NFTcuba.ART

Cuba + NFT + Art = Opportunity

About

Our project seeks to bring awareness of the global Cuban artist community, specifically those creating Non-Fungible Crypto art!
Founder / Curator

Gianni D'Alerta

Miami, USA

Gianni D'Alerta has been working in technology, branding, and marketing for more than 20 years. His insatiable curiosity drew him to the blockchain industry in 2013 where he was a founding member of Ethereum. In 2017 he worked alongside Ethereum co-founder Anthony Di Iorio at Decentral/Jaxx as Director of Marketing, leading the organization's global branding. Earlier in his career he was an early employee of Alienware, where he led design initiatives and created the iconic identity seen by millions. In 2022 he co-founded Miami NFT Week with Ted Lucas and Erik LaPaglia. Today he helps businesses with blockchain and marketing strategy at NAKA, tinkers with NFT projects, and has supported the City of Miami, Mayor Suarez and Venture Miami on blockchain initiatives.

LinkedIn ↗X ↗Instagram ↗
Curator

Gladys Garrote Rigau

Havana, Cuba

Gladys Garrote is a curator, art writer and Art History professor at the University of Havana. She is co-founder of ClitSplash, the first NFT collective in Cuba, focused on women, trans and minority artists. She curated the 2021 “NFT Cuba Art” show on oncyber, the Latin American show at the Lynn University NFT Museum in 2022, and “Beyond the Body” in Havana in 2023, and was Art Collective Coordinator of The Infinite Machine, bringing Cuban artists into the project. She has helped organize exhibitions associated with the Havana Biennial, and her essays explore feminism, cultural memory, the rewriting of history, collective identities and self-reflexivity.

LinkedIn ↗Instagram ↗

Beyond the Body. Arte Digital en Frontera

An NFT art exhibition curated by Gladys Garrote as part of NFT Cuba Art and sponsored by the digital art collector Cryptinish. Open to the public March 10–12, 2023 at Galería Taller Gorría in Havana, Cuba.

The film

Minted

Directed by Nicholas Bruckman (People's Television), “Minted” follows artists chasing the promise of NFTs — and the Cuban storyline is a main part of it. The crew filmed in Havana April 23–30, 2022, with introductions arranged by Gladys Garrote. The film premiered at Tribeca in June 2023 and aired on PBS Independent Lens on January 6, 2025.

Featured artists from the archive: Paolo De and Kina Matahari. Gianni D'Alerta, Gladys Garrote and José Ángel Nazábal appear in the film's Special Thanks.

PBS Independent Lens ↗Tribeca ↗

Deplatformed

In 2022, OpenSea began shutting down the profiles of artists living in Cuba, citing US sanctions law; KnownOrigin delisted Cuban artists too — at least 30 in total, according to AP. Paolo De was locked out in March 2022 and the NFTcuba.ART account followed that December. The collective argued that buying art from Cubans is allowed under the “informational materials” exemption. No official ruling on that question was ever found, and no account is known to have been reinstated.

Press

Top 15 · Sept 2021

Cuban NFT artists by OpenSea profile activity, as tracked on Sept 1, 2021

  1. 01nftFAC (collective)
  2. 02gabrielbianchini
  3. 03PaoloDe
  4. 04octavioirving
  5. 05Irenilla
  6. 06Karlotik97
  7. 07carlos_vila
  8. 08LUISFERN
  9. 09Riogerz
  10. 10cesarvila
  11. 11FABIAN_GLEZE
  12. 12csrsvdrnd
  13. 13DianaRubi
  14. 14hackndy
  15. 15MarlonPortales