Builders Landing on Solana
Speaker 1 Hello. Hello. And how are you doing today? It is an exciting day here at Exchange Yard, an exciting day here for the Builders' Dow. I'm I'm stoked on this one, guys. You you have me fired up seeing the amount of energy that you have, surrounding what you guys are up to right now, and that is bridging communities and doing so in a way that is is so meaningful and impactful. You know? There there is something to be said about active participation and actively diving headfirst into an ecosystem, and it's amazing to do that with a group of people. And that's what today is all about. Today, we're gonna hear from the builders DAO, learn a little bit more about what they're all about, a little bit of their history, and then we're gonna go on to what they're doing here on Solana and these amazing, amazing artists, some of which which were native to Solana prior, some of which they are bringing over from other communities.
It's it's very beautiful to see, and I'm excited to dive in. But before we do, GM, how is everyone?
Speaker 5 GM GM, Gagru, I'm very good. And GM to all the Exchange team has been a pleasure so far, and thank you so much for having us, in this space. We are really, really, really, really excited to be here. And, yes, I can hear you live loud and clear. Charlie, are you with us as well?
Speaker 8 A 100%. Good morning, everyone. This is a very exciting day. This is the first time I've seen a DAO making the jump, from one ecosystem to the other, so I'm looking forward to it. It is cold, in many parts of The US, but it's time to bring the heat this actual space. So I'm actually super excited to actually hear from you guys, from the builders now, from exchange, and how this came about to for the for, actually, for this drop to be the way it is today. So I'm actually looking forward to it as well. Looking forward to many artists that are part of the drop as well so they can actually talk about what they did and and how they became part of the dial as well. So this is gonna be full action packed, in my opinion. So let's get it.
Speaker 1 You love to see it, man. This is how this is how you start off. Right? Like, I could feel the energy coming from everybody. And like I said, I I I felt that across timeline, not only just from the Dow itself, but from everyone who's been participating, which is really awesome to see. So I think before we dive deep into the current, let's go into the past a little bit. And for those of who are just joining and just now learning about BuildersDow, to learn a little bit more about what what you guys are up to and what you've done in the past and, you know, who you are, basically.
Speaker 5 Thanks, Koko. I will take that, and I've just been in the space, our 2023 recap. I hope that, will help a little bit, everyone on the space to navigate, to what we have done and what we have accomplished, last year. So, basically, we are a team of artists and collectors, and our aim is to bridge that gap that sometimes you can find, between artists and collectors. So, a lot of the time, well, what we want to achieve is really to, make or create a different relationship between artist and collectors. Most of the time, we can see, a transactional kind of relationship where the collectors buy from the artist, for various reason. But at the end, a lot of times is, is more a transactional relationship or, that connection between the artist and the collectors, long term can disappear.
And either the collectors, like, doesn't collect anymore from that specific artist or they lose contact, between each other. And the scope and the aim of, the builders now is making sure to create a community where there are not it's not just a community of artists or collectors, but a community where they can coexist, together. And I guess in this space, there are not much communities like this. So we, we were born last year like an experiment, but, that went really, really well, I guess. You can see in our 2023 recap. Well, until now, until today, we have only operated on it because was the first ecosystem we entered and we approached. It was also, the most, I would say, user known, so we decided to start on it. And we did 29 it of sale, in the in around seven month, last year.
And we did also four in real life exhibitions, which were all free, completely free for the DAO artist. And we did two exhibition in Milan, one in Estonia and, one in Amsterdam. So we have also we have had also given a lot of benefits for our collectors during, last year. They had white list, special prices when we were doing some drops, perks, and also some, collectibles and free merch, if they were joining us in those in real life event and exhibition that we have organized. And, finally, to make it very short, but at the end of twenty twenty three and is still ongoing, the 2023 distribution, we are going we are giving back to the artist that have collaborated and supported us the most because we are a self supported team, so we don't take any money from from the curation fee that we apply.
But we invest 100% of all the revenues in art or to pay for those exhibitions. So the artist and the members, that have contributed the most, in 2023, we gave back, to the community 1.58 buying art, from those artists that have helped the the most. You can see maybe in the recap, one of our in real life exhibition, the builders box that we have done in Milan was a great one. We did other three exhibitions in 2023, and there is much more to come in, in 2024. But I will now stop, because, this was a I tried to do a very quick recap of what we we have accomplished, but we are here to talk also about the future.
Speaker 1 I love that. That that was a great recap, great elevator pitch, and and it's really awesome to hear all the things that you guys have done. I think that really helps lay the context for people who are just now finding out about BuilderStyle. Right? And I gotta say before we move on, I love your branding and and how clean it is because it's so easy to go through this recap, you know, because of how clean it is. You're able your eyes are able to follow it very well. So to nerd out for a moment, great job there. Great branding. You know, for those curious about joining the DAO and getting involved on that side of things, let let's talk about that a little bit. Right? Because I think you mentioned membership a few times, and I think for some that can be confusing.
And I I don't think that it actually is as confusing as as it is. So, how how does that process go? How do you get involved with BuildersDow? And then, we'll start to turn the the conversation towards, what's happening today after that.
Speaker 5 Oh, thanks, Hayes. Very good question. So, last year, basically, the membership or the DAO token, because we give to our members a DAO token, which we are dropped to their wallet, and we use also in our Discord to assign the role to the different members. Then we have also had the role in our Discord based on different kind of support that the different members can give to the community. But the DAO token is given the DAO members token is given to artist or collectors based on two different kind of action. So the collectors, everyone who collects a piece of art or collected a piece of art in 2023 from our, World on foundation, which is, basically, like, an exhibition, kind, of exhibition on exchange art. Every collectors who collected a one one from our world was granted a DAO token.
And on the other side, artist could join the DAO by winning some open open calls that we were organizing during the years. And from those open calls, we either select the winners, and we gave them the possibility to join the DAO, or we actually bought out directly from, the winner of those our competition open calls, and we, offer them the opportunity, to join the DAO. Something I want to add here is that those open calls and our competition were very different from the others that you can find on the space because, it was basically, there was every time a public vote in our discord between the artist and the collectors altogether, all the DAO members who have already a DAO token could vote. And then, we decided the, which artist was the be the winner of this competition.
So, we did this during 2023, and, we have now, we issued 99 DAO tokens, and we have now a few token left, but everything will, will change in 2024. So, for artist, now the best way to join the DAO is apply from our website. You can find our website in our bio. There is a section for artist to apply, we have a gallery in Milan that is our curator and is reviewing all the submission of the artist. And for collectors, we will release a special pass this year, which we cannot tell much at this stage, but it won't be one of the many passes that you have seen probably from other projects. It will be, first of all, a lifetime pass, and then we'll have much much more funny things associated to the pass. So, yes, 2024 will be really a year for change for us, and we want to start today with you guys.
Speaker 1 That is that is beautiful. I I think that you guys do such a great job at you know, I think oftentimes communities, when they form can kind of feel closed off, but I I think you guys have done such a fantastic job of feeling very open to everyone to join. Right? And and having that open atmosphere, I think that's very important, especially as you start to, do things like you're doing, like crossing chains. But before we move on, I see Charlie's hand up, so I think you might something to add there.
Speaker 8 Yeah. I definitely got something a lot of things to add in there, but I definitely wanna keep it short. One of the things that I actually like about this DAO and and just for context, I never joined a DAO before be just for the fact that I felt that they were kinda, like, gatekept, that I didn't feel like you gotta do a lot of things to be able to join and to actually get reap the benefits out of it. But with this DAO in in particular, I feel like there's a lot of inclusivity and transparency on how they move. And I like the fact that they include anyone. Could be for the smallest artist or the biggest artist. It doesn't matter. But at the end of the day, what also they can contribute and the value that they're providing to the actual DAO.
Let's understand that this DAO is not really reaping any benefits or getting any money for themselves, but also, the artist actually as well, myself included, are helping to contribute to the DAO, meaning opening spaces, doing all the things that are going to be able to help the DAO to move forward. I like the fact that they were able to be open minded and flexible enough to go to different chains as well, which is very rare to see to to see those type of things happening. Usually, a DAO stays in one chain only, and it's not willing to explore other chains. So something that the builders DAO, in my opinion, have done, and are gonna be continuing doing as well.
And all all the thing too when it comes out to selecting members or artists, to join the the the DAO, like the fact that I actually experienced it myself where the actual artists or the members were the ones that actually had the final vote on who actually gets in, which is very rewarding as well because there's no such thing as favoritism or anything like that that I actually was able to feel, where people were just fair and square by merit alone, by the talent that they have to actually join the DAO. So I like the fact that, the DAO is moving forward the right direction when it comes down to applications and, being discovered that way as well. So that's couple of things that I just wanted to mention real quick.
