‘I can go there’ NFT Museum NFT x Regional Development

Opened in 1992 as the first museum specialising in photography in western Japan, the Nara City Museum of Photography has been preserving and researching photographic works by photographer Taikichi Irie, and in recent years has attracted attention for its NFT and Metaverse-related projects aimed at a younger audience.

The Taikichi Irie Memorial Nara City Museum of Photography, located in Takahata-cho, Nara City, Nara Prefecture, opened in 1992 as the first public museum specialising in photography in western Japan. The museum displays and preserves the works of Taikichi Irie, a photographer who photographed the landscapes and cultural assets of Nara's Yamatoji region, as well as carrying out research activities.

Taikichi Irie was a photographer born in Nara City in 1905. He is known for his work as a photographer of Bunraku puppets, winning the first prize at the World Mobile Photography Exhibition for his ‘Bunraku in Spring’, a photograph of Bunraku puppets.

This Nara City Museum of Photography has been actively organising projects related to the NFT and Metaverse in recent years, as well as regular photographic exhibitions.

NFT Museum of Art

MANA Nara City Museum of Photography.

In 2022, the NFT museum ‘MANA Nara City Museum of Photography’ will open anew, where visitors can view works in the Metaverse. This is the first attempt of its kind for a photography museum in Japan and a relatively rare and challenging project for a public museum.

From November 2022 to January 2023, the Metaverse NFT Museum of Photography will host an exhibition of Taikichi Irie's photographs entitled ‘The Ancient City of Nara: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter’. -Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter’ on the Metaverse NFT Museum of Art. The exhibition featured more than 20 works carefully selected from among the vast number of Irie's works.

Prior to this exhibition, the museum organised a workshop-style exhibition with the photography club of Nara Prefecture's Chiben Gakuen High School on the Metaverse NFT Art Museum as a related project. In this exhibition, the high school students completed an exhibition on a virtual space with advice from staff on the theme of high school baseball.

The ‘Ancient Capital Nara - Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter’ and related projects were held on Decentraland, a blockchain project in the virtual space Metaverse.

The museum on Decent raland was created using 3D modelling, so it can be easily rebuilt. In the future, the company is considering collaborating with students interested in architecture and programming.

Until now, the museum has only been accessible via PC, but in March 2023, a new initiative will be launched to allow access to the Metaverse NFT Museum from smartphones. Users can now easily access the exhibition space in the virtual space from the museum's website.

In addition to being able to move freely around the museum and view artworks, visitors can also watch video commentaries by museum staff on artworks that interest them.

These attempts were initiated in the hope of bringing the younger generation of digital natives into contact with photography and art as much as possible. It is hoped that the Metaverse will first familiarise them with the artworks, and that in time the younger generation will visit the actual artists.