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Reading Time: 2 minutes The art world has been truly re-awakened with the influx of creative NFT artists and collections available today. Although the global pandemic has presented a challenging period for creatives across a wide spectrum, the world of digital art has thrived and given artists a new opportunity to engage with a […]

Topia, the leading platform for creating social experiences with decentralized spatial chat inside fully customizable virtual worlds, announced feature launches and key new investment. Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman's Thirty Five Ventures join Topia investors Alexis Ohanians' Seven Seven Six and Bonfire Ventures. 

As an industry first, Topia has expanded its creator ecosystem with the launch of their verified NFT system. With this system, ERC-721 NFT owners can verify and place their on-chain assets inside Topia worlds and collaboratively create NFT galleries. Topia's peer-to-peer webrtc streams are decentralized, allowing secure end-to-end encrypted browser-based chat. In addition to the new verified NFT system, Topia also introduced member profiles, enabling unique usernames and greater relationship building within Topia worlds.

With the new gallery feature, NFTs can be displayed publicly in a Topia world where friends, family, colleagues, and the general public can be invited to view and discuss them. Topia is maintaining a publicly available verified NFT gallery in topia.io/nft and holding a public launch event with a series of talks on December 14 in topia.io/pixel.

“The emergence of NFTs represents a major milestone for Web3, decentralized technology, and the interoperable creator economy. Until now, it has been challenging to showcase NFTs in real-time social experiences online. We wanted to replicate the ability to socialize around art, as you would in our home, at a gallery, or museum,” said Topia CEO and co-founder Daniel Liebeskind. “Decentralized databases are great for creators, who get to add assets to a shared public backend and leave it up to platforms like Topia to build interoperable frontends that increase the value of their creations. Since founding Topia two years ago, we've been on a mission to empower the creation of social experiences for real-time connection and play. Verified NFTs and owner profiles represent our commitment to the growing interoperable metaverse and enable Topia world builders to create hybrid on-chain, off-chain social experiences that showcase NFTs and are accessible to everyone.”

How Verified NFTs work in Topia -- A new menu option allows Topia users to connect Ethereum accounts to their Topia account. All of the user's ERC-721 NFTs will be populated into their asset library and can be placed within Topia's worlds. Similar to original art in the physical world, an NFT can only exist in one place at a time across the entire Topia universe. Hovering over a placed NFT will reveal a “verified NFT” badge that confirms its on-chain identity and its owner's Topia profile. Placed NFTs can also be added to a user's profile to highlight worlds.

About Topia

Since launching in April of 2020, Topia has grown to see hundreds of user-hosted events every week.  Topia's scalable architecture can handle events ranging from a few friends to thousands of concurrent guests coming together. The free-to-use platform has co-hosted virtual Burning Man twice and attracted a diverse range of users from families, students, and schools, to companies, music and arts festivals, and Fortune 500 companies. Large companies and confluencers have been hiring agencies to build out branded Topia worlds for their employees and fans to foster creativity and collaboration. 

topia.io

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TWO TWO and the City have partnered to invigorate the Downtown Arts District. With immersion, interaction, NFTs and multiple forms of reality, TWO TWO's collaborations with some of the world's finest artists, composers and engineers are representative of the inspiration behind creativity, focusing on the expansion of artistic vision and disrupting the entire industry. Reimagining mediums, TWO TWO transcends all current artist experiences. As the entertainment capital of the world, Las Vegas recognizes the need to exhibit art in a manner that remains relevant to future generations. 

“TWO TWO is a perfect partner to help us re-invigorate our Arts District to attain world class status,” according to Tammy Christensen, Senior Economic Development Officer of the City of Las Vegas. “We look forward to hosting the transformation of the art world happening in our amazing City.”

As the bohemian jewel of downtown Las Vegas, the Arts District is already prominent. An absolute Mecca of food, music, fashion, and of course art, the area is home to the city's most exciting venues, boutiques, restaurants, bars, and art galleries, serving up the best culture Southern Nevada has to offer. From the hippest bars like ReBar, which is a combination of a bar and antique shop where literally EVERYTHING is for sale, to the most delectable restaurants like Esther's Kitchen, founded by Michelin five-star chef James Tree, the Arts District is the true cultural hub of Las Vegas. “Everything about the Arts District is independent and free-spirited,” says Trees. “Unlike the big hotels on the strip, where everything fits nicely into a theme, the Arts District is its own entity. That's what makes it so fun and exciting.”

You can shop for the most vibrant modern and vintage fashions at places like Glam Factory Vintage and Del'la Couture, or enjoy the best theater this side of Broadway at The Cockroach Theater or the Vegas Theater Company. Cocktail lounges like The Velveteen Rabbit and high-brow coffee shops like Makers and Finders are more New York Soho chic than Vegas Strip kitsch, and craft breweries like HUDL Brewing and Able Baker are making names for themselves by churning out the tastiest and most unique craft brews in the country. Popular venues such as Ninja Karaoke offer up a full throttle Tokyo karaoke experience, with themed rooms that are perfect for hosting your next birthday or business party, while trendy salons like The Atomic Lounge can give you the most stylish classic looks from the 1950s to today.

But of course, what would the Las Vegas Arts District be without the art.You don't even have to set foot in one of the district's many remarkable galleries in order to peruse the murals that beautify the walls of almost every building in the area. Whether in search of a limited-edition print, the perfect piece to tie a room together, or the ideal artist to bring a custom commission to life, the Arts District's galleries are treasures troves for both the casual and serious art lover alike. The Arts Factory is a sprawling converted warehouse that serves as home to the city's most celebrated local artists' studios, and Helios Fine Art is another renowned venue known for pushing boundaries and challenging the viewer.

For those seeking vintage collectibles, furniture, knickknacks, and tchotchkes, Retro Vegas is a total time machine of Vegas kitsch, specializing in the best remnants of the bygone era. Still, perhaps the most exciting aspect of this burgeoning Vegas cultural phenomenon is their renowned First Friday events. On the first Friday of every month, the Arts District hosts a huge block party where the city's best musicians, artists, food vendors, and clothing designers come together to showcase their trend-setting work.  It is the best party in town. Although best known as a monthly event, the First Friday Foundation extends its community outreach efforts well beyond the first Friday of each month.

As a non-profit organization, the First Friday Foundation serves to empower local arts, culture, and education through artistic opportunities for thousands of students in the Clark County School District. This directly aligns with TWO TWO's own mission statement, to connect and enrich the global community through arts and entertainment. As the first immersive art gallery in the district, TWO TWO will become the touchstone from which all future galleries and art will emerge. So forget your tired old Las Vegas strip, and welcome yourself to the city's best kept secret, located in the southern downtown within walking distance to Fremont St.

“If you want to learn about history, you could read history books but that's a single perspective that may be tainted by class or politics,” according to Steven W Meistrich, Co-Founder and CEO of TWO TWO. “In my opinion, if you really want to understand and embrace history, one needs art, music and literature because that represents truth; the heart of a society, a generation, a culture. That understanding, offers a true sense of the meaning of history which is fundamental to the grown of humanity. Art, music and literature are not erudite. They are oxygen and it is incumbent upon us to educate.” 

TWO TWO, the City of Las Vegas, partners in Art Without Boundaries. 

ABOUT TWO TWO

TWO TWO is the world's first Interactive Art Gallery. It blurs the boundaries between physical and virtual art, exhibiting and selling the works of visionary, established and emerging graffiti, pop and street artists. See more at www.twotwoart.com.