Ep. 4: Noah Davis

12/10/21 • 34 min

In Episode 4 of Probably Nothing TZ (@TZhongg) and Alexis Ohanian (@alexisohanian) chat with Noah Davis (@NonFungibleNoah) of Christie's. Noah is the former Head of Online Sales for contemporary art at Christie's, but is now primarily focused on NFTs and crypto related digital art projects. Noah discusses how he first got into NFTs, and how he was able to convince a 200+ year old company to begin auctioning NFTs this year. TZ, Alexis, and him also discuss a bit of art history, how NFTs align incentives between artists and curators/collectors, and the future of smart contracts in the art world. This wide ranging discussion shows how NFTs are starting to bridge both the fine art world and the crypto community.

Links Mentioned in this Episode

Timestamps

00:30: Noah Davis intro

01:20: How did Noah convince Christie's to get into NFTs?

02:30: How did Noah first get into NFTs and what helped him understand them?

04:20: What is the future of NFTs in the art world?

06:50: Art Basel NFT prediction?

11:30: What was the internal process on convincing Christie's to do a project with OpenSea?

14:08: wen christie's dao?

16:12: What was the process like of promoting Beeple's sale on Discord?

19:40: What is "absurdist post-war French theater" and why did he study it in school?

24:00: Secondary sales in a world of smart contracts

28:40: Future hope for artist and smart contracts

29:50: Working with artists compared to working with collectors

32:48: Noah's experience in the NFT space

33:34: If you were stranded on an island which NFT would you take from your collection? What about anyone's NFT collection?

Mentions

Beeple - @beeple
Tom Sachs - @tom_sachs
Damian Hurst - @hirst_official
MakesPlace - @makersplaceco
NFT now - @nftnow
collector 33 - @33NFT
Justin Aversano - @justinaversano
Superrare - @SuperRare
Joshua Davis - @JoshuaDavis
fewocious - @fewocious
Punk 4301

Show Notes

Who is Noah Davis?

Specialist at Christie's in the contemporary arts department with a focus in NFTs.
He started working on NFTs in March with his intro to NFTs during the first Beeple @beeple sale.

Getting into NFTs and bringing them to Christie's

How did Noah first get into NFTs?

"NFTs really found me."
Before he was head of NFTs at Christie’s, he was the head of online sales for contemporary art.
He was in the office last January to see an IRL piece of art for an auction.
- His colleague, Megan Doyle, brought an NFT opportunity to his attention. She had been contacted by MakersPlace for a possible NFT consignment, and asked Noah if he would be open to putting an NFT in his sale.
Noah barely knew about NFTs.
- All he really knew was that Beeple sold his NFT at Nifty Gateway for $6 million, and that NFTs are a new asset class running on a blockchain foundation.
What drew Noah into NFTs, beyond the art, was the promise of decentralization and the things that blockchain can do.
- "We are heading towards a future that will have a foundation in blockchain. You can either end up with the state run dystopian future or you can build one yourself."
- Noah wants to see a future where there is a decentralized me...

Links Mentioned in this Episode

Timestamps

00:30: Noah Davis intro

01:20: How did Noah convince Christie's to get into NFTs?

02:30: How did Noah first get into NFTs and what helped him understand them?

04:20: What is the future of NFTs in the art world?

06:50: Art Basel NFT prediction?

11:30: What was the internal process on convincing Christie's to do a project with OpenSea?

14:08: wen christie's dao?

16:12: What was the process like of promoting Beeple's sale on Discord?

19:40: What is "absurdist post-war French theater" and why did he study it in school?

24:00: Secondary sales in a world of smart contracts

28:40: Future hope for artist and smart contracts

29:50: Working with artists compared to working with collectors

32:48: Noah's experience in the NFT space

33:34: If you were stranded on an island which NFT would you take from your collection? What about anyone's NFT collection?

Mentions

Beeple - @beeple
Tom Sachs - @tom_sachs
Damian Hurst - @hirst_official
MakesPlace - @makersplaceco
NFT now - @nftnow
collector 33 - @33NFT
Justin Aversano - @justinaversano
Superrare - @SuperRare
Joshua Davis - @JoshuaDavis
fewocious - @fewocious
Punk 4301

Show Notes

Who is Noah Davis?

Specialist at Christie's in the contemporary arts department with a focus in NFTs.
He started working on NFTs in March with his intro to NFTs during the first Beeple @beeple sale.

Getting into NFTs and bringing them to Christie's

How did Noah first get into NFTs?

