NYC’s Penn Station transformed into the largest public crypto NFT sale 🚨 This article is 3 years old...
NYC’s Penn Station transformed into the largest public crypto NFT sale
‘Art in Motion’ Brings NFTs To NYC, Turning Iconic Penn Station into the Largest Public Digital Art Sale Ever
2 min read
Updated: Oct. 9, 2021 at 2:22 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
Crypto fever reaches Penn Station in New York City with an interactive art sale featuring over 50 works of digital NFTs, accessible by QR code.
Launched October 4, the ‘Art in Motion’ exhibition is curated by Plug Talk Media founder Nathan Nakhmanovich, also known as Mogul, and transform Penn Station into the first-of-its-kind digital art sale, featuring non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from dozens of artists.
The station domination will include more than 200 media assets throughout Penn Station, the busiest transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere. Advertisements on column wraps, rotunda banners, directional clocks, and stair risers, to name a few, will encourage visitors to participate in the exhibit by scanning QR codes placed on the ads that will unveil the digital artworks available for bid through NFT marketplace OpenSea.
The artists in the exhibition were hand-selected by Mogul and executive producer Eric Spivak, known as Motivate.
“This campaign is a statement on the NFT revolution and the power of OOH,” said Nathan Nakhmanovich. “While other NFT galleries have used smaller public and private spaces, the ‘Art in Motion’ gallery will bring NFT to the real-world scale of public transit and showcase how to effectively drive attention from IRL to digital for the masses.”
NFTs have been front and center this year; more than $2.5 billion in NFT sales occurred in the first half of 2021 alone, and in March, an NFT was sold for a staggering $69 million.
First introduced in 2014, NFTs can range from movies to music to memes but have become especially popular amongst artists, serving as a new way to buy and sell digital artwork. These digital collectibles serve as a great way to represent ownership of unique and often rare digital assets.
“Art In Motion’ is a pivotal moment for us all to recognize. The innovative use of QR codes tied to Arts and Culture is providing huge opportunities for creators, collectors and curates alike,” said Eric Spivak. “From physical to digital and back, this is an envelope-pushing progressive project with purpose that I hope receives the attention, love and respect it deserves, while providing accessibility to the NFT space and hopefully changing the lives of both the artists and commuters in the process.”
“We’re excited to be working with Mogul to showcase and support talented independent creators in the iconic Penn Station,” said Alexander Bercow, Partner Success Lead of OpenSea. “We believe we’re only just scratching the surface of what’s possible with blockchains and tokenized media – and this activation is proof that NFTs are changing the way society interacts with art,” he added.
In the same way NFTs have brought the market for physical art to the digital world, OOH brings the digital world to public space and allows artists and brands to push and blur those boundaries. OOH presents the perfect canvas for an experiential exhibition like ‘Art in Motion’ that’s capable of immersing an audience throughout each step of their journey.
“Plug Talk Media has truly pushed the envelope when it comes to this station domination, merging their expertise in OOH and NFTs in the biggest way possible,” said Michael Rosen, CRO of Intersection.
Thinking outside of the traditional exhibition spaces aligns with the visions of many of the creative NFT artists today. Not only does it connect artists with a new audience, it also brightens up an otherwise dimly lit, industrial space. This may be a first but we doubt it will be the last station to offer space for visually entrancing NFTs.
Author 
Lisa Gibbons
A self-starter, and blockchain advocate with a love for creative writing, Lisa began writing about post-colonial identities in 2012 and has kept up her love for the written word.
