projects
Yugen
Overview + art
​
MORROW collective is collaborating with Martha Fiennes, an artist, writer, filmmaker and visual architect who lives and works in London.
Fiennes’ 2018 work 'Yugen' is a celebration of digital technologies, film practice and the infinite possibilities of creative expression. Launching an NFT collection derived from clips of the artwork, is the natural next step in its evolutionary journey.
Yugen is an on-going, dreamlike and surreal encounter with a natural, material world, as well as with that of alternate dimensional realities. The actor Salma Hayek Pinault is Fiennes’ muse and the film is accompanied by a hypnotic music and sound score written and produced by Magnus Fiennes. It is a digital, generative, moving-image artwork which relinquishes its narrative control to AI and therefore makes each viewing spontaneous and unique.
Collaboration with UAE Embassy, Washington DC
The Cultural Diplomacy department at the UAE Embassy in Washington DC, hosted a delegation of 12 influential figures from the USA for a week-long visit to Abu Dhabi and Dubai. They visited cultural and artistic landmarks and engaged in lively networking opportunities and the trip ended in an exhibition - Rhizomatic - presented and curated by MORROW collective at The Museum of Future.
​
Delegation:
Coldie
Colborn Bell
Bryan Brinkman
Untitled, xyz
Krista Kim
Jesse Damiani
Monaris
Maggie West
Patrick McLaren
Jonathan Perkins
Marc Billings
!Alias
Warsha: The Taste of Sky
Overview + NFTs
​
'Warsha' is a short 16-minute film that won Best International Short Film: Fiction at Sundance Film Festival, 2022. The film tells the story of Mohammad, a Syrian migrant working in a construction site in Beirut. One day, he volunteers to operate one of the tallest, most notoriously dangerous cranes in Lebanon. Suddenly free from the oppressive city below, he finds space to unleash his true self.
​
The NFT collection, The Taste of Sky is curated by MORROW collective. The title is derived from the Leonardo Da Vinci quote: “once you have tasted the taste of sky, you will forever look up” and the collection is a tribute to all those searching for genuine and honest freedom of expression, wherever and whoever they are.
​
Working in collaboration with Oxfam, proceeds from Warsha NFTs will go towards funding for the short film on its journey to the Academy Awards 2023 as well as relevant marginalized communities.
Web3 Awards
​
Anna Seaman, MORROW collective's curator, was a member of the judging panel at the Gulf News Web3 Awards. It was the first Web3 awards in the region awards to celebrate achievements across the Web3 ecosystem. The event was curated by Art Korero.
​
​
Firouz FarmanFarmaian at the Kyrgyz Pavilion, 56th Venice Biennale
metaverse gallery
​
Living as a nomad in exile in Europe and North Africa, Iranian-born artist Firouz FarmanFarmaian actively engages in bridging dialogues between past and future, east and west, archaic craft and innovative technology. Through his socially engaged practice, he focuses on the themes of history, identity and immaterial substance of memory and the post-tribal.
​
FarmanFarmaian represented The Kyrgyz Republic in the country's inaugural national pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale, 2022. Curated by Janet Rady, the presentation Gates of Turan refers to "the land of the Tur", a historic region encompassing modern Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and northern parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Drawing on his shared tribal heritage with the Turanian nomads of Kyrgyz, who were originally an Iranian tribe of the Avestan age, the artist presented a multi-sensory installation featuring hand-stitched, hand-felted Shyrdaks created in collaboration with the Altyn Kol Women Handicraft Cooperative in The Kyrgyz Republic.
The Pontifex Carpet
https://nftone.me/product/the-pontifex-carpet/
​
The Pontifex carpet, which was gifted to Pope Francis was immortalized as an NFT (non-fungible token) and unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, 2021. When HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces visited Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2016, he came bearing the carpet, as a gesture of diplomatic ties and inter-religious harmony.
​
The only existing 272x183cm physical version of the carpet remains with Pope Francis, however, Zuleya (Fatima Bint Mohamed Bin Zayed Initiative’s carpet retail arm) created a replica to be gifted to the buyer of the NFT.
​
The carpet was woven by women in Afghanistan and forms part of Zuleya’s Tolerance range. Signifying peace and harmony, 80% of the carpets revenue will provide core support to relieve the most vulnerable in Afghanistan from the harsh winter.
Australian Pavilion, Expo 2020
MORROW collective partnered with Virtua (formerly Terra Virtua) to support the Australian Pavilion, Expo 2020 Dubai, to create NFT gifts for every visitor to the event. The NFTs derived from artworks by the pavilion's featured artists. Each month, for the six month duration of Expo 2020 Dubai, a single new NFT or series of NFTs was available for collection. For first time users, it was a seamless entry into the NFT market and provided new and existing crypto users an opportunity to collect an Australian fine art souvenir.
The Australian Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai championed innovation and technology and MORROW collective proudly supported such a forward-thinking entity.
Isola Ristorante
Isola Ristorante in Dubai was the first restaurant in the region to display crypto art.
Isola Ristorante, in Jumeriah Islands Clubhouse, presented NFT art in augmented reality to diners. The art was created by prominent Palestinian artist, Nabil Anani, represented by Zawyeh Gallery.
MORROW collective collaborated with Zawyeh Gallery and Sunset Hospitality Group to integrate the NFTs into the restaurant.
.png)