The world-leading contemporary art fair is moving in a futuristic direction this year, giving buyers the opportunity to see their sculptures on the moon.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are all the rage at the Art Basel Fair in Switzerland, where the world of digital assets is widespread.
Artist Jeff Koons will send 125 miniature sculptures to the moon, along with billions of billionaires Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Engravings set to be installed 384,400 kilometers (238,855 miles) away from the owner are sold as NFTs that act like a certificate of ownership.
The “Moon Phase” statue comes with a picture of the moon’s position, and the purchaser can also take home a sculpture with a jewel that shows the position of the moon of an extraterrestrial partner.
“We’re seeing it for the first time,” said Marc Glimcher, director of Pace Gallery, at a stand in Basel when he unveiled a moon-shaped statue about the size of a beach ball.
Elsewhere in Art Basel, the LCD display of Ozgür Carr, a male Turkish artist surrounded by skeletons, is sold by the French gallery Edouard Montassut.
Meanwhile, the Vive Arts platform jumps into digital art with the help of augmented reality glasses and introduces the avatar of German artist Albert Oehlen in the 3D universe.
The fair, which runs from June 16th to 19th, features Franco Cameroonian artist Barthelmy from an installation by Franco Chinese artist Huang Yong Ping depicting a kitchen studded with giant Cameroon. Toguo.
The spider sculpture by French-American sculptor Louise Bourgeois has earned $ 40 million.
In 2021, the art market recovered strongly after being hit by the 2020 pandemic, in addition to selling yachts, luxury cars, watches and jewelery.
The stock market recovered sharply last year, expanding the financial resources of the ultra-rich. And inflation gives wealthy collectors yet another reason to splatter millions of dollars in painting.
Pace is one of the few major galleries that have entered the field of NFTs. According to Clare McAndrew, author of the Art Basel Art Market Report, only 6% of galleries sold NFTs in 2021.
Since peaking in August 2021, NFTs have plummeted. According to McAndrew’s record, art-related NFT sales surged to $ 945 million in August, but fell to $ 366 million in January and $ 101 million in May. did.
These ups and downs do not mislead the owners of pace galleries, who believe that NFTs represent “a new methodology for distributing digital art.”
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