Bitcoin Ordinals IRL: Superchief Opens Art Gallery in San Francisco

Superchief Gallery will open what’s being hailed as the world’s first gallery dedicated to Bitcoin Ordinals artwork, the company announced Wednesday.

Located in San Francisco, the new gallery marks a collaboration with the Ordinals-centric Cypherpunk Lab collective—alongside neurotechnology startup Nuro Realm and software firm Deezy Labs—to inaugurate Superchief Gallery San Francisco.

The San Francisco gallery aims to be a permanent fixture, continually offering new exhibitions and spotlighting artists that capture the attention of the Ordinals space.

The grand opening festivities commence on Friday, February 16, celebrating the launch of Bitcoin Magazine‘s special issue on Ordinals inscriptions, featuring a live “Hell Money” podcast recording. The podcast is co-hosted by Casey Rodarmor, creator of the Ordinals protocol.

The following day, Saturday, February 17, is dedicated to the gallery’s premiere art showcase, collaboratively curated by Superchief and pseudonymous artist Nuro from Nuro Realm. The show will display works by a diverse group of artists like Faith Love, Killer Acid, NeuroColor, Rax, Eloc, Bop, Nullish, Rocktoshi, Rare Scrilla, Nardo, v6 Collective, Mike Irak, and Aaron Huey.

Superchief’s collaborators in the venture are all focused on the burgeoning Ordinals space. Nuro Realm crafts generative neural artwork using Bitcoin Ordinals and offers immersive experiences through neurofeedback, in augmented and virtual reality as well as in-person settings.

Deezy Labs has also developed software that helps users discover and acquire unique satoshis (aka the smallest unit of a Bitcoin), contributing to popular Ordinals collections like Bitcoin Frogs.

Established by Edward Zipco and Bill Dunleavy in 2012 in Brooklyn, New York, Superchief Gallery has expanded its footprint globally, with venues in notable locations including the Oculus at the World Trade Center in New York City, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and now San Francisco.

In 2021, Superchief made headlines by launching the first-ever physical NFT gallery, partnering with Christie’s for the inaugural CryptoPunks Auction, organizing the first NFT showcase for The United Nations, and curating exhibitions for top industry marketplaces such as OpenSea, MakersPlace, and Foundation.

“We are proud to do our part by focusing on exhibiting their artwork professionally, and beyond giving the Ordinal Artist Community a permanent home in San Francisco, Superchief is excited to take this artwork around the world for featured exhibitions at our other gallery locations,” the team said in a press release shared with Decrypt.

Edited by Andrew Hayward