Incubadora DAO is a laboratory at the intersection between art and technology. For Incubadora, it’s all about experimenting. They’re bridging the gap between the traditional art & blockchain worlds and driving collaboration between artists, academics and cultural professionals through grants and educational programs.
Founded in 2021, Incubadora DAO focuses on promoting the collaboration between artists, academics, curators & creatives. Hoping to fight the increasing precarisation of the cultural sector and artistic labour, they’re using blockchain and NFTs to ideate emancipatory solutions that can help reshape the traditional art ecosystem.
“Our mission is to bridge the traditional art sector and web 3 technologies, such as marketplaces, new social media platforms and the metaverse”, one of the members of the DAO told Mintbase.
Incubadora has three main axes of action. First and foremost, education — the group hosts monthly seminars combining artistic practices with academic research and technology.
Through these seminars, workshops and talks they hope to onboard artists and researchers and share knowledge with the community. The program is open to everyone who wants to take part.
“Our Seminars are theory-focused and span a wide variety of subjects. At our March seminar (date to be announced), we’ll have an NFT Workshop with Eduardo Politzer & Coletivo Amarelo”
Secondly, Incubadora Vertical, a monthly budget allocated to community projects. These projects range from virtual & physical exhibitions to podcasts or their latest project “Cuba Shots”, born out of a partnership with Cudo DAO.
Cuba Shots is a series of video portraits of Portuguese-speaking visual artists. The intent is to portray the artists’ daily lives and promote their work. The first artist invited to participate was Manu Romeiro, a Brazilian artist residing in São Miguel de Acha, who was awarded a grant by Incubadora. The full video will soon be released on Mintbase.
Another one of these projects, for example, is Kawa Kami, an artist residency that will take place at Casarão do Chá in São Paulo, Brazil. The project is defined by the artistic occupation of the space, through the creation of two installations including materials such as ceramics, wood or gold leaf. It includes a public exhibition of the works and a performance, in collaboration with the artist Erika Kobayashi.
“The vertical allows us to support projects outside of our usual scope, but that are interesting projects and worth pursuing.”
Last but not least, is their Artist Stipends Program, which grants financial support for artists from Portuguese speaking countries.
With three editions behind them and ten selected artists, the initiative not only guarantees financial backing to artists but also provides them support in minting their NFTs and creating virtual galleries through Mintbase. IncubadoraDAO now has two Mintbase stores: their main store and a second one, dedicated to artist fellows and guest artists.
“These NFTs sold on Mintbase, help our grantees combat the precariousness of the traditional art market, by pursuing a new avenue for selling their work, but also by creating a sense of community and connection with their fans”, they explain.
Besides selling their work on IncubadoraDAO’s Mintbase store, artists also get featured in the biannual Poliedro Catalog, a showcase of artwork produced that semester, also sold as an NFT.
The first edition of the Poliedro Catalog was launched at the end of November and featured six visual artists from different backgrounds, such as animation, painting or sound art.