Speaker 1 Yeah. I I love that. I I that's something I definitely noticed as well, and, I appreciate you expanding on from from someone who's been participating in the ecosystem, of BuilderDAO. So that that really helps help shine some light a lot and and demystify a lot of of what people think happens when you get into a DAO. I was the same way, to be quite frank, about DAOs as you. So it it's really great to hear, you know, that perspective. Shifting back a little bit to to what's going on now. You know, I know, you guys know, so let's let everyone know what what's happening today, what is this moment for BuildersDAU, and, yeah, let let's dive in.
Speaker 5 Yeah. So, basically, as part of at the end of 2023, we really sit down, with some of the most active members, and we try to look forward to 2024 and what we could actually do. During the entire year, there was a chart in our Discord where people and artist collectors could put some feedback and propose new ideas. And we heard a lot from the artist that they wanted to try and expand on different chains. Of course, it's not easy because we are a growing team and a growing community. So whenever you do something, sometimes may feel overwhelming or, quite difficult. But, as in our road map for 2024, we had in mind, and we had in our road map to move on different chains, Tezos and Solana, first of all. And, actually, we were thinking to start a little bit later in the year with Solana.
But as you and everyone in this space knows, there has been such a buzz on Solana that we decided to anticipate it a little bit more. And, today, I am really excited because, it was quite upbeat that, we didn't, feel this excite And also with the artist of doing a new drop. And, yes, we have managed to organize a very well, I am really in love with the art that we put together for for today. We have managed to organize a drop on exchange art, and it's to be exact, I think, 32 artists from the DAO, which is amazing. Some of them, as you mentioned before, Goco, they were realogy of Solana and have have had art on Solana since probably 2021 or 2022. Others have dropped their first piece today, their Genesis piece on Solana, and we are really proud.
I'm really proud of that because it also means that they trust us, and they are really excited to be on this space. Today, I can see most of the data artist here in this space, which is fantastic. I will try now try to pin, in this space. Okay. I think, either Charlie or you, Gopu, you have already pinned it. There is this post. If you scroll down, there is a link below with exhibition on on exchange art, and you can dig a little bit. Maybe we will open the floor later today, and some of the artists can actually speak and describe their art.
Speaker 1 Incredible. You yeah. You guys have done a fantastic job. And, as someone who has has dealt with, organizing a a large group of artists, it's very difficult. So it it really goes to show, how not only how much dedication you have for it, but how much trust, like you said, you've built up with your community. Because, obviously, the more trust you have, the less friction there is in in making something happen. So it it's really awesome. I think it's a testament to to both of those elements that you actually managed to to make this happen. Question for you on on the curatory side. How involved is the DAO in that for this, and and and in in general for events? Is there, like, a theme that people are are having artwork around?
Is there a general topic, or are you guys there to kind of more help on, like, the personalization of information and, you know, helping guide people in that way?
Speaker 5 Good question. Another great question. So it it really depends. There are some kind of events. Like, for example, we did a big project in October 2023, which was called the builder's box, which was basically a drop of 100 pieces of art from 85 different artist, and that was really curated, not just by us, but we collaborate with some galleries. One of the main one is Galleria Perpetua, which is a a gallery based on in Milan in Italy. And they have asked to create the collection and each single piece. There was also a theme, which was the box. So you could find in all the 100 pieces from, emerging, but also from some of, the biggest artist of the scene, a box in the in the piece of art, which was, really fantastic.
And so some of the exhibition are curated or more curated in and others like this one, we decided to do a drop, an organic drop with the DAO artist. So the curation, of course, has been done, at the beginning when, we have selected the artist to join the DAO. But in this case, on Solana, we just decided to do, a drop without a team. Of course, there are always declaration of the DAO, but without a specific team. And in general, we try when when possible, of course, if, like, the builder's box project was a project that it took us more than three months to be organized. And then there were some things that, we have to decide, and the artist has had to stick to that. But in this case and in general, also when we do drops on it, we don't give artist too many restriction, in terms of, team, or price every or addition or one zero one.
The artist needs to be feel, needs to feel free to, to experiment, to do, what they really like the most. So in this case, apart from our curation, we didn't give any other boundaries to the artist. But as I was saying before, it really depends. In, February, we are gonna go to NFT Paris as a DAO, and, we will, we will have a a booth of 24 square meters, in NFT Paris in the main patio. And in that case, there will be a very good creation, again, done by Galleria Perpetua, which is this gallery, in Milan. But the situation is completely different. That is gonna be a couple of months of work and very detailed creation. So it depends. But if you if you go through our exhibition on exchange art, you can see, like, I'm really in love with all the pieces.
And I'm a collector as well, and I have probably collected from, if not all, almost all the artists that that are part of the of the DAO.
Speaker 1 I appreciate that that extensive answer there. I I think, you know, you mentioned the word transparency before, and I think so far you have really stuck to that. And and especially when you go into the curating process and and, you know, explaining how each event is different, I think that does a lot to help demystify Telarthus how that process works. Right? Because when you just submit something and then it goes into the darkness and then you don't hear back and then you don't know, It it it's very difficult. So the way that you guys kind of transparently navigate through this process, I think, is is very commendable. Have a lot of respect for me for just all of the effort that went into that. You know, like I said, it's not easy to to get this many artists together and organized in the same time frame.
So kudos to you on that. And, yeah, I I'm going through the exhibition now, and I I think that what curation is supposed to do is is be a a vessel for discovery. You have done a great job here at curating this group of artists, and some I know and and a few I actually don't know, which is always makes me so happy to see that. Really well done on that. It all the art all the artists did a fantastic job. And and like you said, you can really kind of feel the excitement, for, you could feel the excitement for coming to Swana and this drop, through their artwork and the the passion that was put into it. So, I can't wait to dive into the art a little bit more here. I wanna ask you a tricky question, and I know it's a tough one to answer.
Do you have a favorite piece? That's always a difficult one. I know. But do you have a personal favorite, piece from this, this, sorry, curation here?
Speaker 5 Yes. That is probably the most and will be the most difficult question of, of this space. Well, first of all, I I wanted to say that the transition to Solana was actually probably the smoothest transition that we ever had. First of all, because a lot of artists were already on Solana, then we managed to do a space with the Soul City Radio, great community on Solana. And now this this space with you guys and also working with with the exchange team was crazy. It was very smooth, quick, and you have shown a lot of adapt adaptability also to problems that we have encountered. So before I answer to your question, I just want to I wanted to say a big thank you from the Builder Stout team to all of you guys. And now, yes, let's dig a little bit into the art.
Of course, there are some artists that I'm in love with, but that is very personal. So I I really don't no one I don't want to say, like, I have a perfect a favorite piece, but a piece I would recommend everyone to grab from this drop. And I feel free to do this because it's a piece that we are dropping as a DAO, as a community. It's probably the first piece you see in the exhibition on exchange art, which is an artwork done by Bianca Palette Box, which is a rheology of Solana. I collected from her the first piece my first piece, which was not a PFP on Solana, an artwork by Bianca. Also, the reason why we contacted her, she's a DAO artist, and we asked her to do this this piece for the drop. It's fantastic.
And it's we decided to do an open edition just to, you know, to share some good art. It's less probably $7 now, less than $10 with fees. And it's not just a piece of art. For us, we'll it's our genesis on Solana as a DAO, but also, this will serve as a token for future drops that we will organize, on exchange art on Solana. Because, we have done this on it as well, and I think we sold around 200 additions. Let's see if we can beat that on Solana. But the idea is that collectors of this piece will will get the allow list when we do future drops on exchange art. And, you know and I know you guys are working on some cool things on the platform, that, we really look forward, to try and experiment. We are really excited.
And, yeah, therefore, we are sure that, this, this is not only a great piece of art for that price. It's, something I recommend, but also it will have future utility. So if you guy can, if you like if you guys like it, grab one and, and, enjoy.
Speaker 1 Yeah. That's incredible. I gotta say that you did an amazing job with the exhibition tool as well. You know, you're you're also an expert at, public relations because that was a master class in how to not answer the question. So well done, my friend. That no. The exhibition that you laid out is extremely well done, and it it's very clear. A personal favorite and and then I think it's also the way it's laid out in the exhibition is I I love the way that Samantha's work is laid out in the triptych. It looks so cool in the exhibition. I've never seen anyone do the triptych with the exhibition like that. So I thought that was very neat. And the artwork's also amazing. I I I also am having a hard time picking a favorite piece.
I I just think it encompasses a lot of different mediums and styles and feelings, in this exhibition, which is is really well done. And I think that's ultimately the goal when you do something like this with a group show, is you want to have something that grabs every walk of life of collector. Right? You wanna have something that peaks the interest of all different types of of art collectors. And I think you've done a great job at that here with this. I saw a few people starting to request. What do you say? Should we bring some artists up and start hearing from them and their experience with BuilderDAO and, their piece?
