The Metropolitan Museum of Art Launches Blockchain Game Art Links

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Launches Web3 Short Session Game, Art linkswhich invites players to identify common threads among artworks.

This is the first Web3-based experience at The Met. Designed in partnership with the Art & Technology Platform TRLabthis mobile-first, browser-based, blockchain-powered game introduces a new way to engage with the museum and offers the opportunity to collect special in-game non-fungible token (NFT) badges and earn personal and digital rewards.

Art Links launches today and is available at The Met’s website. The series game, which releases new challenges every week, features over 140 works of art from across The Met’s collection. By successfully finding art-based connections — or “chains” — between works, players can claim free NFT “tokens” and earn “achievements” by completing in-game challenges. After launching on January 23rd, new challenges will be released on Thursdays at 12:01am EST for 12 weeks.

The game is available on the web and can be played on screen readers for the visually impaired, Brett Renfer, senior product manager for emerging technologies, said at a press briefing.

If you’re a gamer, you’re probably aware that there are plenty of people who look down on gaming as a form of artistry, but that becomes increasingly difficult to say when a museum like The Met gets involved in gaming.

The goal is to find missing art links: words, materials, artwork or emoticons. It is played in three rounds, with each round becoming more difficult. You can read the artwork label and a fun fact about the Met and its history. If you get a reward and complete three, you can get an NFT. It’s a 12-week game and each week has unique content. There are seven achievements in total, with five being free and two you can purchase for $15 each. The grand prize is a one-year membership or a private tour with the curator.

The goal is to attract Web3 enthusiasts, art fans and casual gamers “and show that there’s a place for all of them at the Met,” Renfer said.

Players who earn achievements enter to earn exciting benefits. Themes that players will discover over the 12 weeks include: “Hidden Objects,” works of art made from surprising and sometimes deliberately deceptive materials, such as Paper Med No.18 by Su Xianzhong; “Art x Tech” with works that touch on artists’ dialogue with technological innovation over time, including Matthew Jensen’s The 49 States; and rewards such as museum exhibition catalogs, discounts at The Met Store, and private curator-led tours.

“This ground-breaking online game is an exciting first for The Met and a unique experience at
the museum field as a whole,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen, chief executive of the French directorate, in a statement. “By presenting artworks from the Museum’s collections – from modern and contemporary art to Asian and Egyptian art – players can expand their engagement and understanding of culture and creativity in a fun and engaging way. Art Links truly exemplifies how The Met continues to connect audiences to ideas and to each other as it explores emerging technologies.”

The artworks featured in the game were selected by Destinee Filmore, Assistant Curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, and an interdisciplinary team from across The Met’s vast collection. Each circuit features at least one work from The Met’s collection of 20th- and 21st-century art, placing these works in a broader creative context.

Filmore said in a briefing that the game features four types of links: “Highlights” showing key works, artists or movements; “Material” focusing on how works are made; “Emojis” highlighting signs, symbols and visual culture; and “Web3,” showing how artists over time have engaged with the core concepts behind blockchain, such as randomization, security, and ledgers. “Harlem as Muse,” featuring artists who have looked to Harlem as a subject and source of inspiration, including Romar Bearden, Faith Ringgold, and Jacob Lawrence.

Audrey Ou, CEO of TRLab, said in a statement: “As a company at the forefront of art and technology, we are committed to creating new ways for audiences to discover, engage and immerse themselves in art and culture. Partnering with The Met for its first Web3 experience reflects our belief that deepening the connections between creators, collectors and fans is the future of art. We combine digital innovation with artistic expression to create truly transformative experiences.”

Ou said at a press briefing that the idea is to make art more accessible to a wider audience, and he sees blockchain to track participation and reward engagement. The goal is to make the game “sticky” where people will come back after 12 weeks.

In each game, players create a chain that consists of seven pieces of art and six links. Links can be words, emoticons, or artwork. The circuit is completed in three rounds, with each round becoming increasingly difficult. Players have four attempts to complete each circuit correctly. No prior knowledge of art history is required to play, and the game includes built-in learning moments – accessible via an icon on each digital art representation – to discover more about the work and the artist.

Players can collect 12 free badges, one for each weekly circuit, with opportunities to earn seven achievements related to in-game challenges. Five of the achievement tokens are free, while two tokens can be purchased at an affordable cost. (No purchase required to enter or win.) Built on (Coinbase’s L2), the game accepts cryptocurrency and credit card payments through MoonPay and Stripe.

The game was created with universal accessibility in mind and includes screen reader-friendly code along with visual descriptions of all artwork and images in the game. These features were developed in partnership with The Met’s Access team and individual testers from The Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School.

Art Links will be featured on The Met’s website as well as on social media. The museum resides in two iconic locations in New York – The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also participate in The Met experience online. It was founded in 1870.

TRLab brings together artists and technologists to develop fine art collectibles that foster deeper connections between digital artists, collectors and fans. Driven by a mission to make art more collectible through innovative, hybrid experiences combining digital and physical art, TRLab successfully designs and launches innovative art experiences with artists, estates and institutions. Notable TRLab collaborations include “The Calder Question,” a multi-season educational project developed with the Calder Foundation.

TRLab, a female-led company, was co-founded in 2021. by CEO Audrey Ou, Board Member of Rockbund Art Museum, and Chairman Sin Lee-Cohen, Non-Executive Vice Chairman at Christie’s.