There's no problem with *tasteful* shilling
🔹The art world is ruthless & you are owed nothing
🔹Consider the power of "networked art"
🔹Editions, collections & 1 of 1 of X all let people gather around you as an artist in ways that are more than the sum of their parts
🔹Unless you're wealthy, def work a "real" job in parallel
🔹Curate your info. flow & follow people you admire
🔹Find your tribe, everything is easier with community
🔹Don't forget that this is supposed to be fun ;)
✌️
A @clairesilver appreciation post 🌸
I had the good fortune of meeting Claire ~3 years ago
TLDR:
🔹She had ~300 followers on Twitter
🔹I was starting @accelerateart + looking for a creative cofounder
🔹I liked her art & vibes (similar today as back then)
🔹So I cold DMed her, she said she was interested & we've been internet friends ever since
Now, Claire has a great reputation in the crypto, art & AI industries already, so what I have to say here won't be news to people
But, I just want to add to the Claire lore 😈 & offer a bit of public encouragement as she attends to some health challenges
https://t.co/iACilaGFKU
After working closely with Claire I've consistently found...
She is one of the most innovative people I know at the intersection of art & tech.
I've never seen someone learn & experiment with so much new technology.
Some of that comes out in her tweets, but it's more impressive than most people understand I think & she works very very hard.
Claire is also one of the most creative people around our scene 👩🎨
She slams together all sorts of technologies (like 65 AI tools, graphic design, sculpting, animation, code, gen art, and on and on)...
All while simultaneously playing with a wide variety of themes (transcendence, youth, memory, nostalgia, world building, etc.).
There aren't many people creating today that have her level of gifting around storytelling imho.
Finally, I really think she is one of the most caring people on the internet. I feel confident her friends from @spumma to @jlindsayfilm to @CharliCohen to @funghibull to @DeeZe to @CozomoMedici and everybody in between would attest to this too.
Even as her career has taken off, she continues to make time for friends, gives of her time and money to support smaller creators, creates educational content and on and on.
So, given all of this, here are some things I'd like to suggest to anyone who has read this far:
First, if you've ever been encouraged by Claire or inspired by her work, I think it would be a fun time to share that, either with a message to her directly, a comment on this thread, or however you'd like.
And...
▫️If you get a chance to collect her work, do that
▫️If you get a chance to listen to her talk, do that
▫️If you get a chance to learn from her content, do that
I really think this woman represents some of the best of our industry, it's been a gift working with her over the years, and because of that I just want to shine a spotlight on her today in a tough season ✨
Rant on media consumption 📺
Over the past 5 years I’m confident I’ve consumed more media than 95% of people who follow me on this app
It’s been an absolutely violent (and often unhealthy) romp through 2x podcast speed, 40+ books a year, endless binges of TV & movies to the point where there’s basically nothing left out there that I want to consume 💀
And this is to say nothing of social media addiction in crypto land with Twitter, Discord, Telegram, etc.
It’s recently struck me hard how easy it is to waste your entire life in this mode of passive consumption
The subtext of all media is… if you just watch or listen or read this thing… you’ll be able to:
🔹assuage your insecurities & be smarter
🔹be better in whatever ways you feel lacking
🔹be more in the loop
🔹get a break from your work & personal life
🔹Etc.
And it’s maybe one of the biggest scams that exists in all of modern culture 😅
We spend our entire lives consuming other people’s lives, and never really living our own.
We’re able to pretend we’re moving toward our goals by learning about [your thing here] without ever actually doing anything real.
We’re given the illusion of productivity from the comfort of our own little worlds… all (fake) reward & no risk.
And it’s a lie. With the exception of maybe ~5% of all content...
What most of us consume will be forgotten in a week or a month.
It’s not rewarding, it’s not restful, it’s not high signal, it’s just a total waste of time. A slow death by parasocial activity.
Eventually you wake up and you’re a couple years older, without having much to show for it…
And I think most people (myself included) would have a much better existence if we stopped smoking other people’s lives & ideas second hand and actually went after something ourselves.
So unplug the AirPods, unsubscribe from some stuff, and go make art or start a business or apply to grad school or whatever it is
Otherwise you’ll wake up at 65 years old shell shocked that all the time disappeared and you can’t even recall what you did with your life ✌️
When I think about NFTs from a money making perspective, there are basically three buckets:
🔹What is legitimately historic (very short list e.g. Punks)
🔹What is left over from the past few years with minimal narrative baggage / bagholder overhang
🔹What is new, different, unusual (better ponzis + actual ecosystems where a token makes sense)
Everything else, you better...
Bull case for Punks & Squiggles:
1⃣ As new (high end) money enters NFTs, it will flow to established sets with the least execution risk
2⃣ Remarkably few crypto-rich people own these collections & really believe they matter... they will capitulate & buy higher, for the culture
This is incredibly cool 🤯
@accelerateart curated this event shown by CNN Romania in the clip below
@spumma crushed it with boots on the ground over there 👑
So proud of the artists:
What is a partnership you would like to see us pursue?
Could be with a conference, a brand, a product, a community, etc.
We have a lot of ideas, but crowdsourcing some wisdom is always interesting 😃