Rare Digital Art Festival #1, New York

With the idea of Joe Looney from Rare Pepe Wallet and organized by R.A.R.E, this milestone event in NFT history kicked off in January 2018 with a huge event in this story: RARE AF #1 NYC, the first Rare Art Festival.

While total attendance was low, some of the most prominent people in the burgeoning Crypto Art space appeared, including Matt Hall and John Watkinson from Cryptopunks and Beatriz Ramos from DADA NYC, in addition to Looney. According to Jason Bailey, it was a challenge getting enough artists to participate. Ramos spoke about the event on Right Click Save saying:

“I remember the feeling of effervescence, of excitement — a vital energy that day that felt like the festival was a catalyst for something big. It felt like we all knew that we were on the verge of something huge that no one else was aware of, in a room with other people who share this feeling.”

She continued, reflecting on the legacy of the event after four years:

“I think it catalyzed the NFT movement — the creative ferment, innovation, experimentation, and community but at the same time it buried it, becoming a movement that was purely market driven. The movement in itself (which is not ideological or aesthetic) ended up transforming into the beginnings of a market. And what is left to the community is a shared sense of nostalgia for those of us who lived that moment.”