DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia, December 6, 2022 — At the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the King Abdulaziz World Cultural Center (Ithra) will celebrate the fine art of gaming with a one-of-a-kind exhibition. From Strike to Stroke includes 64 NFTs from 32 artists from opposing countries, with Artificial Intelligence (AI) combining the parts of the two opposing countries in each of the 64 matches into a single track based on the match result. The end result will be a one-of-a-kind collection of new NFTs created by the collaboration of man and machine. Strike to Stroke is on display at Msheireb Galleria Doha, Qatar, until December 23.

As the world gathers for the World Cup, Ithra, a cultural bridge between Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world, is channeling the world's passion for football into a passion for art. The exhibition combines man-made and machine-made elements, as well as combining art, sport, and technology in novel ways.

It features the work of 32 emerging and established artists, each of whom was tasked with creating a piece that represented their country while wearing the colors of their team's jerseys. Following each game, the AI-powered algorithm combines artist creations with match statistics to create one-of-a-kind pieces that represent each game. The collection will be a one-of-a-kind set of items offered as NFTs, or unrivaled tokens. These cryptoassets are created in a manner similar to cryptocurrencies and are based on blockchain technology.

Artists in From Strike to Stroke NFT Collection have never created an NFT before, as well as NFT artists who have never worked in the traditional fine arts.

"The passion shared by football fans for the love of the beautiful game may be tangential to the passion shared by the aesthetic of art," Dr. Shurooq Amin wrote in the exhibition's curator's summary. "By bringing together 32 artists from both the traditional and digital realms, Ithra not only bridges the gap between Web2 and Web3 and football and art, but also humans and machines as artists collaborate with AI rendering technology to create unique NFTs, combining art, football, and technology."