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NFTLA Live Twitter Space: Introducing the Outer Edge L.A. - Updates, News & More... | By NFT LA Live & Howl Labs
There is a word for that place that’s furthest away from your comfort zone. They call it the outer edge. That is the theme of this event dedicated to those who are building exciting stuff at the outer edges and making the future happen. The Outer Edge is going to be a space of unlimited potential in collaboration and co-creation, with creators, dreamers, disruptors, doers, community leaders, technologists, and artists of all kinds participating. Find out all about this exciting event in this episode and get to hear from some of the creators who have already signed up. If you’re a creator of some kind in this space, you’re going to love this one.
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NFTLA Live Twitter Space: Introducing the Outer Edge L.A. - Updates, News & More… | By NFT LA Live & Howl Labs
Future curious space travelers, stay tuned for critical announcements. A thrilling mission awaits those excited about what’s next and building it. NFT LA 2022 was a blast. It was also a blast-off in a giant plume of bright burning rocket fuel. Web3, NFTs, blockchain, decentralization and a suite of immersive new tech developments have exploded onto the canvas of life. Together we have boarded a powerful rocket ship hurdling toward the outer edge into extraordinary realms beyond our known universe of what’s possible.
Outer Edge is the theme of this event dedicated to those of you building with us at the outer edges making the future happen. You’re a founding pioneer in this new land. Claim your land and build the future with us. What does this all mean? We set aside space within the walls of the LA Convention Center for community members to co-create a decentralized experience. Showcase your outer edge projects from immersive tech and art activations to intimate conversations and bring the landscape to life with us.
Who is invited and who is this for? Builders, creators, dreamers, disruptors, doers, community leaders, technologists and artists. We have room for dozens of projects to participate in and bring their communities along at a nominal cost. When? Landing, build phase and community activation are during Outer Edge Week on March 20th through the 23rd, 2023. Build on Monday the 20th. Activate the community on the two following days. In addition, we invite you to submit your external events for inclusion and support from the main event.
Where? We will be granting plots of land within the convention center’s walls. Activations will extend throughout LA and beyond. Why? In 2022, we prototyped this one-of-a-kind idea with leaders in Web3 like Superchief Gallery. We’re approving scores of the same grassroots community-based initiatives and unleashing more incredible potential. Come experience and co-create the electrifying energy that defines and inspires builders. It’s all the benefits of decentralization all in one place. Save on Ubers. Save on stress. Immerse yourself. How? Apply now.
Welcome everyone to this special edition of NFT LA Twitter Spaces. It’s Outer Edge. How are you doing? I hope everyone is doing fine. I am joined by my co-anchors, @TheNFTease, @ZachSekar and some amazing guests who decided to join us in these amazing announcements. Take it away from me then. How are you doing?
Now that I hear the Outer Edge, all I want to sing is, “Everything you say to me because won’t stop closing to the edge.” I’m such a nerd. You have to tolerate me. It’s exciting. If it’s your first time reading this, we have a special space. NFT LA is up on stage. We got Josh and Zach here per usual to give you the lowdown on what interesting news is coming up. There are some amazing posts.
We have Miss Nicole Buffett. We’re excited to have you here. You have been doing some amazing paintings and some beautiful art in the NFT world. You’ve been evangelizing in this space quite a bit. You touch on topics that interest me on health, wellness, spirituality and things like that in some of the past interviews I’ve seen. I was grateful to have you. Thanks for joining us.
Thank you so much for having me.
We’re delighted. With that, Josh, I wanted to tip it to you first. Do you want to talk a little bit about what these changes to NFT LA are or the Outer Edge, what the thought process was behind it and where we’re going from here? It gives me a very Star Trek-y feel. That’s in line with another announcement that we made.
We love this space. We are so excited about the future. In the process of doing our show over the last few years, there’s always this debate, “Is each month like 7 years or 9 years?” Time is flying. In the process of time flying, we have realized that there’s so much more to talk about. There’s so much more to Web3 and this technology convergence with AI and everything else. We wanted to reflect that in the theme for the year, be more encompassing of all the different components of Web3, DAOs, DeFi, AI and all this good stuff, have a broader conversation and make sure that everyone could come to the table together and collaborate because that’s what’s happening.