Speaker 5 Yeah. Of course. I know Fabio, has requested, and he has to leave quite early. And, also, Bianca, I can see her in the audience. So if she wants to come up on stage, Tyler as well. So perfect, Claire. Yeah. I can see some of them coming on stage. I will leave the some I will leave the stage to them and let let them describe a little bit their art. It's, it's great to hear from them.
Speaker 1 Yeah. It's clear that none of the artists are excited. All of them simultaneously just requested to speak. So it seems like everyone is very stoked on this, which I love to see. I know we were just talking about Bianca. So let's pop to Bianca and then Fabio, because you have to leave, we'll go to you right after that.
Speaker 3 Hi. Hi, everyone. Hope you all are having a great day. Glad to hear you and to be with you in this space. I'm Bianca, aka Palettebox. I'm a visual artist and illustrator based in Bucharest, Romania. I started my artistic journey a few years ago when I also joined the architecture school. I'm currently doing a master in architecture and running a small boutique studio for graphic design and illustrations. My journey in Web three started in 2021 when I joined the space. I found a great community of artists here that brings a lot of joy to me. And at the moment, I'm trying to focus more on the one of one art. And for from time to time, I do different drops and additions for other platforms or projects.
And first of all, I want to thank you, Flavio, for inviting me to this amazing project, Builders Dowell, where everyone is very involved in a lot of projects, both in Web three and real life events like exhibitions in Milan and Florence. Everyone works so hard here, and I have to thank for all his involvement in in this project. The piece represents for me the first step in the idea of building. I made this piece thinking of something that mark the start of Builders' Daul, and the building from the pieces developed around the green monolith. I will try to try to integrate architectural mon motifs in my works. Like, if you saw in my collections, Blue Mosaic and Kaleidoscope from Ethereum are the ones that gets more me excited. Both collections will be an odds to the sixties and seventies architecture and design movements in vibrant colors.
And I think this is a good starting point for me because I know that era only from archives, Internet, and all commercials. And it's funny and educational to see what people of that time often imagined how the future would like to be. The collections are more like a visual journal
Speaker 3 create a puzzle of ideas that follow a common theme or line. Also, my inspiration usually is from my day to day life observations, but I could also start from a book title, song name, or even a movie movie scene. I think we are living in a time where we can find pieces of inspiration in each corner. We just need to be great observers. Yeah. And I have a full archive with a lot of references from architectures, interior, and different graphics to paintings. Also, I love reading and doing research as much as I can. I'm always very happy if my works bring joy, a smile, or a little bit of nostalgia. And I love creating stories through a visual piece. I think this is the most important goal for an artist from from my perspective, and people resonates with your work better when you can relate to the subject of the piece.
Yeah. And the references are from places that I see daily. So you can say I took you on a little walk on the city streets, and the building depicting my work is a reference to the art deco and modernism. And I would love to go back in time from time to time or just a day to see how this place is used to be and looking at the beginning of the those stories. Thank you.
Speaker 1 I appreciate that insight into your, into your art too. As someone who has watched your art journey on Soul, quite a bit, it it's really cool to kinda get that peek into some of your inspirations here. And, it it's also awesome to hear that you're Romanian. A lot of our team is is Romanian as well. So I'll I'll have to send them some some love from you. And I'm sure they're gonna all DM you now because they know that you're Romanian. That's how it works. I'm so happy though that you are part of this and and brought your your very beautiful art style to BuildersDow and I think really are such a formative part of this drop as this very accessible addition And and it definitely does serve to bring a smile. The way that you always use geometry and color, I think, is, is is quite beautiful.
Speaker 8 I just wanted to add something real quick, and I wanted to ask you this, when it comes down to this Genesis drop. I noticed the colors. Were you were were you actually thinking about putting the Solana logo colors into it as part of the Genesis, or that's something that I just imagined myself?
Speaker 3 Yeah. I think, this fits a little bit. It's, it was, like, more of the colors that I use from in every work. Yeah.
Speaker 8 Okay. Perfect. That's why was wondering this whole time trying to ask you this question. And I was like, well, is it is it actually done on purpose? Because the it just matched perfectly for a Genesis draw. So
Speaker 3 Yeah. It's a little bit similar, but, I think, it's just his this time.
Speaker 1 It's just so ingrained in your, in your in your blood at this point that you you know, you're you're bleeding Solana into your art. It's you know, I think all always your colors kind of lead into this pastel world. And so it just so happened that you got the Solana vibes on this one. Amazing hearing from you. This piece is is beautiful. I definitely recommend everyone go check it out on Exchange and dig into the details there. I I personally love the grain feeling in this this image. Just just really fun for the eyes. Let's pop over to Fabio because I know that you have to leave, and I wanna make sure that you get a a chance and, to speak about your art and and involvement in this. How are
Speaker 9 you doing, GM. Hey. Thanks for letting me speak, first. I'm really on the run. I have to, make a shooting, and the clients are waiting. But, yeah, I'm really happy to be here. First of all, I would like to thank I say thank you to Flavio and the whole team for making this possible because I know without Flavio, we'll there we'll work nothing. This guy, he works 48 in one day. I don't know how he does that, but this guy is crazy. So much respect for that. And the other thing I want to say is the same I already said to some of the people in our chat today. Whenever I see a Bilder's drop, I feel so small and humbled. You know, it's it's a huge honor to be part of a drop with all this fucking amazing sorry for my language, but there's no other word to describe that.
Fucking amazing artists. Like, you know, everyone is a master in this craft. Everyone is is you know, I'm a huge fan of every single piece, not only in that drop in every drop, whichever happened, in the Builder's Star. So, yeah, it's really, really, really a honor to, to be part of this. Yeah. I I have to talk about myself. Yeah. I'm Fabio. I'm half Italian, half Swiss, living in Switzerland. I'm a photographer for more than ten years, around twelve, thirteen years. I'm a professional photographer for seven years. And I was almost my whole career landscape photographer. I earned my money
Speaker 9 photo trips, all around the world, workshops and, speeches on on big events and stuff like that. Now I was always landscape photographer, but maybe two years ago or two and a half years ago, I started to get a bit bored because of landscapes. You know? Landscapes are beautiful, but it is for me, it's it it is it was something missing. Like, if if you just shoot landscapes, it's it's not really possible to tell a story. There are of course, there are emotions because of beautiful colors and flowers and mountains or whatever, but there are transist how can I say that? Transited? Transition? Transition? Whatever.
Speaker 9 Transition. Thanks, bro, for always helping me out. Transition to to the streetscapes because, you know, at the moment, I really wanna tell stories. And it it's totally different if you have, like, a a human in in the picture, you are able to tell a story, like, especially in one of these pieces which, are part of this drop, the one which is a one of one, decisions is the name of that. For me, it was like when I walked on on the street, I saw this house and, you know, one side from the from this house is bright and goes to a to a place which is really beautiful, and the other side is longer, is a bit smaller, is dark, and just disappears into nothing. It's just dark. And on both sides, there are someone walking now in the picture, was, my goal to shoot like that.
And this is for me, I I I would like to, you know, to to showcase the the decisions we make. You know? Many people, they like to just go the easy way. They just wanna you know, they know this is the goal. There it is. I just have to walk. Everything is easy. Everything is bright. Everything is cool. But I'm more the kind of guy which always tries to do the unknown stuff. You know? Maybe maybe if if I go if I turn this corner, I'll I'll find something which is cooler and better and stuff like that. And this picture really is here to show that. Maybe if I talk about my style, you know, I was that Damn. I hate it when I've, not know a word. My my style in landscape was hyper landscape photography.
It is the style I developed maybe ten, twelve years ago, when almost nobody in landscapes edited the pictures really hardcore in Photoshop. And this is the same I do now. I wanna shoot streetscapes, but I'm not the kind of street photographer photographer which just wanna show what I see. Whenever I shoot something, I always have, like, a a feeling in my mind which I wanna create. You know? I I place my camera and and try to to do it more like like a a painter or something because I know, okay. I wanna have a a guy here and maybe a girl here, and and I wanna have some light in this window and whatever. So, really, my my pictures always I always try to make my pictures as perfect as possible. So they are not just snapshots. They are always huge, compositions.
For example, again, for for this piece, waited around two or two and a half hour until I had everything I wanted during the shooting process. I was three times at this place to to try to take the picture, but there was always a car in front or or something which, else which was not possible to shoot it. But at the end, I had to shoot it as as a panorama, like like a vertical panorama with around 30 pictures, I guess. And editing time was around fifteen hours to edit the picture. So I always do whatever I can to make a picture perfect. I guess that was enough. Sorry. Sometimes I don't know when when stop. Thanks for letting me speak.
Speaker 1 I I love the images, and I I love your energy always. It's infectious, my friends. It it comes through in the images as well, your your personality. Appreciate you being able to be here today and, add some more context to yourself and your artwork. Thank you.
