K11 Musea democratises NFTs with two-month exhibition with partners Visa and HSBC

New World Development's shopping mall K11 Musea has launched an NFT exhibition in collaboration with HSBC and Visa, showcasing more than 200 art pieces from 30 artists across nine floors. At the same time, HSBC will offer some of its clients private NFT art tours at K11 Atelier, a property development close to K11 Musea.

According to the shopping mall, the current showcase "Metavision" is a curation of the world’s biggest names in NFT art exhibited together in Hong Kong for the first time. It aims to democratise and demystify NFTs and educate the masses on the new kind of collectibles that has emerged thanks to blockchain technology, offering them opportunities to become NFT artists.

Visitors can see more than 200 pieces created by more than 30 artists, including artists as young as eight years old to world-class names such as Tom Sachs and Takashi Murakami, across nine floors in the shopping mall. The exhibits are curated to match each floor’s theme.

The collection is estimated to be worth a total of over 26,000 ETH, or more than US$82 million. The artworks are at varying price points, starting from 0.8 ETH to as high as 1,560 ETH.

Moreover, visitors can also buy art pieces. Of close to 100 pieces that are available for sale, visitors only need to scan the accompanying QR codes on each display for purchase enquiry.

In addition to the exhibition, there will be a host of online workshops by K11 Kulture Academy that will teach the public how to mint their own NFTs and access the Sandbox metaverse. Visitors can also join tours to learn more about the stories behind each NFT project displayed, with each tour ending with a tutorial for anyone to open their own crypto wallet. On the weekends in May, visitors to K11 MUSEA will also be able to experience "Meta Odyssey", an immersive multi-sensory pop-up experience featuring a rhapsody of AR and live lighting effects paired with music.

New World Development's CEO Adrian Cheng has been investing in the metaverse. Last December, he started investing in Animoca Brands' subsidiary and decentralised gaming virtual world The Sandbox, offering virtual real estate "LAND NFTs" in the open metaverse. Cheng's "LAND" is one of the biggest plots in The Sandbox, and forms part of the "Mega City" virtual world, which includes his Innovation Hub. The landmark of the Innovation Hub is the GBA Pavilion, a centre propagating creativity and futuristic vision to showcase the successes of various Greater Bay Area (GBA) start-ups, including Aesir, Casetify, Lalamove, DayDayCook and Prenetics.

In addition to K11 Musea, HSBC will bring its high net worth clients exclusive digital art experiences through private NFT art tours, access to a selected exhibition of NFT pieces at K11 ATELIER HSBC Wealth Centre and NFT production and metaverse workshops for their children. To promote digital art appreciation, the bank is also turning the exterior wall of HSBC Main Building into Hong Kong’s largest outdoor NFT gallery, exhibiting a collection of 11 exclusive NFT art pieces featured in the K11 Musea show.

Under the campaign, HSBC will send 1,000 customer gifts in the form of ecofriendly, non-tradable NFTs. Issued by a third-party digital platform, these NFTs will be the first-ever digital collectibles from a retail bank in Hong Kong, and are minted on a blockchain that purchases carbon credits for supporting the development of clean energy. This blockchain also consumes 2,600 times less energy than other conventional platforms.

“We are pleased to present this exhibition at K11 Musea and at our first wealth centre in Hong Kong. NFTs continue to make headlines in the art world.
It is fascinating to see many of our clients are keen to discover what that means to someone who appreciates works of art," said Maggie Ng, head of wealth and personal banking, Hong Kong, HSBC.

She added, "HSBC will continue to collaborate with leading galleries and identify partnership opportunities to bring innovative art experience to customers.”

In March, HSBC partnered with The Sandbox to enter the metaverse. The partnership allows the bank to create innovative brand experiences for new and existing customers. HSBC has acquired a 3x3 LAND site in The Sandbox metaverse with an intention of engaging and connecting with sports, esports and gaming enthusiasts. Details of the HSBC and The Sandbox collaboration will be announced in due course.

According to HSBC's CMO for Asia Pacific, Suresh Balaji, the metaverse is how consumers will experience Web3, the next generation of the Internet. This is achieved by immersive technologies such as AR, VR and extended reality. "At HSBC, we see great potential to create new experiences through emerging platforms, opening up a world of opportunity for our current and future customers and for the communities we serve," explained Balaji.

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