Andy Murray x Wimbledon x Refik Anadol
The world of sports and digital art created quite a stir with the special open edition NFT collaboration between the internationally renowned tennis legend, Andy Murray, the prestigious Wimbledon tournament, and the well-celebrated digital artist, Refik Anadol. The collaboration was an interesting endeavor to commemorate Andy Murray’s glorious 10th-anniversary win at Wimbledon.
An intriguing image of Andy Murray wearing sensors. (source: Twitter)
About The Exposition
The Exposition is a pioneering exploration that marries fine art, high-performance sports, and data science. The artwork is a visual representation of the points played, and it captures the unique body movements of Andy Murray in his illustrious career at the remaining grass court tennis major. The artwork was revealed in a captivating teaser video.
The enticingly mesmerizing Exposition artwork. (source: Manifold)
Purchasing Information
- Price for the Exposition artwork is priced at $147.
- 248 editions have been minted to date.
- Mint window closure on 16th July.
- Buyers can mint using cryptocurrency or a credit card on Manifold.
- Possibility of purchasing a physical print edition of the artwork at a later date.
Sports Memorabilia & Fandom Trend
The emergence of digital art and collectibles blended with sports is predicted to be the future where sports memorabilia and fandom is headed. The scalability and accessibility are key drivers for sports that command a global audience. NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, in the recent NBA Con, emphasized the inability to scale arenas and the importance of extending fan experiences beyond the arenas through technology. NBA’s Top Shot product was highlighted as an effective way to implement it.
US Women’s Golf Open ArtBall
Taking cue from the Australian Open tennis grand slam’s NFT project – the AO ArtBall, golf introduced a similar concept at the US Women’s Open last week. Collaborating with the same architects involved in AO ArtBall project, the USGA established the ArtBall for the US Women’s Open where a portion of the sports field surface area was tied to an NFT.
The project witnessed over 3000 people minting a free NFT correlating with a plot of the 17th green at the host course Pebble Beach. The ArtBall concept is emerging as a powerful integration of sophisticated sports data tracking technology and a novel way to engage fans by blurring the lines between physical and digital experiences.
UFC’s Innovative Approach
The UFC announced an exciting multi-year partnership with Concept Labs to expand upon the UFC Strike collectibles product built on the Flow. It included UFC Strike: Fight Camp – a mobile-first roster management game compatible with UFC Strike digital collectibles. The holders also got the opportunity to participate in matchmaking sweepstakes where they got an exclusive opportunity to meet UFC president Dana White to pitch a dream fight matchup, and other exclusive digital and In-Real-Life fan experiences.