In September 2021, Lynn University’s Eugene M. and Christine E. Lynn College of Communication and Design, under the direction of Dr. Cesar Santalo, announced plans to create one of the first NFT Museums globally.
On March 17, 2022, Lynn University premiered an NFT museum at the Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRiC) located at 4950 Communications Avenue, Boca Raton, FL. The museum is now open to the public. Visitors can view the artwork Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., from March 18 through the summer.
Historical context:
In 1919, Walter Gropius famously said “Art and Technology: A New Unity” as part of his vision for the Bauhaus, the influential art school he founded in 1919. This phrase encapsulated the core philosophy of the Bauhaus, which sought to break down traditional barriers between fine art and practical crafts by integrating artistic creativity with technological innovation.
In a corridor of BRiC, visitors will see works of digital art—which have been turned into non-fungible tokens (NFT) created by Lynn students, Lynn faculty, and artists who donated their work to the university—displayed on thirteen 65″ commercial monitors. The museum also includes fine art, hung on BRiC’s walls, created by the faculty of Lynn University’s College of Communication and Design.
Why our building is special?
Our NFT Art Museum is housed in one of the most iconic and architecturally significant buildings in the South Eastern United States, design by renowned brutalist architect Marcel Breuer. Established in the late 1960s by IBM as its North American Research and Development hub, Boca Raton Innovation Campus is renowned as the birthplace of the first personal computer. As a tribute to technology and the birthplace of the personal computer, this building provides the ideal setting to host one of the world’s first NFT Art Museums, seamlessly blending innovation with digital artistry.
In the Bauhaus Manifesto from 1919, Gropius emphasized that the future of design lay in the harmonious collaboration of art, technology, and industry. The goal was to create objects and buildings that were both functional and aesthetically pleasing, aligning with the needs of modern industrial society.
Gropius believed in rejecting the elitism of “pure art” and integrating art into everyday life through industrial and technological processes. The concept highlighted the importance of collaboration between artists, architects, and craftsmen to design for mass production. The integration of on an art museum into the daily work life of an individual is one of Lynn’s NFT Art Museum’s key missions.
In essence, Gropius’s statement reflects a forward-thinking philosophy that art and technology should not be seen as separate domains but as interconnected forces shaping modern life.
