Let’s face it, we live in a mixed reality where the tangible blends with the intangible, and a new creative territory emerges: phygital art. This term, born from the fusion of physical and digital, describes works that exist simultaneously in both realms. It’s not just about duplicating a sculpture in 3D format or projecting an animation on a wall: the phygital proposes a symbiotic relationship where the physical object and its digital counterpart enhance, transform, and expand one another.
At ARTCAN2025, we believe this form of creation represents one of the most paradigmatic practices of contemporary art, especially in the context of Web3. That’s why this year we’ve opened a special category dedicated to phygital works: we want to invite artists to explore this interweaving of matter and code, pigment and pixel, aura and metadata.
What exactly is a phygital artwork?
A phygital artwork is one that has both a physical dimension and a digital dimension connected to each other. The key lies not only in having both versions, but in how they interact. The digital dimension can expand the narrative of the work, provide new layers of interpretation, enable interaction, or guarantee provenance through blockchain. At the same time, the physical presence anchors the intangible in the real world, generating emotion, experience, and memory.
Phygital is not a tech fad: it’s an aesthetic and conceptual response to a new human condition, where life is lived between screens and matter, between presence and avatar, between museum and metaverse.
Why is phygital art paradigmatic?
From NFTCanarias we see four key reasons:
- Bidirectionality: interaction is not just a digital add-on, but a real extension of the physical work. Both parts affect each other.
- Expanded narrative: NFTs, augmented reality, or artificial intelligence amplify what the work can tell or become.
- Convergence of audiences: they connect traditional art audiences with digital natives who inhabit Web3.
- Shared property and experience: through blockchain, the identity and traceability of the work are preserved in both worlds.
Inspiring cases of phygital art
- Wallsaved Phygital (Mr. Savethewall)
Urban murals that transform into digital portals through NFTs with evolving content. - Colored Reality (Ife Olowu)
Paintings that come alive with augmented reality, generating a multisensory experience via mobile devices. - EVA (Shavonne Wong)
Physical installation + intelligent digital avatar enabling an interactive and ritual emotional experience. - Gucci Cosmos Land in The Sandbox
An exhibition replicated in the metaverse, connecting physical objects with digital garments and gamified experiences.
How can I create a phygital artwork?
You don’t need big budgets or sophisticated technology. Here are some simple ideas:
- Physical piece + NFT: create a painting, sculpture, or object and mint an NFT as a digital certificate or as an animated/extended version.
- Object + AR: design a piece that can be scanned with an app to reveal an augmented reality layer.
- Photography + Metaverse: print a photograph and exhibit its digital version in a virtual gallery.
- Artist book + Interactive web: publish a book that is complemented with a website or NFT where readers can unlock content.
- Sculpture + AI: model a figure and link it to a voice or AI response when scanned or interacted with.
An open invitation to participate in ARTCAN2025
The ARTCAN2025 open call is now active, and you can be part of this exploration where clay meets the metaverse and ink blends with code. Whether you are a visual artist, designer, creative coder, sculptor, performer, or simply have an idea that branches out between the physical and the digital, this is your chance.
You don’t need to be an expert in blockchain or NFTs. You just need a work—or the seed of an idea—that dialogues with this new way of creating and inhabiting art.
Phygital is not a label, it’s an invitation to think of art as a bridge between dimensions.
We look forward to seeing you at ARTCAN2025.