Speaker 8 What I really admire from you, Fabio, is that you stay humble no matter how good you get. And I like the fact that you are transit from
Speaker 1 Oh, no. I can't hear Charlie now.
Speaker 9 Well, I thought Adam rocked, so Charlie rocked. Charlie rugs.
Speaker 5 Charlie, if you can hear us, go out and rejoin the the space. That's why I always join with two accounts with also my personal account. Let's see.
Speaker 1 That's kinda some alpha. Maybe I should start doing that. How do you listen to them both, though? That's and maybe just swap devices when one of them goes down.
Speaker 1 Gotta love the the curse of the cohost is a very real thing. You know, it keeps things interesting. In the meantime, while we're waiting for Charlie to come back, let's pop over. I think we had Claire up next, and then Tyler was up after that. Claire, how are doing today?
Speaker 2 Hi. Good afternoon. Well, I've just come after these two amazing artists. That's that's incredible. I'm very well, and I'm gonna try and do two things at the same time, which is quite difficult for me. I'm gonna try and pin out my pieces, and then I'll tell you a bit about myself. So I I'm a drone photographer, a photographer and a drone photographer. And I started flying drones about six years ago, and it's my passion. Probably similar to Charlie too. Charlie loves flying flying drones too. I joined the DAO virtually at the beginning, so it's been an amazing project. We started, like, maybe fifteen, twenty people, and and it just got bigger and bigger and more and more exciting. And I wanted to say thank you, especially to to Flavia and to Elia because they are the main core of the of the Dell.
As Charlie said, I don't know how Flavie does everything that he does and have a real life job. It just just amazes me. So, yeah, the DAO is very exciting as there are so many different people in there. We have, like, photographers and illustrators, and there's just so many different styles of art. And as you can see by the drop, there's an amazing variety of extremely talented artists. So I'm very as Flavia said, I'm very humbled to be part of this team. And so I'm as I said, I'm a drone photographer, and I live in in Madrid and Spain. And I try to travel as much as I can when whenever I can and go to different places around the world and see the world from a different view because most people, obviously, when they go on holiday or when they go to different places, they'll just see the view that,
Speaker 3 you know, like, from
Speaker 2 down down below. And I try and as whenever I can to take my drone up and and see
Speaker 3 a different perspective from above.
Speaker 2 And I I dropped two pieces in this drop. One is called beached, which has quite a funny story behind it. It's it was taken on on the island of Tenerife. I was there three weeks ago. And this beach is very popular because it's one of the only sand, like, white sand beaches on the island. Most of the island's volcanic. And, apparently, I have a friend that lives there, he was telling me that when they brought the sand, they brought the sand over from the Sahara Desert. And the first few weeks, people would go onto the beach and and and be bitten by scorpions because apparently their scorpions also came with the sand from the from the beach. So, yeah, that was the first piece which I've dropped. I took that photograph very, very early in the morning because, as I said, it's a very popular beach and Spanish people in general don't like drones.
So you have to be very careful where you fly and when you fly. And I captured this lady who was walking along the beach wearing her sun hat, and I found these really cool boats, all different colored ones. So I thought they would look very cool in that composition. And then the second piece comes from the other side of the world, different a different type of photography. I took this on a beach in Western Australia. All of my family lives there. So I was there last summer, and I absolutely love Australia. It's just my favorite place in the world, and it's just so, so, so different to anywhere else in Europe. And they have these beautiful contrast, the red sand and the beautiful blue waters. So this was taken on a beach called Shell Beach, which is which is actually tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny shells.
There's over a billion shells on this beach. And then you have the contrast of the of the beautiful, clean water and the red dirt sand. So yes. That's making me very fast. And and, also, sorry, I just like to know say another thing. I'd like to say that I began on Solana about two months ago, and I'm absolutely loving it. This community is fantastic. We started as a a group, and we had such a warm welcome. And I'm very, very happy, and I hope to to to continue here and to contribute as much as I can and collect as much as I can and and, yeah, and just have basically, fun. And thank you so much for for letting me speak, and thank you once again for for this opportunity, and thank you, Flavio and Elia, for all of what you do, for all of us.
Speaker 1 Thank you for your passion here. It it's so cool hearing about before I dive into your art, I just I just love hearing everyone's perspective on on how they're entering the space. And they're doing so with the want to have fun and and doing it with this group together, and I think that that's such a healthy way to approach things for yourself. You know? I I'm all of most of the artists in this room have been around for a good amount of time, and it can be difficult to be an ecosystem that you're already in, much less join a new ecosystem. So I I really just appreciate your your perspective and the way that you guys have gone about this, especially you, Claire. But let's get back to this art. Wow. I I love both these pieces so much.
The processing in the first one with the woman walking down the beach made me stop several times to look at it. It's just so fun and really just jumps out at you with this high contrast. It's it's beautiful. I and same with the other above, like, super aerial shot there with the contrasting colors there of the Australian coast. It's I I personally love drone photography, and I think that people underestimate how many different advantages you can get with going up. Right? And people think that it's just a camera pointing downwards, and that's so not true. So the way that you're able to kind of play with scale and play with image and and play with the direction of the camera, I I think it's it's superbly done here. You're as I heard you start off the the that your talk here by saying, I have to follow those artists up, and I you're you're right there in the same caliber of creation.
Speaker 2 Thank you. Thank you so much. Also, I'd like to say some people don't realize it. It's actually being being a drone pilot and trying to be legal is actually quite difficult because it's getting more and more difficult to fly everywhere. As as I said, especially here in Spain, people hate drones, so you have to, you know, really have to be careful where you fly, how you fly. And, also, you have to take into consideration the weather conditions, the seagulls, everything that can possibly go wrong may go wrong. So, yeah, you to be careful. Last October, I was flying a drone and it fell into the sea. So, yeah, I know how it really does does because, oh my god. It's just gone into the water. But, yeah, I know how hard it is for drone photographers. So and when I see anyone flying a drone, I just wow.
I'm just so happy and yeah. Yes. Thank you so much. I'm I'm very happy that you that you like my work. It's it's very appreciated. Right? Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 I always get a good laugh when I see, someone get a a really good drone shot of New York, because it's so hard to get a drone even to go into the air in New York these days. It's like you found the one patch where you could actually make that thing lift off. And if you would've gone into a different airway, it would've just directed directly at the ground. So it's always really appreciated to hear that perspective of what goes into it. Charlie, what's up, man? You're back.
Speaker 8 Back in the building. Hey. Look. Look. I just wanted to say something real quick about Claire. Claire's work is exceptional. She already made a brand for herself with the Seascapes. I call it the Seascapes, and she's really good at what she does. The editing style is very unique as well. You can tell by a mile. Like, even at a blind man, you can tell that's her work. And that's actually very exceptional and something to actually have as an example that, you have you can build your own brand regardless of the genre of style that you're working on. So and definitely, Claire is killing it in that department, in my opinion. So this is a great curation, so far what she has done, and she's very consistent. She goes to many, many, many places in the world, but she actually focuses on the beach because that's what she enjoys.
And you can tell, by the work that she puts in and the passion that she puts in forward as well. And that's something that I see overall in the Dow when it comes down to people that are in it and they actually put their maximum effort on what they do because they are very passionate on what they do. So that's, like, the overall, theme, I will say, out of the Dow and on the drop so far.
Speaker 1 Would you say that the builders are landing? Because I I I would say so. I I would say so. They might have landed, actually. It might there might be an e d at the end of it
Speaker 1 You guys are here. Bean. Go, man.
Speaker 8 Landed. Let's get it.
Speaker 1 Let's get it. Next up, man, we had another we're we I didn't mean to go with photographers first. Sorry, guys. It was the order that they got on stage. Photographers are quick on the the trigger. You know? They gotta get that quick image. Tyler, what is up, man? It's it's nice to have you up here. Nice to see your passion here on Seoul. Long time, my friend.
Speaker 6 Awesome. I'm totally so happy to be here. I think it's my first space with Exchange Art. I've done a lot of space with BuildersDow. I've been at the BuildersDow since, I think it's been, like probably been almost a year now, which is pretty wild. Time goes by really quick. I totally love being a part of the builders now. I actually reached out to Flavio because I was just, like, loving his dedication and passion, like, many hours of day he, like, puts into this. It really reminded my me of myself back in 2021 when I was just, like, twenty hours a day on Twitter, maybe sleeping two or three hours and just releasing NFTs. I guess I'll talk. I'm not the best public speaker, but I'll talk a little bit about my photography that I released today. I did one edition that I actually released.
I have three pieces in the exhibition, but I released an edition at zero point two Sol called comic book that has a bit of my travels through Seoul, South Korea. I've been traveling Asia nonstop the last two years, and I've only been home for, like, a week or two at a time at Christmas. And, like, I'll read some I'll say something that I kind of wrote through here so I can get my thoughts together in the morning. I just really, really enjoy kind of love I love to capture those, like, cinematic and beautiful moments that kinda happen around us, like, every single day. And, otherwise, if it wasn't kind of for my camera, I believe they would kinda just be moments that were kinda gone forever, and you never see these things. And that's what I really love about candid photography.
