Aloha gang, it's Jacy!
This is probably long overdue, but I wanted to give some flowers to one of my absolute favorite teams + projects, glitch Marfa and the Every 30 Days collection.
This is going to be a packed post, but I'll try to both distill it into bite-sized nuggets and make it worth your time.
So, What's glitch?
glitch, in its own words, is an IRL Gallery that sits at the intersection of Marfa, TX and the internet. A self-described 'analog space for digital objects,' if you will.
What that looks like in reality is:
A physical gallery space in Marfa - the remote, sleepy town that's also home to Art Blocks Marfa, the most magical event in all of web3 (sorry FarCon, I don't make the rules 😬)
A live view of the current exhibition online at glitchmarfa.com
A friend put glitch on my radar in a group chat about a year ago when they launched their first project, Every 30 Days (E30D), a revolving month-long exhibition of a single, culturally significant art piece.
I scoped out the site and instantly, three things caught my eye:
The Team
The Concept + Mission
The Content
The Team
glitch is the brainchild of:
Derek Edwards, MP at consumer startup VC Collab+Currency, Top 10 Squiggle holder, and former lucky recipient of Ben Roy's MCM appreciation post
Madison Page, glitch Gallery Director + Curation Board, founder / performance artist / community builder extraordinaire, and someone for whom akaStevey will go full DND mode
Malte Rauch, co-founder of Fired Up, head curator, unrivaled art analyis, and author of the kind of tweets that get bookmarked
The wonderful duo and all-around good humans, GnomeM + Steve, round out this incredibly stacked team. 😮💨
Concept + Mission
glitch is a physical gallery, but it was born from a vision to educate the world on digital objects. They crafted a plan to integrate storytelling, digital collectibles, and exhibitions that live online, offline, and onchain.
They found the secret sauce: Crypto enables provable scarcity for digital goods, but narrative storytelling and curation help imbue them with cultural resonance.
Content
Their inaugural project, Every 30 Days (E30D), launched almost exactly a year ago.
A skillfully woven 1,133-word essay penned by Malte Rauch about XCopy's Right-click and Save As guy unassumingly appeared on May 1, 2023 at glitchmarfa.com.
The essay was accompanied by a digital poster referencing the art, artist, and collector (Cozomo de' Medici).
As the name implies, the artwork was viewable for 30 days, both in person at glitch Marfa and simultaneously online via digital livestream.
In addition, 1,000 commemorative posters that paid tribute to the piece were available for .02E, of which 332 were minted.
The next month, another poignant essay and tribute poster dropped, this time featuring Claire Silver's Genesis, owned by Flamingo DAO.
With each passing month, my fascination with E30D grew. By the release of #3 in July - featuring Snowfro's CryptoPunk #1478 - I was entirely sold. This collection was special.
💎 For one, the curation and writing was top caliber. I simply wasn't seeing anything comparable to what the team was producing from an artistic editorial standpoint.
💎 Secondly, these were popping up in group chats with folks who I consider high signal.
💎 And lastly, the posters are straight fire and it became pretty clear early on that collecting them would be +EV
I made moves and started my full set collection. I also left some bread crumbs along the way, but with fewer than 100 Farcaster friends back then, no one seemed to notice 😉
Community
As a digital art collector, being a full-set holder of glitch's E30D collection has been one of the most rewarding experiences.
And I'm not just saying that because Snowfro and Grant Yun hand-signed numbered prints for us at the gallery last year. Or because we're getting limited run, NFC-chipped 'fits from 9dcc this year. And did I mention they also gave away this stunner of a bold squiggle to one lucky poster holder?!
While we do love and appreciate the premium giveaways, far and away the best part of glitch's small, self-selecting group of full-set holders is the people.
At the time of this writing, there are only 121 full-set collectors, according to this data-packed Dune dash from our resident statitician and head memester, Wayne Simonetti.
And there can only ever be 332 at most. Likely less in reality, because a handful of folks are already sitting on multiple sets.
We've done IRL meetups, formed close online bonds, and engage regularly with Derek, Maddie, and the glitch team, who care deeply for their holders and fellow art appreciatoors.
There's just something so special about a community formed organically around a shared appreciation for: Art. Storytelling. Culture. Connection.
Where to Next
Now that E30D is coming to a close, I'm not sure what the team has in store for us next season, which kicks off in two short weeks.
Whatever it is, I'm already all in.
If you wanna jump in too (or at least learn more), check out these resources:
GlitchMarfa.com and the E30D collection on OpenSea
Derek, Maddie, and Malte interview with Kaloh
gc cat herder extraordinaire Philip Yoong celebrated 12 Days of glitch with a thoughtful series of X posts and a Spaces recap co-hosted by Wayne and crispyone
Lastly, a little bit of alpha if you made it this far:
You too can get a signed Snowfro poster simply by burning any of the NFTs in the E30D collection. Check this tweet for the deetz; Burn closes April 29.
Thank you to Derek, Maddie, Malte, Steve & GnomeM for cultivating a loyal community through your multifaceted approach to digital curation and engagement. And also for feeding us the best burritos and mimosas Marfa has to offer. Can't wait to do it all over again soon.
Congrats on a successful Year 1, looking forward to whatever comes next 🥂
