Startbahn to produce DIG SHIBUYA 2024 Art x Tech event co-hosted by Shibuya Municipality in January 2024. 3-day event with international projects including the main artist, Friends With You. FUN FAN NFT powers activities throughout the Shibuya district.

Startbahn,Inc. (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Taihei Shii) will participate in DIG SHIBUYA 2024 - three-day art and tech festival co-hosted by Shibuya Ward and by SHIBUYA CREATIVE TECH committee（Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Chairman: Kenji Onishi）overseeing art planning and circulation activities in Shibuya. As the producer, Startbahn will help select exhibiting artists and support circulation activities using our product FUN FAN NFT.

Through these activities, Startbahn seeks to redefine Shibuya as the cultural and entertainment capital for a truly international audience.Shibuya has undergone a significant change in recent redevelopment. One driver of change has been the international startups injecting unique air into the area.

In DIG SHIBUYA 2024, Startbahn will celebrate Shibuya as the emerging capital for international art and technology startups. Through circulation activities, Startbahn hopes to propel fellow startups at this unique intersection of art and technology.

Celebrating unique cultural assets
This festival is to highlight the unique cultural assets Shibuya Municipality has to offer. Through this festival we hope to invite many to explore and inspire from local treasures in a new technology lens. Public spaces like municipal parks and surrounding venues like clubs and music bars will take part to enrich circulation activities in the festival, making the whole venue look like one big decentralized art and culture museum.

In this festival Startbahn will help recognise emerging talents at the intersection of art and technology. With the vision to drive change together with international startups, the festival will showcase the latest ArtTech crossover projects from around the world.

What we hope to achieve through the festival
This festival takes inspiration from art and technology - blockchain technology. In our journey as a blockchain art tech, Startbahn came to wish our learnings from the field could be widely shared. We hope this festival will make the beginning of open and vibrant community development.

One of the key forces in Shibuya is the international community of web3 and AI professionals choosing Shibuya as their base. Shibuya Municipality has supported these startups since 2020. Startbahn as an example, we believe our key learnings from our work in this field could be leveraged by the Shibuya community.

We welcome this opportunity to take part in connecting unique venues Shibuya hosts. Continuing our efforts in real world community development, Startbahn will deploy FUN FUN NFT - a marketing tool to offer cultural experiences in Shibuya redefined.

This Festival is supported: Agency for Cultural Affairs, Arts Council Japan, Expo 2.0 Project 2023

DIG SHIBUYA 2024
Dates: January 12th Friday to 14th Sunday, 2024
Venue: Shibuya Koen Dori street and surrounded area, Zelkova tree avenue in Yoyogi park, Kitaya park, and other public area and surrounding gallery spaces, Spotify O-EAST and others
Fee: Free - parts of the programs are subject to a fee
Host: SHIBUYA CREATIVE TECH Committee
Co-host: Shibuya Municipal Office
Sponsors:
Shibuya Tourism Association, Future Design Shibuya, Tokyo Metropolitan, Civic Creative Base Tokyo (in the process of applying)
Art x Circulation activity producer: Startbahn,Inc.
URL:https://digshibuya.com/
https://www.instagram.com/digshibuya/

■ Overview of the main programme artist, FriendsWithYou
FriendsWithYou - hereinafter FWY was founded in 2002 by Samuel Albert Borkson, born in Miami and Arturo Sandoval, born in Havana, Cuba. Their works are recognised in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art Miami, with numerous solo exhibitions around the world.

Comment from the artist
We are pleased to present The Happy Dancing Rainbow Alliance, a joyous parade with the sole purpose of spreading happy vibrations & love to the world in DIG SHIBUYA 2024. We all join together to create a celebration of the good in us all. You’re invited to party and dance with our Rainbow Ambassadors as we uplift the universal vibration with our colorful party! Thank you to the city and people of Shibuya for welcoming our cast of magical and joyous characters to the park for a once-in-a-lifetime parade. This is the first time all these inflatables from various installations can perform together and we hope that everyone who attends now feels part of the FriendsWithYou family.
Cooperation:NANZUKA


■ SHIBUYA CREATIVE TECH Committee - who we are
SHIBUYA CREATIVE TECH Committee was created to nurture innovative technologies in Shibuya area. We hope to harness innovative technologies to connect different cultural assets in the district. SHIBUYA CREATIVE TECH Committee oversees more than 150 cultural and entertainment facilities throughout Shibuya.

We are exploring future technologies such as Web3.
Our aim is to create a forum that connect

Thereby, it is aiming to convey their attractions to people in Japan and abroad and to revitalize culture, tourism, and industry. In addition to official events, SHIBUYA CREATIVE TECH Committee creates and disseminates opportunities for local residents and visitors to casually experience art and the latest technology through events invited from overseas.


■ About FUN FAN NFT

FUN FAN NFT is an NFT marketing solution that connects the real world and digital world with QR codes. Users can get NFT through a very simple user experience by simply scanning a QR code, without going through complicated NFT-specific steps. Event organizers can connect with more fans and build relationships in the fields of art, entertainment, tourism, and more. The app is operated by Startbahn and utilizes Startrail, a blockchain infrastructure for the arts.

For more information, visit: https://funfan-nft.com/lp


■ About Startbahn

Startbahn is a leading Japanese art tech company aiming to enrich society by providing the technology needed by artists and all those involved in the art industry. Startbahn operates Startrail, a sustainable and scalable blockchain infrastructure that assures the reliability, authenticity, and traceability of works.

For more information, visit: https://startbahn.io/


■ About Startrail

Startrail is a sustainable and scalable blockchain infrastructure that assures the reliability, authenticity, and traceability of artworks—from physical works such as paintings, sculptures, and installations, to digital works based on data such as images, video, and audio. Providing seamless management of terms & conditions for secondary distribution and other permissions, Startrail can serve as a collection management tool, and due to the nature of blockchain, recorded information cannot be deleted, tampered with, or duplicated. To ensure easy access to Startrail, Startbahn provides a suite of products, including a web application, APIs, and NFC tags for physical objects. Startrail is currently in use by major galleries, e-commerce platforms, art fairs, collectors, artists, and foundations.

For more information, visit: https://startrail.io/

■　Inquiry about this PR

Startbahn, PR department
pr@startbahn.jp

• ”QR Code" is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.