Welcome to This Week in the Metaverse, where Fortune brings together the most interesting news in the world of NFTs, culture and the metaverse. Email marco.quiroz-gutierrez@fortune.com with tips
NFTs got some good news this week: After months of uncertainty and jitters, the overall market jumped 137% quarter-over-quarter to $4.7 billion. Likewise, individual sales rose 8.56%, according to a report from DappRadar.
This new sense of excitement in the NFT space was exemplified by Tyler Hobbs' QQL: Analog exhibition (open through April 22), which I attended last week at the Pace Gallery location on West 25th Street in New York City. The exhibition, which was part of Pace Verso, the gallery's Web3 hub, showcased a host of Hobbs's works in the form of physical paintings, some created by the Brooklyn-based team in Art.
The excitement at the event showed just how important a sense of community is among many in the NFT space, and how the physical forms featured by NFTs can spark interest among non-cryptocurrency crowds.
I spoke to a local artist who had no idea what NFTs were, "just a contract for me," she said, but added that she was intrigued by one of Hobbs' paintings and wanted to learn more about it.
In my opinion, NFT creative art for art's sake is making a comeback, even as creator fees decline and Blur has surpassed OpenSea in trading volume recently (OpenSea still has more users).
Hobbs tends to agree with my point of view, I think. Although he has been offline for the past four months and unable to comment directly on current market dynamics, he said he was happy to return to his pictorial roots for the exhibition and for people to experience it in a different way.
"People know me for my purely digital generative work, very well at this point, but I still have a very strong bond with painting," he told me, "and I still find that there is something really special about work like this and the way it that you can interact with it in person at scale and capture all the details.โ
That's it for this week, but if you're in New York next week, happy NFT.NYC! Maybe I'll see you there.
In other news
Drone Racing League will soon become the first sports property to broadcast its entire season in the metaverse. following the 2022-23 Algorand DRL World Championship Finals Race On April 8, the league said it will host a two-day "metaverse marathon" where fans will be able to watch the entire 2022-2023 racing season, where drones zip around and plunge down real-life circuits at 90 mph.
By clicking a link on social media, users can also enter a digital twin of the popular Drone Racing League Simulator video game MegaCity map, where they will have the chance to meet champion pilots.
DJ and self-described "eco warrior" BLOND:ISH is releasing a biodegradable PHA vinyl record...which also has an NFT. Made in collaboration with the artist's non-profit organization, Bye Bye Plastics, the record uses natural bacteria to compose the 14-track vinyl of her album #PlasticFreeParty. The NFTs will be sold in a 72-hour sale, each for 0.04ETH, on sound.xyz, on April 11. Each NFT purchased will be redeemable for a physical copy of the biovinyl.
Web3 Wildcard trading card game is hosting its first public mint on April 20, via Magic Eden, for a series of 4,444 NFT "WildPasses" on the Polygon blockchain. NFTs will give buyers access to headline-only airdrops, priority access to playtests, and early access to ownership opportunities within the Wildcard Universe. WildPass will also offer developer-only private access, including headline-only roundtables, roadmap sneak peeks, and more.
