DIGITAL ARTISANS by ITAK

Hey Hackers!

HackerNoon is proud to be a media partner for this year’s Digital Artisans by ITAK, taking place in Singapore on September 13th, 2023. The exclusive event will gather high-profile attendees from Singapore's luxury, Web3, artistic, and finance circles, creating an evening filled with engaging discussions, networking opportunities, and a deep dive into the future of culture.

About ITAK

At ITAK, the belief is that true innovation thrives at the crossroads. These intersections symbolize the meeting points of diverse mindsets, cultures, and skills, essential in building a multifaceted and dynamic future. As it regroups creative strategists specialized in building innovative experiences, the company thrives at these intersections.

ITAK's creations take various forms, such as Web3-powered loyalty programs, VR concept films, AI mockups, and CGI campaigns. What ties them together is their shared reliance on cutting-edge technologies to push aesthetic and storytelling boundaries, all while serving the customer.

ITAK is an Innovation Catalyst centered on three key pillars: Agency, Accelerator, and Education. These pillars help the company innovate by connecting brands, creators, startups, and venture capitalists. The goal is to harness the power of positive innovation.

In just two years, ITAK has established a strong network of clients and partners, including Mercedes-Benz, Vacheron Constantin, L’Oréal, Richemont, Hublot, Rimowa, Paco Rabanne, Ledger, Bitgo, Polygon, Blockchain Founders Fund, Puig, Pull & Bear, Calvin Klein, Courbet, Doc Martens,  ...

About DIGITAL ARTISANS

Taking inspiration from past artistic communities like the DADAists, ITAK has established a group of members consisting of artists, thinkers, marketers, poets, investors, designers, and philosophers. Collaboratively, this diverse community delves into discussions about the role of digital art in the modern world.

The community is called "Digital Artisans". Throughout the year, ITAK celebrates and showcases the incredible work of their Digital Artisans through bespoke events and on their social platforms. Their aim is to foster a profound understanding and respect for digital art while nurturing its growth.

Following a very successful start in Paris in March 2023, ITAK is joining forces with leading Web3 projects BitGo, MattersLab, and Cheelee for the second edition of the "Digital Artisans" Event in Singapore. The event is set for September 13, 2023, aligning with Asia Crypto Week and the exciting F1 Race!

Between 7pm and midnight, visitors will be greeted at the 10 Square Building, located at 1 Short Street, to experience 5 to 10 global digital artists presenting their creations on Singapore's biggest screen. The venue will be transformed into a "Pit Stop" station by designer Dennis Vanderbroek, renowned for his work on the Diesel’s SS23 Fashion Show that went viral.

Led by Mado Scott, ITAK's Chief Creative Officer, the event’s curation is boldly avant-garde. Renowned digital artist Frederik Heyman headlines the selection. His credits include designing for Beyoncé's recent Renaissance tour and collaborating closely with artists like Lady Gaga and Acra, headlines the selection. The lineup also features Nast Plas, Alexandros Mavrogiannis, Anonyme Society and resident Digital Artisans Nuderobot, Dr. Formalyst and Luna Ikuta who exhibited their work on the first edition of the event.

The exclusive event will gather high-profile attendees from Singapore's luxury, Web3, artistic, and finance circles, creating an evening filled with engaging discussions, networking opportunities, and a deep dive into the future of culture.

About the ITAK founders

Massimo Moretti

Chief Executive Officer at ITAK. Massimo has a remarkable track record of success in business growth, go-to-market plans, cultural marketing and PR. He actively nurtures and widens a strong global network that includes investors, influential thinkers, luxury brands, and Web3 pioneers. A frequent speaker at prominent Tech, Web3, and Luxury gatherings like INSEAD Global Luxury Forum in Paris, NFT NYC, Arab Luxury World, GITEX in Dubai, Token2049 in Singapore and NFT Festival Korea. Massimo is a regular contributor to high-level discussions.

Mariem Farhat

Chief Operations Officer at ITAK. Mariem is an innovation expert who helps brands in creating strategic proof of concepts through cutting-edge technologies. Mariem brings 8 years of experience working with startups, luxury brands, and Fortune 500 companies (Amazon, L’Oréal, The Kooples…). Through her knowledge in strategy, product, marketing, and branding, she's a standout problem solver and creative strategist, driving growth and transformation.

