Over the past year, one of our goals was to explore how the future of art was shaping up for art communities so that we may have some foresight in our programming and offer arts an informed perspective on what we were experiencing beyond the confines of our own art communities. We attended Basel Miami, the IGNITE Festival in Fort Lauderdale and CODAsummit held at MADarts in Dania Beach.

Juniper Rag is very excited to introduce you to Tam Gryn. We wish to provide some context to help you understand how we met her. At the IGNITE Art & Light Festival, which kicked off at The Museum of Discovery and Science (MODS) and CODASummit, Tam had a huge impacts and gave us a lot of take aways. All events prompted much inspiration and contemplation about the future of art and how technology and innovation will play an important role in the new contemporary landscape of how humans engage with and know art.

We have a lot in store in the upcoming months. We will be sharing Tam Gryn’s exciting curatorial presentation of “MUSES” together with Future Commerce and Adobe commerce. The exhibition celebrats the multidisciplinary nature of artistic inspiration that breaks boundaries and will be held during BASEL MIAMI next week. Let us recap first how we met Tam and lay the groundwork for our concepts behind our current call for art, UNBOUND, our next call for art, PULP and our third that will lead us into spring, which were all inspired by what we took away from Basel, IGNITE and events at MADarts, including CODASummit.

We are interested in the future of art.

Tam Gryn | CODASummit 2023, at MADarts, Dania Beach

IGNITE Broward, January 2023:

We had just returned from Basel Miami to chilly Boston when we were prompted by Joe Cox of the Museum of Discovery and Science (MODS) to return to Fort Lauderdale for IGNITE. This powerful event was sprawling with art, light, and world renowned artists doing projection mapping. Broward County recognized a need for a signature cultural event that would bring people together after the pandemic. We attended and discovered MADarts in Dania Beach, where one of the satellite exhibitions was held. It was here that we met Tam Gryn for the first time. We were in South Florida in winter, which was already exciting enough and to mix such a high caliber of art, technology and resounding community involvement into a few days, we were immersed in a heaven of learning, exploration and complete intoxication as we digested the information and sensory stimulation.

The future of art, the impact of public art and the intersection with commerce seemed to be taking shape in front of us. Tam Gryn was at the heart of the conversations and moderated a panel for IGNITE 2023’s called “Merging Culture: Using NFTs as a Tool to Empower Interdisciplinary Artists” in which leaders in the space discuss their experiences of breaking boundaries and how public art is intersecting with technology. We felt the fire of what the future could hold for artists and IGNITE had done its job. Proverbially, we drank the Cool Aid with endless creative possibilities lighting up every corner of our creative brains. If all of the overlaps of organizations seems hard to decipher, we understand. Collaboration and community lift each organization higher.

IGNITE installations in the park opposite the kick off event at MODS, Fort Lauderdale

CODASummit 2023

Tam Gryn presenting and aiding a room full of people understand the importance of bridging the physical and virtual worlds of art and specifically, how public art and communities can benefit from a new commerce.

CODASummit | NFT, March 2023:

Tam Gryn was an integral part of CODASummit, as she pioneers new cultural and economic models at the intersection of art and other industries. Gryn has a conviction that art can disrupt any industry. We believe her. She is a crypto art expert, a curator for Showfields and a huge collaborator. “Phygital Cities of the Future” was a dynamic, immersive NFT exhibition curated by Tam Gryn and Phil Lique, held at MADarts. Still reeling from our memories from IGNITE in January, we attended this conference a few months later in March, leaving with another profound experience. (links provided at the end of the post)

Refik Anadol gave the keynote, setting the tone for a rapid fire indulgent ride of creativity and exploration in technology. A firestorm of imagination ensued. Informative panels included Collecting Art and NFTs, Intellectual Property Law for artists, Bridging the Physical and Virtual Art Worlds, and NFTs as public art. Fascinating material was coming form every room to indulge our eager creative minds.

The most valuable part of this conference was that it was a very intimate affair, which meant we had complete interactivity with all the presenters and organizers. Sharing an Uber with Toni Sikes, President of CODAworx, which launched in 2014 with a mission to demonstrate how public art changes the world on our second morning, reminded us how very grounded and brilliant these leaders were. This engagement meant a lot to us— and the world of creatives in attendance on so many levels. All of our intimate conversations confirmed that we were not alone. So many connections were made among the cohort of attendees. One mission of CODAworx is CODAMADE, to empower artists and communities to create artworks that bridge the physical public art world with the digital art sphere. The goal is to launch a new creative economy and build an NFT ecosystem based on creativity, collaboration, and mutual support.

