New York City based visual artist and creative director, Jonathan Rosen, makes his NFT debut with back-to-back exhibitions on two of the world’s biggest art stages. Billed as “The Biggest Drop in Times Square since New Years Eve”, Rosen will “drop” his NFT collection on Nasdaq’s state-of-the-art, 7-story-tall, curved digital tower, which will subsequently be auctioned off online June 15th-16th. This follows his W1 Curate’s state-of-the-art, 36 screen 3-story LED facade in the heart of London’s Oxford Street which launched May 24th – June 6th.

With these two exhibitions, Rosen brings the digital space into our physical world, and explores the ways in which the rapid ascent of NFTs have acted as a disruptor to the traditional art market. In collaboration with Treum, the innovative minds and blockchain technology behind the wildly successful NFT art-project EulerBeats; Rosen will create four site-specific and on-chain NFTs using his trademark flashing phrase mechanism that fits appropriately into the illuminated backdrops of these two iconic locations. To commemorate Pride, a charity auction with Nasdaq’s Purpose Initiative and Broadway Cares, one of the nation’s leading nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations, will celebrate purpose through inclusion to welcome the return of Broadway.

Rosen’s four NFT pieces titled, I WANT, BIG, DROP and FAMOUS continue his career exploration of human possibility and desire, this time with an emphasis on our universal need to be seen, to be successful, and for many, to be a star. With 65% of Gen Z aspiring to be famous (compared to 14% of Boomers), the artist reflects on society’s current drives, created and fueled by social media and technology. The desire for fame is not exclusive to the young (or artists for that matter), which is why Rosen is inviting his collectors to join in on the fame game. The five winning collectors of his 1-of-1 1000+ phrase pieces, will be given the opportunity to have their face, name and/or crypto wallet address displayed on the Nasdaq tower, next to their newly minted NFT.

“I’m honored to continue my career exploration of human possibility and desire on two of the biggest screens and in two of the most visited places in the world,” said Rosen. “As I’ve always embraced digital technologies in my work, the NFT space allows me to push deeper into our digital experience. And now, as we renew our connection with the outside world, W1 Curates and the Nasdaq Digital Tower are the ideal platforms for reaching people. To shed light on our desires in an electrifying, future-forward way behind this growing NFT space and technologies.”

In addition to the five English-style auctions, collectors are invited to purchase a unique single-phrase piece through a fixed-priced democratized drawing. Inspired by the similar mechanics of Rosen’s interactive digital mirrors, tilted DREAM MACHINES, the NFT generator randomly draws a phrase for the collector. In this chance-based minting mechanism, the NFT acts like a tarot or fortune reading for the collector. Once minted, the ownership of the one of a kind artwork is instantly transferred to the buyer, and the single phrase NFT can only be bought again on a secondary marketplace.

Rosen’s art project uses the Treum NFT platform to create, list, and sell generative art NFTs. The platform provides end-to-end services for Art, Media, Gaming, and Sports companies to launch tailored NFT drops and deliver unique experiences at scale for fans and collectors.

“The generative aspect of the project felt like a natural fit for the Treum platform” said Treum’s cofounder Tyler Mulvihill. “This art collection uses the Ethereum blockchain to store artwork ownership and provenance data. The media is stored in decentralized storage sowing the seeds for eternal artwork existence.”

As a member of the LGBT community, Rosen is teaming up with Nasdaq’s Purpose Initiative for Pride month and will be auctioning off an additional NFT titled, I WANT(Nasdaq). The piece features all 4000+ listings on Nasdaq’s exchange, with all proceeds supporting the nearby charity, Broadway Cares. Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS helps men, women and children across the country and across the street to receive life-saving medications, health care, nutritious meals, counseling and emergency financial assistance. Closed during the pandemic, the charity auction will provide funds to mark the return of Broadway through innovation, inclusion and purpose.

Rosen has exhibited at museums around the world, including the Smithsonian, Cornell Art Museum, Powerlong Musuem in Shanghai, The Musuem Kitchener in Ontario and the Museum of Sex in NYC. Rosen also has exhibited in gallery shows in Sydney, Taipei, Paris, Hong Kong and in museums in Beijing, Chengdu, Shenzhen. He’s also exhibited at the famous (now closed) concept gallery, Colette in Paris and created an immersive art experience for Refinery29’s “29Rooms”; as well as brand collaborations with Bloomingdales, GQSport and was Pandora Music’s featured visual artist for their Pandora Live concert series and Super Bowl LIV event in Miami. Rosen is one of the only pure language-based artists in the NFT space and looks forward to seeing the names of his collectors amongst the bright lights of Broadway.