A non-fungible token (NFT) exhibition is bringing together a special selection of works under Iş Sanat Museum's virtual roof.
The exhibition, called “A Walk on the Bosporus with Paintings,” will be hosted on Decentraland, a decentralized virtual real estate platform that uses blockchain infrastructure.
In the exhibition, master painters such as Hikmet Onat, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu and Halil Paşa, whose works are also in the Işbank Painting Collection, will depict the blue waters and shores of Istanbul. Their paintings will be presented to visitors as NFTs.
The preview of the exhibition, which will last for three days between Tuesday and Thursday, will be held with the participation of a limited number of guests. NFT invitations required to attend the preview can be obtained from metaverse.issanat.com.tr until the end of Monday.
NFT invitations that use blockchain technology to create smart contracts were specially produced for the preview and invites have been limited to a thousand. After the preview, "A Walk on the Bosporus with Paintings" will be open for all visitors to enjoy from Friday until April 20, regardless of whether they have an NFT invitation.
Thanks to augmented reality applications, another technology used in the exhibition, NFT works exhibited in the digital environment are combined with physical and digital experiences. The technological setup of the exhibition was prepared with the cooperation of the innovation centers of Işbank and its technology subsidiary Softtech in Turkey and China.
Commenting on the exhibition, Işbank Corporate Communications Manager Gül Meltem Atılgan stressed that the company is happy to take on pioneering projects that add value to the country's social life in the fields of education, the environment, culture and arts, in addition to financial activities.
“We offer multidimensional best practices in digital banking and open banking in Turkey, and we are breaking new ground. We also use our strong competencies in this field in innovative projects within the framework of our understanding of social contribution. Last year, we have translated the work named 'Landscape – Ortaköy' by Hikmet Onat, which was recorded in our Artworks Collection, to NFT and started our work in this area," she said.
On another note, the curator of the exhibition, Gül Irepoğlu, said that the restoration of Işbank's historical building in Beyoğlu, Istanbul is continuing. The first exhibition will host a rich collection of paintings that Turkey's Işbank has been amassing since the 1940s.
"We have prepared an exhibition in which we will sail together on a virtual ferry, following the master painters in their collections, looking at the old Bosporus views through their eyes and their impressions,” she said.