Without candid photography, you would just have people taking selfies or some moment that's kinda, like, never, never seen. So I hope these, like, beautiful little moments that, like, people share, like, a father and a son kinda walking through the city or people kinda huddling up close, walking through the rain late at night. I hope one day these people these special memories, they can kinda, like, go through my photos and kinda see the moments, like, later in the future, see themselves in my photos and see a memory maybe decades down the road. I just really wanna, like, kinda freeze the moment almost, like, in time. And the reason I kind of do all this, like, now and why I'm traveling Asia, a few years ago, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and I ended up I don't know. It hit me really, really hard.
I overcame it, of course. I'm here today speaking to you, which is, yeah, kind of incredible because I kind of at that point, I thought my life was over. I thought I, like, hit, like, a wall, and I don't know. I lost myself completely. At that moment, I realized, like, life is, like, short, unexpected. Can end at, like, any moment. I think that's why I've been a photographer since the beginning because you kind of freeze moments in time forever for people kinda to enjoy. So I hope, like, my photographs kinda outlive me in that sense. I hope my photographs kinda live forever. So I had a lifelong goal of photographing all, like, all the major cities across Asia to create a physical book. Up until I was 35 years old, I'd never left North North America. I never had the means to it.
I never had the money. I was pretty much just going by day to day, like, just paycheck to paycheck kinda broke, trying to make my way through photography for, like I started photography at 10 years old. I think it was 28 ago now, which is pretty crazy. I was gonna say oh, yeah. This is, like, my first collection on Solana. So and I really wanted to kinda do an ode to my first collection. This collection is called Sleepless Soul. It's kind of like an ode to Solana. Sleepless Soul is kind of like a pun on Solana, and then Soul, the city sounds the exact same. I thought that was really kinda hilarious. And it's also an ode to my sleepless streets collection, my sold out collection from 2021 that kinda got kicked off by punk six five two nine.
He's the one that really got me my first recognition in the NFT space, and he really changed my life. I remember in September 2021, I was on the verge of being homeless, being kicked out of my apartment. It was after the pandemic. I was getting no photography jobs, nothing. I was about to be kicked out of my apartment. I was spending six months on Twitter, like, twenty hours a day, just trying to get my name out there. I started with zero followers on Twitter, by the way, in, like, spring of twenty twenty one and made my way up to 20 plus k in just a few months for me on Twitter, but still no NFT sales until punk six collection 02/09. Retweeted my collection. I think it was three days before I was set to be evicted from my apartment. I had no camera gear anymore.
I sold it that month. And then after he retweeted it, he it was fucking crazy. I sold out of that collection. I was able to get an apartment. I was able to get my camera gear back, and then I kind of continued my journey from there. I kinda thought my journey was over. So that's a little bit about me, my photography. I'm really happy to be a part of this drop and happy to continue my photography with everyone. I hope everyone can come check it out and enjoy it. If you have any questions, let me know. I know it's a bit of rambling, but having fun.
Speaker 1 Oh, man. It's it's super inspiring. I I didn't realize that that extra background there on on some of your your struggles and strifes, but I I do remember that that moment actually around the the pump six five two nine and everything. So I I'm just so happy that you're here and able to pursue things that you never thought were you were gonna pursue. Right? Like, I think that's one of the most beautiful things I've heard today. Definitely rings true with me as well, the, you know, seeking adventure, when you didn't think you would have it kind of bit. And I I love the the way that your, very neon colors come through in each of this. It definitely feels a lot like Seoul does. So I feel like Seoul and and has almost a different colorscape than than Tokyo even, where it's even more neon in a different way.
I think that you've done a great way great job at accentuating that in in all of these images, and I, excited to see what you do here on Sol, man. I I definitely felt your excitement and passion since you've been here for, for a couple weeks now.
Speaker 6 Yeah. I just wanna say really quickly, I'm I'm building this collection up to 50 images, and I'm gonna cut the Sleepless Soul collection at 50 images. We've only released about 17 images so far, so I'm really excited to kinda get everything in there, and I really want people to kinda feel like they're coming. Like, they're collecting, like, scenes from a film almost. Like, you kinda go through each thing, and you think in your head, like, different parts of a film. That's why I like to really, like, make my subjects the most important thing in my image, then everything else, like, puts them into a movie scene. That's what I like doing. So I don't know if you pay attention to my subjects. The scale to them and the architecture is so huge that you just, like, look for that, like, single person.
And I've been kinda practicing that technique for years now by only shooting with a 24 millimeter lens and, really focusing on my composition and architecture because I'm just in love with architecture and colors and really putting the focus on my subject and, like, the story.
Speaker 5 Thanks, Tyler. Not sure if, if now Goggle is, has been rocked or maybe is
Speaker 1 No. I would be pausing. I would be pausing for you guys to jump in.
Speaker 5 Okay. Perfect. Because you know
Speaker 1 I can talk. That's something that everyone knows.
Speaker 5 No. Well, I'm I am a photographer myself. I have a passion for photography, and, I really, really love everyone, all the photographers that we have, in this drop. Claire, Fabio, Tyler is is really amazing. And I I have to agree 100% with what what Charlie said before about creating a branding. I guess, like, for Claire, you can recognize immediately one of her shot. The same is for Tyler. If you see a photo, from, from him, you know it's it's Tyler, even before you read the name. So I guess that is not easy to achieve. Not just easy to achieve, but also, you need planning. You need to be consistent in what you do, and, it's something that, I I wish, to learn from, from these guys because they are really, top, when it comes to photography. And thank you.
I also want to thank them to be part of the DAO and to be part of this drop and always active. That means a lot to me because also the work that we are doing, we can see that artists are enjoying. And and is is a two ways cooperation here. It's it's really nice when artists come on on stage, talk about our share, are active. So thank you guys for participating to this to this fantastic drop today.
Speaker 8 I also wanna extend the invitation for the DAO members or the DAO artists that are actually participating on this draft to also send a request so they can actually talk about their work as well. Definitely wanna hear a little bit more of the background on what how this actually piece of art, our photo, came about. So definitely hit the request if you are part of the artist of Fundedale, and you can so we can actually hear from you as well.
Speaker 1 Yeah. With that being said, we have soft Utopia up here. Would love to hear from from you next, and we'll we'll keep making our way through these creators who are involved in here today.
Speaker 4 Hi. Hello, everyone. Hello. Whoever is listening and everyone on stage, I I have been fortunate enough to be in almost all of the spaces with the Builders DAO and also be with the Builders DAO almost right from the beginning of the journey of the Builders DAO. And I would, first of all, like to share a bit about my experience with them before I talk about my art, which is the part of the drop today. So I think, like Flavio mentioned before, the mission of the DAO, which is to build bridges between collectors and artists. I don't think there's any other community or organization in this space which is doing a better job of that than the Builders DAO.
And I have seen how month after month new innovations in achieving that aim have come into place, like, from having just a foundation world where a collector can purchase a piece of art from one artist and enter the DAO having established a one to one connection with an artist to having something like the builder's box where there was gamification involved, which was leveraging, obviously, foundations, blind drop mechanism, and having a proper collector outreach program where all of the DAO collectors and even outside were involved. And, I mean, the the whole thing of building that element of surprise is is absolutely amazing. Even the Halloween drop that happened at the end of twenty twenty three where six artists a collector could enter the DAO having bought six edition pieces from six artists. So that's a one to six connection that you're actually making with six different artists and then entering the DAO.
So all of that really, really goes a long way in building community. And I think community is a word that is tossed around a lot in the space, but not a lot of concrete evidence can be shown by many organizations to show what they have been doing in building that community. And I think BuildersDow has much, much more to show for that than most of the other communities. And I am fortunate enough to be a part of that, like many other artists over here would agree. Both on the collector side and on the artist side, we have a huge amount of diversity. We have all genres of artists as part of the DAO as you can obviously see from the exhibition that is there up on the exchange art link that we have pinned up here.
And we have a lot of collectors from across chains who are a part of the DAO, and I'm hoping a lot of new collectors would be joining us today from Sol. So so it's all very exciting, and it's all very amazing. So thank you to Flavio and everyone else who has been working hard, and thank you to Exchange Art for helping us make this transition so easy and so seamlessly. Because, I mean, when your aim is to build bridges between artists and collectors, so why restrict yourself to one chain? Obviously, collectors are there on every chain, so why not make the community bigger? And that is just logical to further that aim. And okay. So just a second. I okay. Thank you for pinning my post up there. I was gonna struggle with it a bit, but thank you. So my art is mostly just architectural art.