I was in a car driving to an event with a cool guy I met in LA that is all about DAOs. He is like, “NFTs are cool. I love DAOs. I’m part of the Web3 community.” I was like, “You’re going to love the new name because we want you to be part of this community as well.” This is not a flash-in-the-pan decision. There has been a lot of time, critical thinking and support to pull this off. We feel it’s the right direction to reflect on where we are in the space and where it’s all going.
It’s all about collaboration and community. I felt like it trimmed out a lot of the fat and the naysayers. We’re left with the core of enthusiasts. It has been an amazing experience connecting with people week after week in this space. Nicole, I pinned up some of your most recent posts regarding your project and your genesis collection. I wanted to get some time, jump over into that for a little bit and talk about it because it’s very interesting. It’s your style and what you’ve done here by getting physical items with digital items. We’re excited to see these activations and things at NFT LA or Outer Edge and experience that IRL with some of our other featured artists. Can you give us a little bit of background?
The image that’s pinned is my studio. Those are the most recent edition of Spirit Coins. That was my genesis collection. The first group of NFTs that I ever created is something I called Spirit Coins. They’re paintings based on a native practice called council holding where you people sit in a circle and share with the talking stick with the objective being conflict resolution. I learned about this right before the pandemic or right before I got into the NFT space and Web3. I was super inspired by it and blown away by the power of such a simple act and how deeply transformative it is.
I started making these paintings at that time. The pandemic hits and then I’m introduced to Web3 and NFTs. I’m a painter. I make things with my hands. I make things in nature. My work is very much about where the intersection of spirituality and art meet. That’s my reality and where I live. When I first got introduced to the space, it was super digital. A lot of the work was flat, graphic and two-dimensional. It’s work that I appreciated but didn’t relate to.
I thought it would be fun and I thought that work at that time. There was a radical quality in how simple the work is. I thought, “I’m going to share something super simple.” At that point, simplicity, light and clarity were so much needed in my life and the world in every way. I took a chance and thought, “I’m going to do this and call them Spirit Coins because this whole new currency and this whole idea of valuing spirit and human beings over all other currencies is what is needed.”
Outer Edge: This whole idea of valuing spirit and human beings over all other currencies is what is needed.
That’s where this whole body of work came from. That’s the origin story of this whole body of work. What you see in the pin picture is the most recent set of 22 Spirit Coins that I created for a convention that happened in Singapore. It’s a self-help or self-transformation convention. I shared about what it means to be an artist, the creative process and how that is one of the most healing things we can do for ourselves and others. It’s to get in touch with our creativity.
One last thing that I’m very excited about is I created an 88-card oracle deck based on my Spirit Coins. It’s a physical deck that you can use. That was super exciting to work on that, write and give voice to the images. My heart is with Web3 and NFTs. They pushed me to speak to Outer Edge. Truly, that is a perfect word. I’ve been pushed to the outer edge of my creative expression. It has given birth to so many new aspects, collaborations and artworks that would never have even existed previously. I am excited about being at Outer Edge.
Thanks, Nicole. That’s one reason we’re honored to have her on this special edition. We met Nicole in the community at another event before we produced our first NFT LA. In the process of doing our show, which has been a cool way to get to know people, we vibed and decided to do a collab called these Spirit Seeds based on her Spirit Coin collection and our first event.
It was a great example of co-creation. We have been thinking hard about how to make experiences and events more co-creative. We have heard all these amazing and touching stories of people that have met through NFT LA, have become business partners, have created pieces of music together, have done art together and have done mints together. It’s like, “How can we create a more co-creative environment based on the types of things we did with Superchief?”
It includes some special stuff that we wanted to do that I don’t think has been done before. We wanted to tell you a little bit more about it. We brought up Nicole because we’re working on some ideas together. We brought up CryptoJeweler, the one and only because we’ve got a special collab in the making. You all will get some early alpha on that.
These are examples of the type of co-creation we want to do. If there are artists in the audience and if there are emerging projects that are trying to find their way and want to figure out cool collaborations, we want you all to know that our home is your home. We will break down some of these details for you over the course of this. I’m so excited about all this stuff that we have to share with the community.
