Startbahn and Tokyo Art Beat Leadership to Speak at NFT.NYC 2022

Taihei Shii, CEO and Founder of Startbahn, Inc., will speak at the upcoming NFT.NYC conference in New York City, on a panel with Kosuke Fujitaka, Co-Founder, NY Art Beat and Tokyo Art Beat, moderated by Yayoi Shionoiri, Art Lawyer, Executive Director of Chris Burden Estate and Nancy Rubins Studio, and
Outside Board Director to Startbahn. Entitled “The NFT Landscape in Japan,” the panel talk will cover the latest applications of NFT and blockchain technology to the creative industries in Japan, with exciting case studies from Startbahn, Japan’s leading NFT art company. Alongside Infinite Objects and NowHere Gallery, Startbahn is also co-organizing “Women of the World”, an exhibition event in New York to celebrate NFT.NYC and connect with the local art and technology communities.



NEW YORK - Startbahn and Tokyo Art Beat’s leadership team have been invited to speak at the world’s leading NFT conference, NFT.NYC, taking place this June 20th to 23rd, 2022. Focusing on the current NFT landscape in Japan, the panel discussion will give a glimpse into the effects and potential of blockchain technology on the thriving and world-famous Japanese creative industries, from fashion, anime, and fine art.

Startbahn operates Startrail, a sustainable and scalable blockchain infrastructure that assures the reliability, authenticity, and traceability of works in the art and creative industries. Startbahn has worked on cutting-edge fashion exhibition projects supported by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan, in conjunction with many top designers, including ANREALAGE and TOMO KOIZUMI. Startbahn has also collaborated with key players of the Japanese contemporary art world, including world-renowned artists such as Ryoji Ikeda and private collections such as the Taguchi Art Collection, in addition to Shueisha, Japan’s leading manga publishing house, famous for publishing Naruto and OnePiece, amongst other titles.

In parallel to the panel discussion, Startbahn is co-organizing a pop-up exhibition at NowHere Gallery in SoHo, dedicated to showcasing works by female NFT artists. While the gallery acts as a multipurpose hub for New York City-based Japanese creators from across all disciplines, “Women of the World” is dedicated to showcasing the vast array of works from female artists working with NFTs around the world, weighted by population data by continent. “As Startbahn expands its footprint globally, we’re thrilled to celebrate our inaugural participation in NFT.NYC by collaborating with globally-minded art and technology colleagues, Infinite Objects and NowHere Gallery, and to highlight diverse voices working in the NFT space,” said Taihei Shii, CEO of Startbahn.

■ NFT.NYC Conference

On June 21, 2022, Tahei Shii (Founder and CEO of Startbahn), Kosuke Fujitaka (Co-Founder, NY Art Beat and Tokyo Art Beat), and Mike Sunda (Co-Founder, MD & Strategy Director of PUSH Japan) will participate in a panel moderated by Yayoi Shionoiri (Art Lawyer, Executive Director of Chris Burden Estate and Nancy Rubins Studio, and Outside Board Director to Startbahn) within the Art Track around 3:45 pm EST at the Marriott Marquis (6th Floor, Broadway) in Times Square for NFT.NYC. The conversation will explore new applications of NFT and blockchain technology for creative industries in Japan, and delve into the cultural importance of Japan within the broader NFT discourse.

NFT.NYC is the largest and leading NFT Conference in the world. Founded in 2018, the latest iteration of the conference will take place in Times Square from June 20-23, 2022. Other speakers taking the stage during the three-day conference include Refik Anadol (Artist), Matthew Dweck (Doodle Labs), Liz Bacelar (Estée Lauder Companies), David Pakman (CoinFund), Matthew Iles (Sotheby’s Metaverse), Larry Dvoskin (Grammy-nominated producer and songwriter), Yang Adija (WarnerMedia Sports), Jacqui Bransky (Universal Music Group), Kamila Klimek (Google), and Ryan Wyatt (Polygon Studios).

Panel Information:
Title: The NFT Landscape in Japan
Day: Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Time: 4:05 PM
Format: 25 min Panel
Location: Coinbase Theater at Marriott Marquis (6th Floor, Broadway)

■ Parallel Pop-Up Exhibition: Women of the World

On the occasion of NFT.NYC, Infinite Objects, NowHere Gallery, and Startbahn are pleased to present an exhibition and satellite event highlighting women artists working with NFTs from around the world. Roxy Fata, COO of Infinite Objects, notes, “we are thrilled to be collaborating with Startbahn, Studio As We Are, NowHere Gallery NYC and Indie Village to shine a light on the incredible community of women-identifying NFT artists from all around the world,” adding that “it’s so important to recognize the women ushering in the new wave of digital art and we couldn’t be happier to be giving them a platform to do so.”