I started off on Tezos in August '22 with digitally hand drawn minimalistic geometric styles, then started using AI as a tool in my process. And on Solana, my my the collection that I have started about six months back. In fact, my Genesis piece on Solana is a part of the exhibition today, and that one is owned by collector already. The other two are a one off one and an additions piece, and the one that is pinned right on top is the additions one. The all of these pieces are a combination of AI architectural outputs with hand drawn digitally hand drawn geometrical paintings. And the name of this collection is sunshine towers because, I mean, I just want to convey a feeling of cheeriness, a feeling of optimism, a feeling of bright colors, a feeling of positivity through these through these visuals.
And that's how soft Utopia comes into being as all of my collections are named after different addresses, these imaginary addresses that exist in soft Utopia, but all places that are Utopian that are very happy, light, good places to be. So that's it about my art. And, again, thank you for the opportunity to share my experience, and thank you for everything that you do, the greatest job.
Speaker 5 Thanks, Soft. I I just wanted to say that you are another artist like most of of the artist in our DAO where your your art is very recognizable. I mean, it's a soft Utopian word. Right? It's it's it's really warming to see all those Utopian buildings and cities. So thanks thanks so much for being part of the of the drop, and thanks so much for all you do. You are helping, you are one of the members that are helping the most. So we are really happy to have you on board. And, for everyone on the space, go check out Soft Utopia because soft Utopia work because it's it's really cool. I see we have Lele, Ben also in the building. And then, Charlie, also, don't forget about yourself because you also have some great shot in this in this collection that we have to talk about.
So, Lele, you are the next one. I know you have been waiting for a while. Are you still with us? Hi, guys.
Speaker 7 Hi, Flavio. Hi, everybody. Thanks for having me. Yes. I was listening. Very happy to be here. Hi, everybody. I'm I'm Lele. I'm Lele Gastin from from Italy. Now I I can say I'm I'm a friend from Flavio because we also meet in in Milan one time, some of the other guys of the DAO. So it's nice to be here. Fans exchanged to close this this space with the builders and hi, everybody, guys from from the DAO. I'm Leda. I'm an illustrator. I'm an artist from Italy. I live in the North Of Italy, and I work mostly in black and white. I think only black and white. This piece now pin pinned in the in the space is one of the the pieces I've got on Solana on the exchange art is a series from 2022 when I joined the the the space NFT space.
And I've got this the the species there that are called unmasked because, as you can see, these the characters are unmasking themselves. And and so my my idea of this collection was that when one of these guys is bought, it unlocks a new collection that is called revealed because these characters are unmasking themselves. So I want to tell a story. I want to tell more about them. So collectors are involved in this collection when they collect a piece. They they unlock the the same character, but without the mask and with a little bit of environment. And so it's nice. Like, if if it goes, this this collection could be could be nice to see what, came later. I don't know. Just one of them was sold, I think, one year ago, and, I saw there is only one really revealed.
And for this drop, I decide to share to to give the possibility to an audience to to see those pieces. And I I I would like to to thanks Claudio and the other guys for all their work around On this this this drop because it's very clean, very, fresh. And as always, the quality is very, very high. And what can I say? I I just want to I don't want to to steal enough more time. So that's that's that's enough. I think if you would like to have a look at the the series is is is is there. So nothing. Thanks. Thanks a lot. If you have any question, I'm here.
Speaker 5 So thanks. Thanks. Oh, thanks, Lele. I I just wanted to say something because maybe also a fun story of how I met Lele. I remember I was part of an exhibition in in Rome where my one of my photo was exhibited, and I went in Rome, which is my home city. So I was there visiting my parents for Christmas. There was the exhibition, and, one of the pieces, part of the same exhibition was, a piece from Lele. And, I immediately felt in love for it. I mean, if you look at his art, he's, he's amazing. He's one of the most talented illustrator that I ever met. So I I bought it immediately, and then we start talking. And then, yes, we really became friends, and we met finally here in Milan last year in real life. It was fantastic. But well, yes, there are other artists to that have to speak.
I just wanted to ask you, Lele, because I know you also draw not just, on one medium. I saw you, like, drawing on walls or painting. So you are not just limited to digital art. Right?
Speaker 7 Yeah. Very, very quickly, I I came from acrylics, markers, ink, paper, walls. So I do murals in in my hometown in the North Of Italy. I I do canvas. I I sell canvas here. And before NFTs, I I I work with digital art and then print, and then I always have a medium on where where I I'm gonna what in where I I don't know how to say So my drawings were always on on paper, on on other kind of stuff. But now with NFTs, all all my NFTs are only on the the blockchain or only digital. So I've never printed an NFT, and it's a kind of idea I I I want I I brought on in these two years, so I decided to keep my NFTs on the digital. And so with my with my iPad, I do some animations with Photoshop after effects. And, yes, I I I like art in general. So hand drawing is always useful for an artist.
Speaker 7 And Bye. Bye bye. Thanks.
Speaker 5 Bye. Thanks for joining us. And, Ben, I guess, you are, you are next, in line. Ben, are you still with us?
Ben I am. Can you hear me okay?
Speaker 5 Yeah. Yeah. We can hear you 100%.
Ben Good deal. Yeah. So let's see. I guess I'll talk a little bit about these pieces and why I wanted to do this drop with the BuildersDAU in specific. So my background is in photography and technology primarily, so I tend towards photographic art, AI art, on chain art, glitch art, you know, things that marry the two together. And in this case, I was planning on releasing on Solana, at the first of the year, and I did release my first piece, and it's already been collected. And part of the reason I wanted to do that was because I wanted to make a statement from an artist standpoint, that, you know, it's stupid to only use one medium as an artist. Right? As an investor, as a technology person, you can have your favorite chain. But as an artist, you know, you're limiting yourself. You're limiting your reach of collectors.
You're limiting your and so I really wanted to do what I said, and do that. So I released my first piece, and then I was excited for this opportunity, to release three pieces. And I think something else was I wanted to be intentional about what kind of art I released on what chain. Right? Like, there there should be a reason behind it. On chain art looks different than my non on chain art. You know, something I would put on Bitcoin might look different than something I would put on Tezos. So now I've released pieces on Ethereum, Bitcoin, Tezos, Avalanche, and now Solana, and each of them has a little different flavor. So for these three pieces, if you look at my three pieces, they all have sort of a glitch element to them. Two are animated. Two have an AI basis for the images.
One has a a photographic basis, but they they all have sort of a cohesive theme and feeling. Whether it was a piece that I took one evening when the clouds looked particularly sort of strange and otherworldly here in, the desert out in Arizona, or whether it was pieces, you know, that I made in the winter for art competitions, for a proof project or, or for ClownVamps, AI project. And I just really enjoyed putting these three pieces together. Even though they were made at different times and with slightly different themes, I felt like they formed a cohesive body that was different than what I had released on other chains. So, hopefully, people enjoy them. I will give a little bit of alpha. Two of them are additions, and they are the only additions I currently have planned to release this year.
All of my other releases are planned to be one of ones. So that's my alpha for the day, and thank you guys for having me.
Speaker 5 Thanks, Ben. And I guess you touched some really, really important points about the importance of or the non importance of being only on one chain, yeah, when it comes to artist, then artist always start. So it's important that yes. If you will always have probably a favorite chain, but for me and, for the discussion that I've been in the recent, in the last few weeks, it's also important for artists to plan what kind of art they are releasing on each chain and what strategy they are having on each chain because Solana, like, has some pros and cons versus Ethereum. So, also, as like a DAO, we are having a different approach on Solana than Ethereum. We may do different things on Solana simply because Solana allows us to do, like, different things versus Ethereum, doing something, like, with addition or where gas price is important, or as a as a a bigger weight.
Of course, on Ethereum, it's much more difficult because it's very unpredictable, and gas can be low, but gas can be also really, really high. So it makes difficult to plan ahead. You can plan something on it in six month thinking that the gas will be low, and then it's gonna be high and and vice versa. But, you know, for example, that always on Solana or Tezos or other chain, you always have the possibility to to have a very cheap gas that makes things a little bit easier when you are planning ahead. So, yeah, thanks for raising this point. And if you don't know Ben, he's probably one of the most techy guy that I've met here in this space. We always ask a lot of suggestion, and we always have question for him. So definitely check him out and also reach him out if you have any specific question.
I mean, he's also a talented photographer, and I saw his art fully on chain on it. It's, it's, it's crazy. So thanks, Ben, again, for being part of this drop and being with us today on the stage. I guess next one is Charlie and then Gopo, I also wanted to ask some question to, to you and the exchange team on, what you are planning, to do next and what kind of releases are you planning for, for the future.
Speaker 1 Amazing. I appreciate you, taking the reins here on the finale, and, I'm excited to answer those questions, but more excited to hear about Charlie. Charlie, what's up, man?