Mado Scott

Chief Creative Officer at ITAK. Mado is an award winning creative director (ANDAM Award, French Ministry of Culture, HEC incubator), producer and art curator specialized in digital mediums such as 3D, CGI, VFX, gaming and AI. Mado is an experienced content creator, collaborating with well-known artists like Imany, Miss Fame, Alphonse Maitre Pierre, Nuderobot as well as brands Lacoste, Calvin Klein, Pull and Bear and more, Mado excels in blending imaginative ideas with the latest technologies to create disruptive concepts for brands and artists.

About the co-hosts

BitGo

BitGo provides the most secure and scalable wallet solutions for the digital asset economy, offering regulated custody, staking and trading, and core infrastructure to investors and builders alike. Founded in 2013, BitGo pioneered the multi-signature wallet and is the first digital asset company to focus exclusively on serving institutional clients. In 2018, it launched BitGo Trust Company, the first qualified custodian purpose-built for storing digital assets and established BitGo New York Trust in 2021. In 2022, BitGo launched institutional-grade DeFi, NFT and web3 services. BitGo secures approximately 20% of all on-chain Bitcoin transactions by value and supports more than 700 digital assets within its platform. BitGo provides the security and operational backbone for more than 1500 institutional clients in 50 countries, including many regulated entities and the world’s top cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms.

zkSync

zkSync Era is a Layer-2 protocol that scales Ethereum with cutting-edge ZK tech. Our mission is not only to merely increase Ethereum’s throughput, but to fully preserve its foundational values – freedom, self-sovereignty, decentralization – at scale.

Cheelee

GameFi Social Media - short video platform where you can earn from watching a feed as a user. Our mission is to provide everyone the opportunity to monetize their time on social media. Despite the number of subscribers.

Watch. Play. Earn.

Ten Square, Landmark of Good

Located on 1 Short Street, Singapore, the Ten Square building envisions to be Placemaker of GOOD to promote the spirit and art of #doinggoodtogether. Passionate in empowering youths, tech, creatives, arts, design and media through Ten Square.

Dennis Vanderbrook Studio

Studio Dennis Vanderbroeck’s spatial design manifests itself on an international scale in various contexts and disciplines such as theater, fine art and fashion.

With its hyper aesthetic visual language the Studio creates physical spaces in which a dialogue between the designed space and the visitor is key. Studio Dennis Vanderbroeck is based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Vanderbroeck has collaborated with international powerhouses such as Diesel, Y/Project, TENT Rotterdam, Palais de Tokyo, International Theater Amsterdam and Dover Street Market across the spectrum of theater, fashion, fine art and music.

The artists

NastPlas

NastPlas is an international artists duo based in Madrid, Spain, formed in 2006 by illustrator Fran R. Learte 'drFranken' and creative director Natalia Molinos 'Na' (together 'Equipo Nastplas').

Their work combines an impressive range of digital elements and abstract patterns with which they develop elaborate art pieces with a deep aesthetic inspired by the laws of nature, forms found in science, engineering, architecture, thought, inquiry, and scientific research.

Their imagination is nourished by a personal symbolism with which they seek to reflect in their works, scenes, and objects related to the human and natural world, always cultivating the continuous search for answers of something beyond the visible, attracting the imagination and emotions of the viewer.

Through different planes, they explore in a conceptual background the limits between reality and abstraction through an ascending and constant process of research and artistic experimentation.

Jae Kim Yeon

South Korean artist Jae Yeon Kim turns real-world observations of human movement, posture, emotion, and behavior into colorful, friendly three-dimensional animations. This approach could be seen as an anthropomorphised perspective.

She primarily considers a balance between human-centred thinking and fantastic imagination with experimental approaches by manipulating physical properties. This creative practice can be described as understanding and depicting the subconscious desire to reflect concealed ego from social pressure.

Alexandros Mavrogiannis and Konstantinos Lianos / 2.2 Studio

2.2 is a newly-formed experimental-based design duo of Alexandros Mavrogiannis and Konstantinos Lianos, based in Athens, Greece.

The duo's process based research and practice often explores the possibilities of a non binary state where the digital and the physical combined create space for new perceptions of reality. Their creative language  gives a poetic perspective to scientific visual references  twisting  literal interpretations. Their design method is a combination of procedural and non procedural approaches.

Frederik Heyman

Frederik Heyman's (°1984) work is a balancing act incorporating multiple media. Heyman's various backgrounds are clearly visible in the working process. The outcome,  mainly created in a digitally altered environment, results in digital installations and video. In each image every element and action are carefully designed and defined in advance.This reflects in his commissioned works as well in his personal, more eclectic oeuvre.

