Morningstar Ventures Opens $5M NFT Art Gallery in Dubai

Quick take:

Morningstar Ventures has invested $5 million in a new NFT art gallery located in Dubai’s business centre.
Dubbed 37xDubai, the digital art gallery focus on web3 education, traditional art and entertainment.
The Blockchain and digital assets investment company is making its first foray into NFT art.

Morningstar has launched a $5 million digital art gallery at the centre of Dubai. Located in the Burj Daman Tower (DIFC area), “37xDubai” plans to bring art and technology together by leveraging web3 technology. The gallery will focus on web3 education, NFT art, traditional art, entertainment and communities.

A non-fungible stolen (NFT) is a blockchain-based digital file representing proof of ownership of a JPEG, a digital collectible, a virtual avatar, or in the world of art, digital art.

According to a press release by Morningstar‘37xDubai’ offers a well-curated collection of art mixed with digital experiences in Dubai’s business and lifestyle centre. The gallery has scheduled monthly gatherings, private events and educational programs as part of its strategy for attracting the global art community.

Artists will gain access to a burgeoning web3 community, with the gallery’s underlying technology enabling a constant update to the displayed collections.

Commenting on the launch, Clemence Cazeau, 37xDubai CEO, said: “The design and architecture of our gallery are highly sophisticated, filled with state-of-the-art equipment, interior, sound, and lighting infrastructure. We’ve hand-picked and meticulously selected every element of the space to ensure that the 37xDubai gallery and its exhibitions are presented in an unforgettable fashion to every one of our visitors.”

Morningstar Ventures is expanding its footprint in web3 with the new digital art gallery. The company has already invested in several web3 projects mainly based on the Elrond ecosystem— a Layer 1 blockchain network that uses the Secure Proof-of-Stake (SPoS) mechanism.

The blockchain investment company already has an Elrond-based incubator program for Dubai-based web3 startups.

Some of Morningstar Ventures’ portfolio investments include Elrond, move-to-earn game STEPN, Itheum— a web3 data platform for the open metaverse, NFT marketplace Ethernity, and web3 data analytics and insights startup BitsCrunch, among others.

The firm was co-founded by Danilo S. Carlucci and Arut Nazaryan, Dubai-based early adopters of web3 boasting experiences from the entertainment and lifestyle industries. In early 2021, they expanded their core leadership team, adding Clemence Cazeau, who brought years of experience from art, galleries, and auction houses.

The UAE has been one of the leading investors in web3 in terms of penetration, with at least 23% of people owning at least one NFT compared to Europe at 8% and the US at 2.3%.

The 37xDubai gallery is scheduled to open its doors just before next year’s Art Dubai, which takes place in early March. The project is still in the development stage with more details set to be released in January.

According to the announcement on Tuesday, it has already received interest from partners in the luxury, art, fashion, and lifestyle industries ahead of its grand opening.

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