Speaker 8 Man, what is going on, man? It's a great space so so far, and it's a, tough act to follow, when it comes down to, when I'm actually hearing all of every different artist and photographer talking about what how they did it and and where their journey have been. Just for those that don't know me, my name is Charlie. I've been a photographer for the last ten plus years. Been actually into aerial photography for almost nine years now. And I the reason why I went that route is because I wanted something different. Wanted a different perspective of things. I used to I actually started taking photos of portraits, going to abandoned locations, going to rooftops, street photography, you name it. I used to do it all. But it was something that called me or called my attention when it was actually flying a device or a drone and to capture things differently from the sky, something that I have never experienced before.
And ever since then, I never looked back. And one of the things that I actually enjoy the most is that I like to be versatile while on the air. I like landscapes, cityscapes, themes, deeper different themes when it comes down to skies. I like to hunt waterfalls, highways, you name it. There's so many things you can do from the sky. And and that's something that I actually try to portray and showcase in everything that I do on the blockchain. I joined back in twenty twenty one October. I wanted to experiment blockchains, not just one. I got introduced with Ethereum, and then after a while, I got exposed to other chains like Solana, for example, and Binance, etcetera. So it was something about Solana that caught my attention that, I wanted to put my work in there as well.
And I was very, very intended, but it wasn't a platform available for me or for the artist in general to put it on there. So I went for Solsea, which is kinda like the older version of OpenSea back in Ethereum. I remember that when I started putting my work in there, people didn't know much about why is it photography in here and why there's no PFP projects. So I was very confused on how can I actually market myself in a world like this when it was only PFPs? I kinda, like, left Solana for a little bit, and then I came back later on when I heard the news that exchange art came about and started actually promoting the artists and the photographers within the Solana ecosystem. I joined in, and and it was, like, a no brainer for me.
And I started working on putting my first collection in there, and it was pretty well received. Great, great artists, great collectors. The buys were immaculate, but I also wanted to experiment many other blockchains. So I just kept going from place to place to place to place to experiment, to get new acquaintances, new friendships, new artists, new collectors, and so on. That's something that Ben mentioned when it comes down to expanding and don't sell yourself short. This, I call it the third wave, I see that there's many, many artists now, coming in, and this is very exciting. It feels like 2021 back again where the excitement of the new artists and the new work putting their best, not only like, nothing but their best when it comes down to to giving that first impression in a chain. What I did, as you can see on top, appreciate you, Flavio, for pinning it on top.
This actual piece is called Winding Road. I call this place the Iceland's little cousin. This is the Faroe Islands. For those that don't know where this is located, this is actually between Scotland and Iceland. It is a very, very tiny set of islands, but they are very, very amazing and picturesque. And that's something that I wanted to do throughout my whole entire week there. We go from sunrise to sundown, capturing every single angle of this island where there's more sheep than people, which is cool because it gives you that feeling that you are just alone in this vast landscape that is only your playground. And that's actually exactly how I felt. And this actual image that you can see with the entire composition, if you can see a tiny, tiny person, that's myself, and then you can see the winding road and then the island at the background.
I'm all about composition. When it comes down to, landscape looking forward or looking down, the the possibilities are endless depending on what you want to capture and what you want to showcase to your audience. This is actually my second set of editions. I'm going to be releasing a lot more editions throughout this year. And also, I made a decision to be basically 90% to 95% of the time of this year going to be in Solana. So it is just nothing but a a great experience to be part of the DAO, to actually hear the DAO, the DAO member experiences and what they do and the passions. Is very addictive and it radiates, for you to keep motivated and to keep actually experimenting and exploring new horizons, new places to actually share and actually, basically become one with those that are united with your art and, basically, give them nothing but your best in what you do every single day.
So that's why I just wanted to say something real quick, and I appreciate you guys for your attention, and, hope everything goes well in this actual drop. So it's already been a success. Thanks to exchange art, Soul City Radio, and everybody else involved, in this drop.
Speaker 1 It's already been a success when, when all of you guys got together and and put your mind to something. I think that's where the success really started at. It it's beautiful to see Charlie, and I I appreciate that you're back here, fully swinging away at Solana and and really doing your part to, you know, not only focus on your own journey, but uplift others, which is something that you've always really been about. And, you know, I mentioned this earlier with with Claire. So cool to have a few different perspectives of aerial photography here. It's very it feels completely different. Right? It it feels like a not not just because of the scenery, but because of the way that the angle is, and it really showcases what you can do inside of that medium. Again, I think a lot of people just think drone photography is drone drone photography.
Right? And and same with photography in general, or any art, really, as ignorance pops in. But it's really amazing to kind of see, through this through this showing here, you know, the what what you can accomplish with with aerial photography, and, this is beautiful. I'm I, have seen some images of the Faroe Island before, and, it it really always seems like an otherworldly place.
Speaker 8 It really is. It really is. I mean, I I hear people many times saying Iceland is, Iceland the third. But there's something about this place that actually kinda, like, got to me, in a way that I really wanna go back, and there's so much to capture and so much to see there. But, definitely, definitely, it's it's worth it's worth going there and getting lost, from time to time. So definitely appreciate you for actually mentioning that as well real quick.
Speaker 1 No. Absolutely, man. And, like I said, just just super stoked to have your energy, back here on Seoul. It it's definitely felt I know that you've been very active in in the community and, you know, helping others to understand how to navigate it. So just just super stoked for you, Charlie. Stoked for the entire Builders' DAO community, man. This has been a really, really amazing space to dive in deeper to all of you and what you're up to and some of your goals and intentions and plans for for Solana here. I I love to see more of this embracing and becoming one large art community. You know, you mentioned some questions for Exchange Art, and and as a brand, that is something that's massive for Exchange Art. You know, as many of you know, we went multichain last year.
The exhibition tool can actually be used for multichain exhibitions, which is really fun. But it's not about one chain or the other. Right? It's about providing artists the most opportunity to make a living with their art. And I I think that that's a a really a core focus for us. So to see kind of something that's been, you know, as Goku, one of my personal goals, and as a brand, one of our goals, which is to make it more coalesced art scene. And and this is how we do it, guys. It might not feel like it's happening. You know, it might not feel like you're getting the exact results sometimes, you know, when you're really you need a sale. But I have seen so much change happen in such a short amount of time here.
The last three months has been been really incredible to see just the people who are excited and interested and and willing to approach and and understand more about what's happening here on Seoul. So BuildersDow, thank you for Being part of that. I I think it really takes all of us and and and the way that we lead forward, to understand it. And I go back to the early days, Charlie, you mentioned, 2021 on ETH. That's exactly what made it so exciting. Right? It it made it so exciting because, a, Ethereum was having some amazing, economic opportunities where people were making money, which is is something we're seeing on Solana now. You know, not artists necessarily immediately, but the ecosystem. Right? There's DeFi things happening, airdrops happening, NFTs are starting to sell again. The ecosystem is being healthy as far as that goes.
And that's something that happened with Ethereum, which made art grow so much. So I'm personally really excited for this next journey that we're all on, and I'm I'm so happy that we have more voices like yours coming in to help highlight and showcase the possibilities of what can be done here. So kudos to you guys for for taking that leap. You're you know, you are probably one of the first DAOs that I've seen, take that that transition and and start to, broaden their worlds. And I I think it's not an easy thing to do. You know? I I think it really requires your community trusting you and, you guys putting in the groundwork, which you definitely did. And it was a pleasure to work with you guys. It really was.
Speaker 5 Thanks, thanks so much, Gokul. And, well, I I agree with what you just said about the ecosystem and Solana. I I've been into Solana since 2021. My EPFP is one of the earliest lead gen PFP projects on Solana, which is worth almost zero now. But I really love it, and, you know, I don't know when and if I will ever change it. And, yes, we have seen up and downs, of course, on Solana, like other chains, but something I felt since day one when I joined Solana was the ecosystem and also the commune the sense of community, which was, I have to say, really different from it when it comes. Well, when I started was mainly PFP projects, but it was really much more welcoming and inclusive, I I have to say. And, also, yes, have been some tough time for Solana recently before in the last year, I would say, with FTX, etcetera.
But there has always been some buzz and community building in the background. So I I was 100% sure that Solana was coming back. And, actually, it was a great opportunity for many people that really believe in Solana to buy also that price and being able to enter the ecosystem. But I just wanted to ask because for us, it was really a smooth transition on Solana. I I was collecting before on exchange art, so I really knew the platform. But being able to showcase a collection was really, really easy. And first of all, I want to say thanks because it's very great, very well done, a great job with the with the platform. I am really curious, and I'm asking not just for myself, but also for the artist other artists that are here, collectors and possible creators and, curators as well.
I wanted to ask if there is any new thing or, features that you guys are working on the platform. And, if so, when do you have in mind to release it?
