Reinventing the wheel? Taking NFTs offline

• Southeast Asia has enormous NFT market.
• The Superlative Secret Society is taking it offline and giving it a gallery.
• The idea is to introudce the region’s NFT artists to a much wider audience.

The NFT market in Southeast Asia is one of the biggest in the world. That’s why Indonesia was the perfect place for Superlative Secret Society, the group behind Indonesia’s first offline NFT gallery.

NFTs are so widely accepted in the Southeast Asian market thanks to relatively low entry prices. The market gets good awareness of digital assets relatively early, letting it ramp up adoption rates.

As the popularity of the tokens soars, initiatives are starting up with the hopes of spreading awareness of NFTs even further. One of those initiatives includes the opening of Superlative Gallery in Legian, Bali, by local NFT collector community, Superlative Secret Society.

Said to be the first offline NFT gallery in the country, it features a collection of avatars of the Superlative Secret Society’s artworks. These artworks are created by local community artists and will be available to purchase as NFTs.

De-inventing the wheel

It’s slightly reinventing the wheel – or de-inventing it, even, but perhaps capturing art traditionalists’ attention is the best move for increasing understanding and use of NFTs.

“We are extremely enthusiastic about the opening and operations of the Superlative Gallery, the first offline NFT gallery in Indonesia. It is an honour for us to accommodate local Indonesian artists to participate and grow together in this era of digital assets,” said illustrator and Superlative Secret Society founder Moh. Arif Wijaksana.

After the launch of the gallery, the community plans to host a series of events between January 11^th and 16^th, featuring big names in the local blockchain, NFT, and crypto-ecosystems such as Tokocrypto, ID NFT and MOT.

In an email interview with e27, CEO and founder of the Superlative Secret Society Prasetyo Budiman explained that the gallery is one way for the community to facilitate local Indonesian artists in their journeys to understanding and implementing NFTs.

He described a wide array of people as the gallery’s target audience, from NFT enthusiasts, NFT holders, local and international artists and “anyone who would like to learn and understand more about how digital assets such as NFTs work.”

Bali is the ideal location for this for several reasons, according to Budiman.

“Bali is already a well-known destination with a massive base of Indonesian artists thriving in it; residents of the island also come from different countries around the world. Our goal is to introduce the works of local Indonesian artists to international audiences.”

From online to offline – the journey of NFT art

“All this time, we have been interacting only through online platforms. This is why the gallery is an opportunity for holders to inform and educate the general public about how NFT works, with particular focus on local artists in Indonesia,” he said. “We are hoping to contribute more to the development of digital creative industries, digital assets, and even the tourism industry through the works of local Indonesian artists.”

As well as launching its first offline gallery, the Superlative Secret Society is set to introduce more programs to help Indonesian artists to reach a wider market. For example, they will display Indonesian work in Times Square, New York, for a week.

“We want to send out a message to the public, particularly holders and members of our community in the US. The support of our members has provided us with the motivation to provide the best, and to take part in more international NFT events,” Budiman explained.

The gallery opening saw the group showcase a teaser for REPUS, the second batch of its NFT collection.

Some of the artworks being displayed already have their intellectual property rights registered and are now applying for a trade brand certification. In short – they’re preparing to enter the NFT market.

The Superlative Secret Society entered the OpenSea platform in September 2021. Since then, the community has had 11,110 artworks avatars on board and more than 16,000 members in its Discord.

“We came from a diverse background, starting out with chats and contacts through Twitter. We have the dream to give more value to Indonesian artworks by introducing them to local and international markets. This is why we build a platform for NFT enthusiasts and start building a digital asset community … most of our members are from abroad and they are also collecting the artworks that we make,” Budiman says.

The collective wants to keep educating Indonesian artists on the advantages of NFTs. It plans to open several pop art exhibitions in Jakarta, and continue to operate the Bali gallery.

Welcome!