Introducing Teia

Teia

When Hic et Nunc hit the NFT space in March 2021, it sparked a revolution for digital artists across the globe.

Built on the incredibly energy-efficient Tezos blockchain, the Brazilian-based platform not only provided an easy and cheap way for artists to experiment with NFT distribution, but also established an ethical framework by focusing on global equity, environmental concerns, and inclusion.

With a trade volume of 10.9 million Tezos (approx. $ 50 million) in less than a year, the marketplace quickly became a significant player in the NFT field, despite the lack of wider media attention.

The artists, developers, and collectors on the platform were not only users, but developed into a social and artistic global community where young and upcoming creators moved side by side with renowned veteran digital artists.

The website, hicetnunc.xyz, was taken down by its owner in November 2021, but the decentralized core – the NFTs, the smart contracts, and the artworks themselves – remained accessible.

These building blocks provided the opportunity for the orphaned community to reinvent itself.

In the 2.5 months after the discontinuation of the original platform, countless lively discussions between community members – often in overlapping roles as artists, developers, and collectors – took place.

These conversations ranged from firmly acknowledging ethical pillars to solving technical issues, implementing new features such as collaboration-contracts, and taking steps to erect a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization).

The first community vote on the blockchain was aimed at finding a new name, resulting in Teia, meaning ‘net’ or ‘web’ in Portuguese, and referencing the Brazilian roots of the first Tezos marketplace.

Teia is best described as a global, artist-run space; it provides room for experimentation with an emphasis on the arts, and its decentralized nature empowers the voices of its users.

In many ways, it’s quite different from the more well-known, purely commercial NFT marketplaces operating on the Ethereum blockchain.

A symbol for Teia’s commitment to fluidity, inclusivity, and equity is the current rotation system for user-designed logos, to which everyone can contribute: see also the header image of this document. Teia is a work-in-progress.

Teia soft-launched in the first week of February, but keep an eye out for a celebratory event on 22.02.2022 (February 22)!

Visit teia.art to explore the platform, engage with the community on Discord, and follow Teia on Twitter: @TeiaCommunity.