Dave Shannon

Dave Shannon Co-founder, MORROW collective My tumble into the crypto rabbit hole was unceremonious at best. From around 2011 I became obsessed with the global financial crisis; trying to understand what happened. I’ve since learned that’s how a lot of people got into Bitcoin and crypto; witnessing how big of a hit 2007 – 2008 was to a lot of people’s lives, and realising something was (and still is) very broken. Somewhat ironically, Peter Schiff prompted me to look at Bitcoin in 2014. I was listening to a lot of videos and podcasts by him, Jim Rickards and other hard money folks – primarily goldbugs - and during one of his podcasts, Peter mentioned Bitcoin as something “the young guys” were playing around with. I’d already invested a bit in gold in 2014 and decided Bitcoin was interesting too, but what followed was an epically myopic move on my part. I was working away from home at the time, based in a hotel. I downloaded the Bitcoin Armory wallet and started trying to sync the chain… A combination of slow hotel wi-fi and my impatience made me give up, then life distracted me and I didn’t retry. At the time Bitcoin was just under $600 a coin #facepalm. Three years later in 2017, an IT dev I worked with fully orange-pilled me and I sent funds to Bitstamp when the price was around $2,500; and in a typical noob move I told myself $2,500 was too expensive and that it would come down again. I ended up making my first purchase around three times higher... Since then, Bitcoin and the wider crypto world has been an obsession – philosophically, technically, culturally and economically (please give your sympathies to my wife; Hackatao’s piece ‘Stop talking about crypto’ (https://knownorigin.io/tokens/110380) resonates very much with her…). In summer 2020, during the COVID lockdowns, a couple of people on mainstream crypto Twitter started posting about blockchain art. At the time there weren’t many people on Twitter talking about it, and there were only a few active sites. So, within a couple of hours, it was possible to browse every new art work minted within the previous 24 hours. That’s how I fell into a new rabbit hole and started collecting. The blockchain use-case was elegant; it stood out amongst the useless contrivances of most ICOs (and other shit-coin nonsense) by solving the ‘problem’ of digital art: proof of provenance, scarcity and ownership. It was also genuinely fun, which – in the depths of COVID, was welcome. This new obsession started the ball rolling towards MORROW collective. I got to know Jen Stelco (a fantastic and lifelong artist) and asked her if she’d consider creating blockchain art; she got accepted to SuperRare and started minting and selling. Around the same time, Anna Seaman, another friend (and brilliant art journalist and curator), also started getting involved. Finally, another friend, Claire Harris (a branding and comms genius) joined. We started MORROW in March 2021 and had our inaugural exhibition in Voxels, appropriately titled ‘GENESIS’, in May 2021. It’s been a wonderful adventure with some great friends whose work ethic compliments each other and we are all committed to the (somewhat bumpy) ride. At MORROW, our focus is building a bridge between the blockchain art and traditional art worlds, with an unwavering dedication to substantive, conceptually-sound and narrative-filled art. We’ve been part of a really interesting range of projects (https://www.morrow-collective.com/projects), curated some noteworthy exhibitions (https://www.morrow-collective.com/exhibitions) and collaborated with a variety of amazing local organisations such as Art Dubai, Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, ToDa, FBMI, Alserkal Avenue, Foundry Downtown, Art in Space, House of Wisdom, ArtsDAO, Maraya Arts Centre and North Western University over in Doha. We exhibited at the first Art Dubai Digital in 2022 and were there again in 2023 with a special section dedicated to a project we did with the UAE Embassy in Washington DC. For that project we selected and brought some blockchain art visionaries from the US to the UAE, including Alias!, Bryan Brinkman, Colborn Bell, Coldie, Jesse Dalmani, Krista Kim, Jon Perkins, Maggie West, Mark Billings, Monaris, Patrick McLaren and untitled.xyz. It was a dream project and it did really well at the fair. As we grind through this bear market, we’re regularly asked ‘Are NFTs dead?’ This statement echoes broader questions such as: ‘Is crypto dead?’ and ‘Is Bitcoin dead?’. According to the obituary count on 99bitcoins.com (https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-obituaries) Bitcoin has been declared dead almost 500 times by the media. But – it’s still alive and well…. I think time will show the same for blockchain art, as well as some parts of the broader NFT space. There have been several Bitcoin cycles now, and each time Bitcoin rises, many new crypto projects rise and inevitably fall due to a lack of differentiation, use-case or value. The NFT space will very probably rise and fall (then rise again) in the same way, with some elements sustaining and others enjoying only temporary glory. We (MORROW) feel blockchain art will sustain. Art has value purely due to its existence, simply due to its emotion, beauty, imbued creativity and cultural impact. For many people (including collectors like me) that is more than enough. It needs no other use-case or inherent utility – it doesn’t need to DO anything. Art has sustained its position in human society for millennia. Blockchain tech has provided a new transactional and safeguarding layer to something that for centuries has brought joy and expression to humanity. So, it will inevitably thrive again. The same can’t be said for some other parts of the NFT space which have relied on tenuous and ultimately failed attempts to create utility. In the next market cycle, blockchain art will be more broadly embraced by the traditional art community. We see this as inevitable and will represent a real inflection point. The art market has a market cap of around $60 billion. Blockchain art at its 2021 peak was only around $2.6 billion. Therefore, we have a lot of penetration to go, which is a great problem to have in a nascent market. Parts of the broader NFT space will also recover, especially with the continued growth of individual and collective expression of identity with digital assets. Society is not quite ready yet, and some important components are lagging before they can reach full potential…but it will come. Taking the example of the metaverse, it’s just moving along the classic Gartner hype cycle – everyone went crazy with their expectations, brands piled in, and then things underwhelmed. Very predictable and very normal for a new area of tech. Related to this - I don’t think this evolution needs to be led by big brands, which will only lead to more centralization (booo!). I think we’re doing fine on our own and things will evolve with generations. I also think things needs to grow relatively slowly because the tech needs the scale and society needs to adapt. Same with Bitcoin, really. It’s only approaching 15 years old, and while I’d love for it to lambo moon short term, for Bitcoin’s REAL potential to be delivered (real societal change), it probably needs 25+ years. Rushing it leads to disappointment (and more obituaries!). From a personal perspective, I collect art because I love it, because it makes me feel something or makes me laugh or it's clever or satirical. I was an obsessive collector of stuff as a kid: Star Wars toys, football cards, comics, lots of stuff. Collecting for me is an aim in and of itself. I get so much joy from the art, and from supporting and particularly in the blockchain space, from getting to know the artists - the space is still small enough to be able to reach out to people. Eventually I want to build metaverse museums to share my collection to be an even more active part of this cultural movement. I have a list of artists on my wish list who I’m trying to collect before the next bull run. An example is Matt Kane – to this day not minting ‘Gazers’ is my biggest regret as a collector. As for MORROW, we’re in a genuinely exciting time building a rather special new project for 2024. We’re quietly confident that it will make waves and have a positive impact on the blockchain art community. We’ve been building friendships and (we hope) reputation throughout the bear market and loved every minute of it. We’re looking forward to whatever comes next.