Featuring both emerging and established artists based on the global population breakdown per continent, the exhibition highlights a strength in global numbers. Asia, for example, makes up 60% of the world's population, which equates to roughly 76 featured artists in the show, followed by Africa making up 18% of the world's population, which equates to 26 featured artists; Europe is 10% and so on. Curated by Studio As We Are, the artists featured in the exhibition include Maliha Abidi, Ayesha Mubarak Ali, Sam Cannon, Lethabo Huma, and Sabrina Ratté. Additionally, the artists June Ni, Sumali Piyatissa, and Viet Ha Tran will showcase their latest works included in The Artling’s new NFT Collection, powered by Startbahn’s Startrail. All works on view will be displayed in Infinite Objects’ signature Video Print frames which allow digital and video art to be beautifully presented in a physical object. The exhibition encourages visitors to come and discover the limitless, curious and creative women of the world who make NFTs.

Exhibition Information:
Opening day and time: Wednesday June 22nd, 2022 5pm - 8pm
Dates: June 22 - 25, 2022
Venue: NowHere Gallery, 40 Wooster Street First Floor, New York, NY 10013, United States
Gallery opening hours: 11am - 6pm

About Taihei Shii

Taihei Shii is the Founder and CEO of Startbahn. After growing up in the US, Shii returned to Japan and graduated from the Department of Oil Painting at Tama Art University. His artistic practice centered on Art in the Internet Age and his works were exhibited at various galleries and museums in Japan, including the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art and Mori Arts Center Gallery in Tokyo. While pursuing his postgraduate degree from the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies at the University of Tokyo, he started to conceptualize Startbahn in 2006 and earned patents for his applications of blockchain technology in Japan and the US. In addition to his role as Founder and CEO of Startbahn, he teaches at Tokyo University of the Arts and is often asked to speak on the topic of blockchain and art at various events and conferences throughout Japan and globally.
https://taihei.org/

■ About Kosuke Fujitaka

Born in Osaka, 1978. Graduated with a BA in Economics from the University of Tokyo. Co-founded Tokyo Art Beat in 2004 with Paul Baron and Olivier Thereaux. In 2008 he moved to New York and launched NY Art Beat. Since 2014, works for SmartNews as US Media Business Development. He thinks that art leveraged by IT, wine and beer can make the world a better place.

■ About Yayoi Shionoiri

Yayoi Shionoiri serves as Executive Director to the Estate of Chris Burden and the Studio of Nancy Rubins. She also serves as U.S. Alliance Partner to City Lights Law, a Japanese law firm that represents creators, innovators, and artists; as an Outside Board Director to Startbahn; as Legal Advisor to KLKTN, a music and manga NFT start-up; and as an Advisory Panelist to the Serpentine Gallery’s Legal Lab. In the past, Yayoi has worked at Artsy, the Guggenheim, and Takashi Murakami’s studio. She is a self-declared NFT noob.
Instagram: @yayoi_shionoiri
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yayoishionoiri/

■ About Startbahn, Inc. and Startrail

Startbahn is a leading Japanese art tech company aiming to enrich society by providing the technology needed by artists and those involved in art and creative industries around the world. Startbahn operates Startrail, 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, ecommerce platforms, art fairs, collectors, artists, and foundations.
https://startbahn.io
https://startrail.io/

■ About Infinite Objects

Founded in 2019, Infinite Objects creates Video Prints that are permanent physical expressions for digital content. Named as Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2021, Infinite Objects was part of the early NFT boom when partnering with top-selling artist Beeple in December 2020, 18-year-old FEWOCiOUS, a.k.a. Victor Langlois -- the youngest to ever sell at Christie’s and for $2.16 million, Art Blocks founder and generative art visionary, Erick Calderon, and work closely with Dapper Labs, one of the most revolutionary companies in the NFT space. Participating investors in Infinite Objects include Courtside VC, Serena Ventures, Fuel Capital, Advancit Capital, Betaworks, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, GFR Fund, Dapper Labs, Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman, co-founders at Thirty Five Ventures, Genies, Sound Ventures, and more. Artist, Ryan Wilson is also an angel investor in the company, along with fellow creators FEWOCiOUS, Scott Belsky and Shawn Mendes.
https://infiniteobjects.com/

■ About NowHere Gallery

NowHere is a multipurpose hub for New York City-based Japanese creators across all disciplines, existing to help emerging talent explore their maximum potential by providing them with the means to showcase their practice and expand their network. By facilitating new art from a Japanese perspective, NowHere hopes to give back to the inspiration which drew the artists to New York. In July 2022, NowHere will present exonemo’s “Metaverse Petshop,” following a blockbuster “Beta” run at NADA New York.
https://nowhere-nyc.com/

■ For more information on this release:

Startbahn Inc. PR
Liz Luna, Sophie Mayuko Arni
liz@startbahn.io, sophie@startbahn.io