Announcing Tam Gryn, an upcoming curator for Juniper Rag

An exhibition entitled “TechnoVanguard: InnoCanvas” that Tam has been developing with us is designed to bridge the traditional fine art space with the innovation we see emerging. Tam is a leader in this space and we are thrilled to have her expertise and curatorial eye. We as career artists have practiced in mostly traditional mediums, and with exponential growth in techonology in regards to art making, we are at a critical place in history. With foresight and imagination, we would like to reiterate how important early adoption can be when you want to be a leader and stand out. Refik Anadol is a perfect example of using technology with data sets to create visually stunning and compelling work that has recently been acquired by MoMA. The future is here and Juniper Rag is embracing technology in all forms beginning with Clare Tattersall’s Digital Fashion Week in our very first issue and Derek Hoffend’s exploration of sound and light. We encourage you to embrace the evolution of creativity with us, beginning with calls for art exploring innovation with UNBOUND and PULP, as we segue into our collaboration with Tam Gryn.

TechnoVanguard: InnoCanvas Statement

“In recent years, the relationship between art and technology has become increasingly complex and multifaceted. Technology has always played a role in art, from the early cave paintings to the latest digital creations. However, artists are now using technology to create new and innovative forms of expression, while also exploring the social, cultural, and ethical implications of technological advancement.

Our call is to all visionary artists to join us in reshaping the canvas where traditional mediums meet technology. TechnoVanguard: InnoCanvas invites artists working in traditional fine arts to explore the transformative intersection with cutting-edge technology. From the enduring strokes of a canvas to the latest digital marvels, this open call seeks to bridge the gap between the time-honored and the innovative.” - Curator, Tam Gryn

Read more about Tam Gryn in her full bio:

Art Curator and Author of “How to Create and Sell NFTs, A Guide For All Artists”, Tam Gryn specializes in the intersection between art and other industries, new creative economies, crypto for creative communities, satisfying audiences’ desire for new and genuine art experiences, generating buzz, newfound exposure and foot traffic through art.

Tam is currently working at the intersection between NFTs and Public Art with partners Mad Arts and CODAMADE. She is also in the Curatorial team at Clitsplash, a female founded artistic collective that stands for liberation, equal representation and diverse perspectives on human sexuality.

Tam is the former Director of Fine Arts at Rally.io where she helped artists create their own autonomous crypto economies as well as Head Curator at SHOWFIELDS where she helped to bridge art with retail through art and brand collaborations.

She is a Guest Lecturer at Harvard Business School and New York Academy of the Arts. Tam currently contributes to Decentralized Arts by BanklessDAO and Women in Web3 Equity Miami. She is the former Head of the Curatorial Department of the Artist Pension Trust as well as Head Curator for RAW POP UP and Founder of Culturadora. Tam sits on the board of the Kulturespace Foundation in Berlin.

Originally from Venezuela, she studied Art History at the Sorbonne University. She then specialized in Politics and Diplomacy at the Reichman University in Israel and received her M.A. in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution from Tel Aviv University.

Tam has curated multiple art exhibitions as well as charity fundraisers. Cultural projects that Tam and her team produced hosted 300,000+ individuals, curated and 300+ site-specific art installations by global artists and reached 13B+ in online impressions.

Clients and collaborators include The Brooklyn Museum, The Whitney Museum, La Biennale di Venezia, United Talent Agency (UTA), 2x4, McCann WorldGroup, Sothebys, The Brooks Museum, Mastercard, NFT.nyc, Polygon, Zsona Maco, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Puerto Rico, Swire Group, Surface Magazine, Locust Projects, Glossier, Heineken, Bombay Sapphire, The Glenlivet, Diptyque, Evian, SVA School of Visual Arts NYC, Neuehouse, Downtown Development Authority Miami, Miami Design District, Lincoln Rd, VICE, Paper Magazine, CNN, CULTURED Mag, The Bakehouse Art Complex, The LA Art Show, Untitled Miami, Inga Gallery, University of Miami, Brickell City Centre and many more.

Related Blog Posts

Juniper Rag began a dialogue about innovations in art in our April blog post, Digital Art Will Change the Future.

Read about our experience Illuminated by IGNITE 2023.

Research links for context:

IGNITE, video here

CODASummit NFT 2023

CURRENT CALLS FOR ART that incorporate innovation and pushing boundaries.