Ithra celebrates the 2022 FIFA World Cup with an NFT exhibition

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are finding their way into the FIFA World Cup event that is currently taking place in Qatar. The King of Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) is celebrating football through a unique NFT exhibition.

Ithra celebrates the 2022 FIFA World Cup

The NFT exhibition in question features 64 digital collectibles that have been created by 32 artists from the countries that are competing in the World Cup. The exhibition has integrated artificial intelligence (AI) to fuse the pieces from the two competing countries in each of the 64 matches.

The result has been a collection of 64 unique NFTs created using human and AI efforts. The Strike to Stroke collection launched at the Galleria Mall in Doha, Qatar, on November 24. The exhibition will run until December 23.

The cultural promoter behind this exhibition has said that it is channeling the global passion for football into art at a time when the world is coming together for the World Cup. “The exhibition melds the man-made with the machine-made and combines art, sport, and technology in an innovative fashion.”

The project has been put together by 32 established artists, with each one creating a piece that represents their country. Each piece also contains a representation of the jersey colors of every team. The AI comes in after every match to combine the creations of the artists with the statistics of the match to create art pieces representing every game.

Some pieces that have already been completed and listed on OpenSea include the AI-generated Saudi Arabia-Argentina NFT. Opensea is the largest marketplace for NFTs.

Artists explain the inspiration behind each NFT design

Fatima Mohammed from Qatar is one of the artists contributing to this NFT exhibition. She said that her art portrays the cultural developments in the Arabian Gulf in the fictional world of 3naj. The artwork is partly Arab and partly American.

Saudi-based artist, Amr Salih Bogari, said that his NFT journey commenced in 2021. He described his pieces as an infusion of love with different local cultures and how these cultures have been interconnected within one land, kingdom, and people. The NFT contains a green symbol symbolizing abundance and a white symbol symbolizing peace.

Argentinian artist, Ezekiel German, explores human emotions using art. He noted that Argentines were passionate about soccer. Therefore, his NFT piece has captured the feelings of Argentines toward the World Cup.

Cameroonian artist Abdias Ngateu has created a plastic and aesthetic piece. The piece captures different themes, including dehumanization, urban mobility, urban space, and current global events. He explained that his piece shows Cameroon’s festive and joyous side and the joy of participating in global events, including the World Cup.

Edward Rivera, the artist representing the US in the exhibition said the was proud of presenting his work, saying he wanted to create a piece that represented the US, to portray a culture that had rich roots and history.