In his work, Frederik Heyman uses photogrammetry to stage digital worlds out of relics of the past. Because one needs time to experience three dimensions, a 3D-scan is a bearer of duration. This duration gives Heyman’s work a narrative element which is often amplified by (mechanically induced) movement and timed text. For Heyman, the 3D-scan is not only a means to conserve the past, but also a means to recycle the present and an attempt to shape the future.

Heyman explores the desire to overcome humanity.  Technology and the human body are the protagonists. His imagery, whether based on fact or fiction, asks us how we want to remember.

Unexplored Fields

Unexplored Fields is a creative collective founded by Antoine Belot, Virgile Biosa, and Étienne Kawczak-Wirz. The collective specializes in creating innovative and immersive digital experiences that blend technology, art, and nature.

Through their work, Unexplored Fields aims to inspire and connect people around the exploration of new and uncharted territories. Their projects are often focused on the natural world and the intersection between nature and technology.

Unexplored Fields has worked with a range of clients, including brands such as Calvin Klein, Lacoste, Dr. Martens, and more.. Their work has been featured in exhibitions and events around the world. In addition to their work at Unexplored Fields, the collective members are also involved in various other projects and collaborations. They have been interviewed by various publications, including Citadium and Substance 3D, and continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in the creative industry.

Sabrina Ratté

Sabrina Ratté, a Canadian artist based in Montreal, explores the diverse forms of digital imagery. Her artistic practice encompasses a wide array of mediums, including analog video, 3D animation, photography, printmaking, sculpture, virtual reality, and installation. By continuously incorporating new techniques into her work, she delves into recurring themes that include the influence of architecture and the digital environment on our perception of the world, our relationship with the virtual aspects of existence, and the convergence of technology and the natural world.

Her work has been exhibited in institutions such as the Laforet Museum in Tokyo, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the PHI Center in Montreal, the Chronus Art Center in Shanghai, and the Museum of the Moving Image in New York. She has presented solo exhibitions at Gaîté Lyrique in Paris and Arsenal Contemporary Art in Montreal and New York. Notably, her work is part of the collection at the Montreal Contemporary Art Museum. Ratté was longlisted for the Sobey Art Award in Canada in 2019 and went on to receive the award in 2020.

Nude Robot

Nude Robot is a Los Angeles-based 3D artist who specializes in creating immersive realities that blur the boundaries between physical and digital worlds. Drawing inspiration from cultural archives, Nude Robot's work transports viewers into imaginative states that are typically reserved for dreams or the bardo. With a focus on bridging the gap between digital surrealism and human realism, Nude Robot aims to challenge traditional notions of reality and perception.

In addition to his work as an artist, Nude Robot is also known for his directing work, having collaborated with top artists such as Bad Bunny, Young Thug, Kanye West, Don Diablo, and many others. His viral hits have amassed almost 1 billion views across social media, with over 100 million views on music videos he has directed and 1 billion views on videos where he has led the VFX.

Through his use of CGI to composite into real footage, Nude Robot creates a sense of surrealism that pushes the boundaries of what's possible in art. He explores new dimensions of thought and experience, where the digital and the human merge into something wholly unique and transcendent.

Dr Formalyst

Dr Formalyst is a Madrid-based visual artist and metaverse architect.

As an architect, designer and creative coder he spent 25 years making everything from architecture, to hundreds of websites, brand identities, video games and mobile and mixed reality apps. But becoming Dr Formalyst allowed him to step away from that in order to experiment without the burden of rational thinking. His primary creative objective is exploring and exposing how the human mind works, with focus on creativity, perception and the generation of meaning.

He uses mixed digital techniques like generative CGI, code and AI to play with forms in motion at the edge between figuration and abstraction, in order to evoke elusive stories that live just outside of the limits of our comprehension.

Luna Ikuta

Luna Ikuta is a multidisciplinary artist and designer practicing sculptural works along with digital and physical installations of transparent botanical gardens. Born in Tokyo and currently based in Los Angeles, she earned her BFA at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her sculptural works have been commissioned for permanent art installations and on multiple occasions Ikuta has presented site specific projects at her studio and at institutions, transforming spaces into aquatic environments of ghostly underwater gardens.

Selected projects include Eternal Garlands, City of Culver City*,12 Months of Afterlife*, Vogue Singapore; Remember Me, Chromatica Ball World Tour; Lady Gaga; and exhibitions include Dynamic Art Museum, Milan, Shenzhen (2022), Art Basel Miami (2021) (2022), CAFA Museum, Beijing (2023).