Does Traditional Art Match Up to NFTs? Photography's Avant-Garde Comeback

Over the past few years, art has challenged all formats and boundaries. With the advent of web 3.0, art has been manifested in unimaginable ways. The industry now offers smaller artists the chance to be the focus of the spotlight with NFTs that range from music videos to animated 3D pieces.

While the tradition of art is undergoing its renaissance in the 2020s, artists are experimenting with new materials, formats, and messaging to create new concepts that appeal to collectors. 

Modern galleries feature moving frames and interactive spaces that engage visitors' senses, transforming traditionally conservative art disciplines into alternative universes, moving away from mainstream artists, and seeking out new artists with exceptional talents.

Photography titans Fujifilm and Canon and the Parsons School of Design reward these initiatives with awards and grants like the Fujifilm GFX Grant.

András Dobi, a professional ballet artist and Fujifilm GFX winner, challenges visions and merges disciplines in Photoreographia.

The concept is based on resolving the contradiction between dance being a movement through time and photography being the imprint of a moment by merging the paradox in both mediums. Two art forms can observe, experience, and implement one another's innovations, and reach a new conclusion about how dance and photography can be fused.

Dobi's work encapsulates an ephemeral record, a digital "pas de deux" that challenges the physical representations of web 2.0 art, that can be translated into web 3.0. As we evolve in the art world, we must challenge Walter Benjamin's,"The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (1935) on the notion that mechanical reproduction devalues the aura of an objet d'art.

András collaborated with contemporary dance artists and experimented with movement and speed to create art pieces that take the eye into a beautiful journey of movement and composition. These pieces are currently being exhibited at the Fujifilm Gallery in Osaka, Japan. For a deeper look into Photoreographia, watch Fujifilm’s stunning behind-the-scenes footage.

“Viewers can decide their way of experience and understanding of the images, and through them, the choreographic work as well." said Dobi.

As a contemporary innovator, András Dobi continuously seeks new and upcoming avant-garde artists in between his projects. András currently also works as Head of Curation for Munich-based gallery ARTOUI, which in a similar way to Fujifilm, seeks unique, distinctive artworks to be part of its portfolio, prioritizing singularity over reputation, as the art industry shifts towards a more niche approach that pushes all boundaries.

A limited collection of Photoreographia pieces are available for purchase here.