"NFTs really found me."
Before he was head of NFTs at Christie’s, he was the head of online sales for contemporary art.
He was in the office last January to see an IRL piece of art for an auction.
- His colleague, Megan Doyle, brought an NFT opportunity to his attention. She had been contacted by MakersPlace for a possible NFT consignment, and asked Noah if he would be open to putting an NFT in his sale.
Noah barely knew about NFTs.
- All he really knew was that Beeple sold his NFT at Nifty Gateway for $6 million, and that NFTs are a new asset class running on a blockchain foundation.
What drew Noah into NFTs, beyond the art, was the promise of decentralization and the things that blockchain can do.
- "We are heading towards a future that will have a foundation in blockchain. You can either end up with the state run dystopian future or you can build one yourself."
- Noah wants to see a future where there is a decentralized me...

Previous Episode

Ep. 3: Keith Grossman

In episode 3 of Probably Nothing TZ and Alexis Ohanian chat with Keith Grossman, President of TIME. They talk about Keith's personal journey into NFTs and how he brought such a new technology to such a traditional and timeless brand. Keith shares some remarkable stories about the power of the web3 community, and TZ and Alexis answer some tricky questions from Keith about the future of brands, sponsorships, and media. The group discusses web3 and web2 comparisons, especially with Reddit, and talk about where web3 is headed. This episode is definitely worth your TIME ;)

Links Mentioned in this Episode

Timestamps

01:09: IP in the NFT space

02:30: Reddit vs web3

04:15: Mr. Splashy Pants

06:00: Ownership

09:00: The Power of POAPS

11:00: How did Keith convince Time to do an NFT?

15:15: Why did Keith drop a 1 of 1 collection and begin to accept crypto as a payment at TIME?

18:59: Long-term vs short-term thinking

23:25: How did Keith get to where he is?

27:15: Where should Keith take TIME Pieces?

28:50: What has Keith learned in the past five weeks?

29:45: Keith's craziest web3 story

35:08: Rewards for kindness in web3

36:08: Keith's tricky question for Alexis and TZ

38:15: Alexis's response

41:25: Your identity and PFPs - why someone would turn down $9.5 million for their PFP NFT

43:40: How did Keith get into NFTs - especially as a boomer ;)?

48:20: NFT Art vs. PFP

50:35: What are three things Keith would suggest to a new person getting into NFTs?

55:20: If Keith was stuck on an island which NFT would he bring?

Next Episode

Ep. 5: ThankYouX

In Episode 5 of Probably Nothing TZ (@TZhongg) and Alexis Ohanian (@alexisohanian) chat with ThankYouX (@ThankYouX) in Miami during Art Basel. ThankYouX, also known as Ryan, is an artist whose work blends both art and technology. Throughout the episode you'll hear about how this intersection of art and tech is playing out, what's possible for a new generation of artists, the future of digital fashion, and more much. You'll also hear about Ryan's journey diving into NFTs and what his future plans are.

Big thanks to Melissa (@melissa), Marya, Lulu, Kenyatta, Unrvld, and the 776 team for helping to put an incredible live event together.

Links Mentioned in This Episode -

- Timestamps -

02:25: How did Ryan get into NFTs?

04:15: When did Ryan see "the Matrix" and what convinced him?

05:08: What gave Ryan the conviction to dive in?

09:45: How is Art Basel different this year with new artists than previous years?

12:25: Alexis's experience with web2 vs. web3

13:58: What helped Ryan understand blockchain?

14:13: What's the traditional art world like for an artist?

15:29: NFT communities

16:00: What's coming for NFTs?

16:20: What is Ryan up to in Art Basel?

16:45: Next generation of artists

18:20: More about digital fashion

19:25: NFTs as a technology

24:45: NFTs and Virtual Reality

26:35: If you were stuck on an island which NFT would you bring?

- Mentions -

- Show Notes -

*Ryan and NFTs*

How did Ryan get into NFTs?

Ryan comes from the digital art world but loves tech. He was kind of into VR and 360 a couple of years ago, but there wasn't any distribution for it so it faded away.

"I have always tried to figure out how to marry my paintings with digital stuff"

Last September Ryan got sent a few links about NFTs by his friend Chris Mortimer (@slidestream). Chris told Ryan that NFTs were going to be his future, so Ryan dove right into the space. A couple of weeks later Ryan met 3LAU (@3LAU) and they started to talk. 3LAU helped explain NFTs more.
Ryan then met his good friend JN Silva, who was deep into blockchain and helped explain a lot of the backend. They both felt like they didn't fit in the space.

'The Matrix moment'

Last December Ryan had his first NFT drop and they were selling out fast. His wife was pregnant and napping so he couldn’t make a lot of noise but he was freaking out.

"I just thought wow, this is the future."

The conviction

"I am constantly looking for a marriage between art and tech. I really truly was diving into it. I consider founders of tech companies artists because they are creating something from nothing."