It’s all good things. It’s great because Nicole was touching on something. I felt like that is the core of everything here that we’re working on. It’s important that we don’t lose track of that. We are being disruptors. We’re trying to pioneer a new image and vision for the world. Simplicity was a word. That’s sometimes something that’s extremely lacking in what we do.
We’re talking about complicated technology. Simplicity falls out of the terminology but bringing it back to the simplicity of what that desire is and that motivation and pushing that into the outer edge is important. I’m grateful to make that connection. I also see some amazing people in the audience. I see Dr. Proctor down there. We met forever ago. You’re one of my favorite astronauts. You got to tell me how space was. That’s cool. That reminds me of the experiences I get to have in going to these events and connecting with these amazing people.
Ben, you’re going to get some more alpha because we are talking to Kyle and Dr. Proctor about an Outer Edge space activation.
Is this where we’re going to get Will Shatner? We can compare notes on what’s on set versus what’s in space. He has been to space. That one is a true legend.
Anything is possible.
For anyone who hadn’t already seen the announcement, Ben is alluding to the announced keynote speaker of the Outer Edge LA, It’s the one and only William Shatner.
My stepdad was freaking out because that’s his hero. I have an obligatory autograph I have to snag from that man. He’s a personal hero too. I love him. I want to take it back to you, Nicole, because I want to hear a little bit about how you stumbled on the arts and what set you on this path. There are so many different avenues artists are taking when they’re getting into Web3 and talking about what you get exposed to when you come to an event like NFT LA. It can be overwhelming trying to understand how to take the physical into the digital and what you can do with access and all those things. You’ve experienced that. Can you give us a little bit about how you started this journey and how comfortable you are?
How I started this journey is that it was a way to share my art with the world and connect. The beauty of this is that I’ve been a working professional artist all my life. I have my masters. I’ve been represented by galleries. I’ve exhibited it internationally and all these things. The reason why I bring this up is that up until Web3, my career felt like it was idling even though I’m doing everything. We’re engaging. I’m having shows. The power and the ability to truly connect and expand inside this space are phenomenal.
I feel like my art career began with Web3. It made so much sense. It helped me make sense of why things were at the place that they were. The key is this whole new cultural shift around collaboration and partnership. That’s what was missing in my life as a painter. That’s a very singular experience. It’s known. I’m in my studio. I’m painting. I’m alone. I love my alone time but I also love sharing. I do it so that I can connect. That’s why we do what we do.
The pivot for me was not just learning the technology, minting and getting into the digitizing of the work. That was the first basic layer. The second was working with people. First of all, it’s not learning in a vacuum. You have to be vulnerable. I pushed myself in uncomfortable ways. I was uncomfortable for a long time. I still am in some ways uncomfortable with technology, to be honest, and that’s okay. The outcome and the function that the space offers are so rewarding. I find that when you meet the space, it meets you. The people will come.
Outer Edge: The outcome and the function that the space offers are so rewarding. When you meet the space, it meets you.
These are big questions. It’s life-changing and world-changing but the next layer pivot for me was starting to work with animators and handing over the work, even Eathan from Outer Edge. That was an amazing experience. We are friends. We work together. I love being like, “I want to see what you do with these coins. What are you going to do with these?” He made them into these dope two-bit generated animations. I wouldn’t have thought of doing that. I loved it.
It’s making it fun, working with people, letting people inform your work, not being attached to a specific aesthetic and then blending the ability that this space has to bring in activism because the impact is another aspect of the wind behind the sails of how we get to show up as artists in the world. This has beefed up my identity. It’s taking us out of that old paradigm of isolation. It’s quite the opposite. It’s this activated, abundant and amazing experience. We go farther together. Art and our life get better together. Everything gets better. This space is proof of that. I am an evangelical voice in this space.
You’re like, “It’s complicated and intimidating.” I’ve been years in this space. It’s still complicated and intimidating but it’s with the people that are willing to take the risk. We’re grateful to have you as part of this community.
Thank you. I’m honored.
