Artists in Cuba find themselves blocked from NFT trading sites

When everything seemed to be going wrong, Cuban multimedia artist Alejandro Pablo García Alarcón found a solution in what some might consider an unusual place:

HAVANA — When everything seemed to be going wrong, Cuban multimedia artist Alejandro Pablo García Alarcón found a solution in what some might consider an unusual place: NFTs.

Artists like him have been dealt multiple blows in recent years: The pandemic wreaked havoc on Cuba’s tourism sector, sending art sales plummeting. American sanctions, while not explicitly applying to art, made it harder for Cubans to sell their works. And for artists whose work can veer into political commentary, like García Alarcón’s, it can be hard to get featured in Cuban galleries.

NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, are digital images registered on a blockchain and generally purchased with cryptocurrencies. They offer artists such as García Alarcón a rare loophole because they can profit from their art on an international stage with few speech restrictions due to the medium’s decentralized nature.

“The first thing that drew me to it was the freedom,” said García Alarcón, known best by his artist name, Paolo De. “You can commercialize your work without intermediaries, without having to pass through a filter.”

But this year, doors have begun to close for artists from Cuba and other countries facing U.S. sanctions because key NFT trading sites have gradually blocked them from doing business on their platforms, often with little or no explanation.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/artists-cuba-find-blocked-nft-trading-sites-rcna62731


Post ID: 619faa86-b761-40fb-9aa8-2dca70fb8759
Rating: 5
Updated: 1 year ago
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