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TRLab’s Audrey Ou’s exploration into the future of digital art, NFTs, and technology
Audrey Ou, CEO and co-founder of TRLab is a frequent speaker on fine art NFTs and an Ivy League graduate of Princeton University and Columbia University. She is steering the TRLab platform towards thinking about the future of fine art as it evolves with the development of technology.
NFTs, or Non-Fungible Tokens, are unique digital tokens. Each token has a specific identity and value. Because of that, Ou immediately identified the potential of blockchain technology in the art world. Her parents founded the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai when she was a child. She grew up in the art world before moving on to the tech world.
Blockchain technology is perfect for fine art. Blockchain tech ensures the authenticity and ownership of digital art through secure, transparent records that can’t be altered. Artists can create and sell unique digital artworks as NFTs that can be tracked and verified across and beyond their lifetime. Compare this to traditional art collecting: provenance and authenticity can raise concerns even for the strictest museums and auction houses. Art is notorious for forgery, as seen in countless TV shows, and as many documentaries have pointed out, verifying the rightful owner of a piece is tricky, especially when art is lost during times of war.
Since their introduction, NFTs have had a passionate following. Audrey and TRLab aim to expand this following by creating a community around fine art NFTs and the artists who create them. TRLab has collaborated with many celebrated artists, but it’s the up-and-coming artists that will shape the future of digital art with the help of Audrey and TRLab.
In partnership with Chen Qiufan and Kai-Fu Lee’s book AI 2041: Ten Visions For Our Future, authors and artists came together to represent two promising emerging technologies: AI and blockchain. This partnership highlights the innovation that has made TRLab so successful among investors and collectors.
The project invited 7 artists to bring their interpretation of the stories and predictions in Qiufan and Lee’s book. The art, seen worldwide, connects viewers to the book’s message of how AI will come to make our lives easier in expected and sometimes unexpected ways. The NFTs, created by artists who were inspired by the literature, share visions of the future of AI as they are themselves evidence of how digital art is transforming and evolving.
Audrey Ou and TRLab have empowered established and emerging artists alike providing a platform that connects them with a global audience and supports their creative freedom. The work that Audrey Ou works on at TRLab encourages digital art to further evolve. At the same time, the artists retain control and rights over their creations, fostering a dynamic and sustainable art ecosystem.
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About the Author
Darla Wall is a freelance writer from Trenton, NJ, where she lives with her husband. She writes about arts and culture.