Speaker 1 Yeah. There is a a lot coming. I can definitely tell you that. So we obviously have, you know, the new year has started, so we are are ramped back up. Our devs are are back in in the office fully and, really, really excited to, I you know, it's funny because the devs aren't really on Twitter like everyone else is, but they feel the excitement of everyone else. So they're back to putting in the extra overtime. And for for people who haven't been on ExchangeR for an extended amount of time, when we go into build mode, things start happening quickly. So I would be I would not be able to really give you a time frame. I think in the next two to four weeks, you're gonna start seeing features be shipped out again. Some of them on our on our road map are take longer.
Some of them, take less long. But what's been really cool is over the last you know, at the end of end of the year, beginning of this year, what we do is we sit down and we look at the the features that we had planned out in the past that were being worked on or or starting to be worked on, and took a lot of community advice and and listened to all of you guys who were entering the ecosystem. So we have a big overhaul coming for additions. We really want to improve the the tradability of additions. So that includes things like global offers, little UX cleanups to make it where you can buy additions quicker and see information about them quicker. We have some changes coming to the exhibition tool, which will be, I think, very well received.
Obviously, we want people to be able to use the exhibition as a gallery if they would like to. So that is something that we are are in the process of doing, that I think, like I said, will be very well received. It's been a very much requested feature. Another fan favorite that you'll be happy to hear is coming is the ability to mark collaborators. And what that means is your artwork, if you're a collaborator, will show up in a collaborative series. If you're familiar with or used form function at any point, very similar to the way that they approached it, where it shows up as not something that's on chain necessarily as a collaborator, but a way that we can categorize it and have it show up in multiple places at once. So that I'm very excited about. Definitely a long awaited feature.
We have a long list. So I don't know the exact order in which these are coming out. I know that they simultaneously are working on a lot, and, I'm I'm really excited about 2024. Because if you guys are excited, our team is excited. That's that's it's really that easy, guys. And please, like I said, we don't just do it at the beginning and end of the year. We do it all year long. We have our ear to the ground. We build with the community. Whatever your needs are, we're going to adapt our road map. You know, obviously, we can't just stop everything and and pivot. But most of the time, it's either, a, already in the build process or or, b, something we just happen to overlook. So flag problems as you see them, guys.
If you have dream features that you wanna see exist that maybe they don't even exist on any blockchain, let us know. You know, we're out here obviously always coming up with new feature ideas, but the artists are the ones who really guide our product. And the collectors and the curators, those are those are who guide the product of exchange art at the core. So I'm really excited about the direction for 2024. Those those are some of the first big things that are coming up that I mentioned. And I I think things like that will really help. And I'm excited for the new community to showcase, how quick we can build when we start going. Because, when it's build mode, we it's impressive. I think a lot of times, you're not really used to marketplaces building features very quickly if you're used to other chains, whereas our team is able to work very fast, because they are mainly cofounder developers.
So they're able to, like, put in that extra overtime because they're really part of the company versus just a hired gun. So like I said, very, very excited for for 2024, and very excited for the input of of all of you guys as well.
Speaker 5 Oh, thanks so much. And, I have already shared some of the suggestion with with the team, but, now we are in contact. So I will make sure that some of the ideas and the suggestion that we have are also passed into into you so you can pass to the team. And just for recognition, you know, we have worked with several marketplace, several, tools. And, really, I what you are just saying about how quick and adaptable you are, I really want to say that it's 100% true. And my suggestion to you guys is don't stop doing that because sometimes, you know, communities, curators, they really need, like, that extra feature or the extra fix or quick fix that can make a difference between a success or not succeeding. So and you guys are doing really, really well.
I've been personally impressed by how quickly you could fix some some issues that we had, but also on how quick you develop and implement new features. So as a personal feedback, from thank you, but, yeah, please never stop doing that because curators and artists and everyone who uses your platform, at the end, they really notice that. So it's it's important. At least for us, it's really, really important that we can if we have, like, a request for a dream that we want on how we want to use the platform that you guys are able to develop. And in such a quick time, I think it's also it's it's really impressive, and not everyone not all the platform are doing that. So it's I I believe it's a very good start, and we are also exciting excited to do more and more things on on on Exchange Art.
Speaker 1 I I appreciate those words a ton. And even even before myself personally joined the team, that that was one of the reasons why I actually joined the team. They you know, exhibiting the willingness to listen and to change. You know, sometimes it does take time. Like like I said, it depends on how deep the feature is and how much work needs to be done with that. But that being said, we we will always listen. We will always hear you out. Does that mean the change will be immediate? No. But we're we're hearing you guys. I promise you that. Yeah. Just just super thank you for not only those kind words, but the trust in in bringing your community over here. I think that that is very yeah. Like, it's a it's a big jump. Right?
And I like I said, it takes a lot of trust from your community and the network that you've built up over time to follow you into this ecosystem. And then,
Speaker 1 people were already here, which is amazing. But I think as a whole, you led this amazing movement over. And I highly recommend if you guys have not, gonna pin it up again so it's the most recent one. Go check out this exhibition. It is it's very well done. You can see all of the pieces of this amazing drop all in one place. You can click them, head on over to the artist profiles, check out more of their work, purchase them if you would like to. But make sure you guys go and show these artists some love. They all worked very hard on this. They all are out here putting their heart on their sleeve and on a brand new chain, and they deserve some major kudos for that. I think we have retweeted most everyone already. If I see it, I'm gonna do it again.
And I I I love love love this initiative that you guys have formed here and, appreciate everyone's energy today.
Speaker 5 Thanks, thanks so much. I know that has been a marathon is almost two hours, so, it's, has been a very long space, but, You know what the
Speaker 1 funny thing is? I didn't even realize it was two hours until, like, five minutes ago. Like, five minutes ago, go, oh, I'm kinda hungry. And I was like, that's why.
Speaker 5 Yeah. So it means that, yes, there is interest and people are really excited. So that's a very good sign. Thank you again. As you were saying, go check out, our exhibition, the artists that are there. I can also see some of our collectors in the space, and I can also I was checking while, you were speaking, Goku, and, some of our collectors have collected some pieces from this drop already. So thank you thank you so much. We really appreciate that. I could see some sales, but, now after the call, I will go and check, how the drop is going. Charlie, any any word, before we close? No.
Speaker 8 No. I just wanted to say real quick that I appreciate Exchange and the BuildersDow, Seoul City Radio as well, for actually allowing an easy transition to Solana. It's not easy. It is not easy to make those type of transitions. There's a lot of nervousness when it comes down to this. How is it going to be? How are going to be the peep like, how is the people going to be? And it is proven that Solana is one of the best chains when it comes down to inclusion and transparency, and and exchange is at the forefront of that. So I definitely, it goes without saying, you guys are more than appreciated in this ecosystem and everybody else that is actually trying to join brand spanking you and actually get that that feeling of community and welcomeness when it comes down to Solana.
So not many chains can say that, but you guys are definitely taking the cake on this. I So appreciate you guys for doing this and taking out of your time to actually showcase the Builders' DAO as well.
Speaker 1 We we take those words right to heart, my friend, and, it it's something that I hope we can continue to foster as a community as a whole. You know, it doesn't just start with one organization or one marketplace or or one person. It really is a a group effort. And, hopefully, together, we can all shape this ecosystem to remain that way. Right? We can keep it open and inclusive and vibrant and celebrating all these amazing people coming and all these amazing cultures that come to Solana, because of the accessibility factors. So I really, really appreciate that, Charlie. This is gonna be a great year, guys. This is the first one. I imagine we're gonna do much more together in this year, both with the builders, Dow, and and so many of you in this room separately. You know, how did this start?
Just for all of you wondering, they they simply reached out to us. Right? That's all you have to do sometimes. Will everything be a yes? Unfortunately, it can't be. We have limited bandwidth as a as a company, as as people, but we really try to accommodate as much as we can. The worst thing that can we can say is let's do this at another time, really. So please please reach out to us. We are open to collaboration. We are open to amplifying the community, and having great discussions around art. So, again, thank you to the builders, DAO, for reaching out to us and, making this really a special moment for for so many artists who are coming to Seoul.
Speaker 5 Thanks, Koku. And just before we close, I I forgot to say that we wanted to do a giveaway with the excitement of this space. I actually forgot. But we wanted to do a giveaway for the listener on this space, and we will give away one edition, of our Genesys drop on Exchange Art. So, I will I just run the, the, the giveaway, and I will send the tweet just after the call with the winner. And thanks everyone for being on the space with us today.
Speaker 1 Appreciate you so much. I appreciate all the hard work again that you put into this. Definitely, make sure you go check out those results. Good luck to to those who are there, and, hope I hope you win. And I hope everyone has a great rest of your day. Like, how how can it be bad after this space with all those in this energy? Like I said, please go show some love to the artists involved here, and and please treat yourself kindly the rest of the day. Have a glass of water. Go on a walk. Whatever it brings you joy, do it for a little bit today. I promise it'll make your day quite better. Thank you, everyone, and we will see you soon.