Before we lose a little bit of what Nicole said, she said something about feeling uncomfortable or still getting comfortable. I want to highlight that because I firmly believe that you’re not going anywhere special unless you’re getting into uncomfortable places. If you’re sitting there and doing something that feels natural and normal, it’s easy. I challenge you to push yourself farther.
They have a word for the place that’s far away from your comfort zone. They call that being on the edge.
I feel like I’ve been on the edge during this theme change.
It’s important to highlight two big points here. We want to honor those people in the community that are in that place with this event. We call them the builders, the creators, the explorers or whatever you are. We’re here to support you, bring you in and let you showcase what you’re doing. To be honest, we feel a little bit vulnerable pushing the edges and making things happen. The other side of that too that Nicole brought up is working with other people also puts you in a vulnerable place in a place where you’re pushing your boundaries. We want to encourage that and support that.
The last thing I want to highlight to everybody which Josh mentioned off the cuff there is we’re pushing our edges here by bringing this event to you and offering you what we believe is the edge of what we can offer in terms of something new, something interesting, something exciting or something that hasn’t been done before. This is an invitation. You will hear more about it but there are going to be plenty of invitations for you out there, whoever you are, to come and participate with us and be rewarded for that participation.
I want to break down what this means more specifically for folks. We have a lot of special people that have joined this from Mr. David Bianchi to CryptoJeweler and Keith Botha. I want to at least give everyone a chance to chime in and share their thoughts on what’s going on as well. We love community feedback. We have been consulting a lot of these folks. We don’t make decisions in a vacuum. We look to the community for guidance along the way. After all, that is co-creation.
Outer Edge: We don’t make decisions in a vacuum. We look to the community for guidance along the way. After all, that is co-creation.
There are a couple of components of this event that fit the theme. We’ve got William Shatner, which is so special. We’re honored to have him at our event. We also are doing something different with the structure of the actual event. The core event is going to be on Tuesday and Wednesday from March 21st and March 22nd, 2023. As you can imagine, it’s going to be in the convention center with a lot of creative space. There are going to be multiple stages that are separated in creative ways.
On the outer edge of both sides of the room is a designated space for the community. These are plots of physical land inside of our event. They’re 10×10 and 10×20 pieces of land that are available to the community activations to apply and receive. There’s a very nominal deposit, which is intended to say, “Are you going to come and do something cool?” Creativity wins. If you go to our website, OuterEdge.live/co-create, you can apply for a plot of land.
This is for artists, technologists, futurists and anyone that wants to add value to this space and showcase their talents, their passions and what they’re working on and gifting the community with some experience that adds value to the space. We have been hearing so many cool ideas. We’re like, “How do we do this?” This is our solution to that. There’s another component too to the Outer Edge. We know the outer edge of creativity does not live in the convention center. It lives in our community. Thursday is to celebrate the whole Outer Edge. People are planning some crazy and fun stuff like wellness activations, sports activations and art activations on Community Day.
Do you wear hot pink or red lipstick too?
Most of the time. It makes my eyes pop.
That’s what it does to mine too.
He will be jealous for sure.
David, what’s up?
It’s on the RZR’s Outer Edge.
It looks like I follow Keith.
I’m taking the word back.
Josh has been having heartburn.
That’s a courageous move.
I need a wolf costume.
I have to step my game up.
It’s illust.
That’s beautiful and so necessary.
Thanks for having me.
Zach is going to be brewing it himself.
You got this, Zach.
Pour-over is in demand.
That sounds good.
Goodbye, everybody.
Important Links
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@TheNFTease - Twitter
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@ZachSekar - Twitter
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Nicole Buffett - Twitter
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David Bianchi - Twitter
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Keith Botha - Twitter
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@WARHODL - Twitter
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Emily Lazar - Twitter
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Manny Linx - Twitter
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Gabe Weis - Twitter
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@Sabet - Twitter
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Camille Chiang - Twitter
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@ZHOVAK - Twitter
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Tony Bravado - Twitter
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kmoney - Twitter
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Buddha Alpha Healing Sounds - Twitter
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SOL - Twitter
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@Beanstamatic - Twitter
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@Metanoise_AD - Twitter
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illust - Twitter
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kyriaki - Twitter
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culture kidZ - Twitter
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@TryHowl - Twitter
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iTunes - Edge of NFT