#251: Going From Wallet to Wall with Atomic Form

Why physical displays are an important wedge to mainstream onboarding to web3

There are a lot of exciting narratives going around in crypto and web3: Loyalty, gaming, collectibles, RWAs (real-world assets), you name it! One that has taken me a while to warm up to has been digital art.

It’s not that I don’t like digital art, and it’s definitely not boring. For me, it’s something that has taken more time to warm up to because the initial motivation to participate in the space has been a financial one and is a strong narrative for most still. Now I’m at a point where my journey has matured (and I’ve literally matured as a person in general lol) to appreciate digital art and art in general, more.

The other reason is that there is an opportunity for digital art to be elevated to a level it deserves to be at, and Atomic Form is one of the companies making that potential a reality.

This is a sponsored piece, and it’s one that I’m excited to write about. TPan-sponsored pieces adhere to my content guidelines, and Atomic Form has provided me their products so I could properly review and write about them.

Thanks to Rick and Saima for taking the time to chat with me more about the company, their ambitions, and how they’re elevating digital art through their hardware and software.

What is Atomic Form?

Compared to the large names in web3, Atomic Form isn’t particularly flashy. However, the way I like to think about them is that they prefer to ‘show’ instead of just ‘tell’ you about their products.

If you’ve been to a digital art exhibition hosted by the renowned auction house Christie’s, the hardware showcasing the digital art was probably powered by Atomic Form.

If you’re going to Art Basel next month, Now Media will be hosting their Gateway Miami event. Who’s the hardware partner? You guessed it, Atomic Form.

Last year the company raised $4.5 million from notable names such as Sino Global Capital, Samsung Next, Animoca, and artists such as ThankYouX and JN Silva.

So what is Atomic Form’s thesis and mission? Rick put it well:

If we want to legitimize digital art, the space needs high-quality physical screens to display digital art.

This mindset and framework can be applied to many other areas in web3:

• If we want to get people excited about web3 gaming, we need to make fun web3 games

• If we want people to get excited about web3 loyalty, we need to show how new loyalty mechanics can be enabled by the blockchain

• If we want people to get excited about crypto as the future of finance, we need to show how crypto is easier and more empowering than traditional finance

And this doesn’t mean crypto and web3 should completely replace the established ways of doing things, but rather expand upon them and punch at those respective weight classes.

And in the world of digital art, physical displays help digital art punch harder than it has before 🥊

Atomic Form’s Products

Wave

This is AF’s flagship product, which is used by the partners I mentioned earlier. The Wave is a 27-inch 4K display that makes you appreciate digital art a littleeee more than if you viewed it on your phone.

Photon

The Photon is a portable device that comes with AF’s software stack, designed to connect to other displays. This effectively supercharges any screen into one that can display digital art in the way you want it to.

So instead of bringing your playlist to a party, it’s like bringing your display-list (heh) to a party and showing off your music art taste.

The Photon! Also, why does my hand look awkward?

If you’re interested in purchasing either of these products, you can get 20% off by using code TPAN2023.

Setting up Atomic Form

The setup process was easier than I expected. I connected my Wave to my WiFi and connected my wallet to the AF app.

Once my wallet was connected, I could drag and drop my NFTs and adjust the settings for the hardware display:

• Choose which NFTs/art you want in the gallery

• Create a sleep schedule for the display to turn on and off

• Enable slideshow mode and length of time each piece is displayed for

• Choose the display mode (gallery, fit, etc., similar to a TV)

These changes happened in real time as I changed settings and chose the art I wanted to display on my Wave.

Atomic Sign

What gets interesting isn’t just the hardware, but the software that AF is developing. The team has created Atomic Sign, a platform that makes it easy to add new metadata to NFTs.

So for example, if I put my Mercedes-Benz Maschine into Atomic Sign, I can create attestations (statements) about the NFT:

• Copyright: Type, license, owner

• Artist Bio: Name, description, artist info

• Proof of Exhibition: Dates, location, wallet addresses, details

• Offchain transactions: Dates, wallet addresses, amount, details

Atomic Sign is currently in beta, but shows the potential of what attestations can do to provide more context to a piece of art, or any token for that matter, which I’ve shared the benefits of before.

Source

For modern-day artists, especially digital artists, what does this do?

• Digital art pieces can now act as a resume or CV through Proof of Exhibition, or providing info on other collections. This can be dynamically updated as the art is displayed in other physical locations, is bought by other prominent collectors, or as a mechanism to promote additional work and collections.

• If a digital art piece is updated, it can be verified by the creator. For example, Beeple updated his HUMAN ONE piece earlier today with a puzzle, and could verify those changes.

• Documenting in the moment vs. after the fact. It may take months or even years to collect, document, and archive the work and stories of an artist. Rick (CEO of AF) has a background in archiving work and has done that for Bob Dylan and Dave Matthews Band. So don’t take it from me, it’s hard 😅

• Helps create a more effective way for artists to document their work. Some artists still document their work and provenance through spreadsheets. That’s fine, but Atomic Sign can help to make that process more efficient and impactful with proof.

So what?

Oh so you think you’re some art expert now TPan?

Absolutely not. However, having an Atomic Form helps me to continue to better understand all the ways our space can win over the hearts and minds of mainstream audiences beyond just you can make money (which I can respect and attempt to do myself, albeit poorly).

Last month New York City’s MoMA acquired work from Refik Anadol, one of the biggest names in the generative art space, marking a milestone in bridging the digital and traditional art worlds.

Why did MoMA acquire the work? This video gives you a good idea.

This wouldn’t have been possible without the proper physical displays helping the work live up to its potential.

The same goes for Atomic Form and their products. Having a cool piece of digital art that you view on your phone or desktop is one thing. Hanging it on the wall with the proper hardware is a whole different level.

This is why I write. I don’t do this product justice 😂, Class of 2022 by Penguitt

This baby is gonna go on the wall…after I have a chat with the Mrs. 🤞

At the institutional level, having the proper hardware helps to showcase the art to its full potential.

At the individual level, consuming with the proper hardware helps to appreciate the art to its full potential.

Plus, if you’re someone (or know someone) who collects rare or expensive pieces of art (eg: a Chromie Squiggle that is currently worth over $18k), displaying it properly sorta makes sense.

Source

Speaking for myself, seeing my NFTs on a physical display changed how I viewed some of the NFTs I have. Some are tokens that provide utility, some are part of established communities and growing brands.

Others are great artwork that deserves to be displayed on a wall, and I didn’t realize how much of that I had regardless of the market value.

Zooming out, other companies and projects that are helping elevate the space and its capabilities in their own way :

• Limit Break’s ERC721-C: Creating onchain programmable royalties and expanded functionality

• ERC-6551: ‘Token-bound accounts’ allowing NFTs to act as a wallet storing other NFTs, like a backpack.

• The tokenization of real-world assets: A great example of this is Courtyard

And in that regard, Atomic Form is doing their part.

See you Thursday!