🍎🐍 Art As A Consequence #22
🌐 The best in art, crypto and sometimes luxury. Meet you in the email body.
Welcome to the 22nd edition of the ART AS A CONSEQUENCE weekly briefing. Let’s dive deep; from Bill Viola’s passing to Vito Schnabel tying the knot, this week’s news were resting at the French Riviera - except for the $45 M dino sale. Crypto had a stronger pulse, as we are back in the green. Are we back yet? All of that and more below. So, grab a snack 🍎 and happy scrolling.
Lol (lots of love),
Dimitria
Notable news from the art world 🦋✨
🍎 Starting on a sad note, Bill Viola passed away this week due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease. Viola was known for turning Renaissance paintings into videos, like his work Emergence, that explores the balance between motion and stillness. This technique helped him delve into themes like death and resurrection, encouraging viewers to concentrate on powerful images in the midst of visual media. His work raised important questions about what makes video art and set a high standard for its potential.
🍎 It was reported (on insta…. actually do go on insta, the comments are entertaining 🍿👹) that 37 year old Vito Schnabel tied the knot with 21 year old Russian model Helena Althof.
🍎 The fossil art world woke up to urgent digital presence demand. A fun article on why true success lies in developing robust in-house social media teams. Read on The Art Newspaper.
🍎 Speaking of dinos, one Stegosaurus sold for almost $45 million at Sotheby's (while was estimated at $4-6 M). The auctioned lot took 15 minutes to close and 10xed. The fascinating fact is that Sotheby’s did an 18-minute video about the discovery of this dino and story behind the finding - which actually took place on privately owned land and was found by Jason Cooper on his birthday (!) - I mean come on!
🍎 Lastly, unnecessary - but impressive info I learned while reading The Art Newspaper:
(…) at the launch of Art Basel’s first concept store they sold Biscuits for $56 that seems to go beyond the category of “necessary”.
Jenna Littler, a fashion industry adviser, says: “Luxury has always been about desire, not need, and the most precious commodity is not money but time.” Today’s rich crowd still wants to spend its most precious commodity on art, only now with other once-siloed trappings of wealth, from dinosaurs to footballing influencers, as part of the package.
🚀 Rise and Shine: the crypto space
🍎 So following the biggest löl moment in crypto history this year thus far, Germany sold 50k BTC (!) worth about $2.2B (at the time of the sale). If you are wondering what is the story behind Germany having so much BTC (see confiscation story here). Long story short, they confiscated this guy’s BTC, then the decided to sell the BTC for FIAT (löl), the BTC price went down during this uncomfortable moment. Some blocks later… we’re back to green (over 10% since they sold). The saga continues (ofc it does in true crypto trolling) as people have been sending the German Government BTC to their wallet from funny addresses (see here).
🍎 As mentioned last week, Erick Calderon (Snowfro) is set to mint the final Chromie Squiggle, #9999, marking the end of this 10k generative art project. This Monday is your last chance to sign the contract to the final mint.
For those who did not read last week’s briefing: Erick has collaborated with deafbeef to create a farewell smart contract, allowing participants to be part of this moment before the NFT goes into the collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
From July 15th to July 22nd, people can sign the contract by sending any amount of ETH, symbolizing their eternal connection to the final mint. The process is designed to be safe and scam-free, with no website or wallet connection required.
🍎 Right Click Save’s Alex Estorick spoke about hybrid collecting in the age of digital art. In the wake of his participation in Art Basel’s Digital Dialogues in Basel, the RCS editor-in-chief demystified the world of Web3 for art collectors. Read here.
🍎 Hackers from the group Nullbulge have stolen and leaked data from Disney's internal Slack channels, claiming to protect artists from the threat of AI-generated content. With the aim to ensure fair compensation for artists whose work may be used by AI tools without permission, Nullbulge reportedly accessed 1.1 terabytes of data, including internal communications, project documents, and sensitive company information, by compromising a Disney software manager’s computer. The group leaked the data on BitTorrent, criticizing Disney's handling of artist contracts and AI practices. Disney is currently investigating the breach.
🍎 Coach finally takes its first step into the Metaverse through a partnership with Roblox and ZEPETO, launching its "Find Your Courage" campaign. This initiative allows users to choose themed digital wearables from Coach’s Spring 2024 collection The initiative marks Coach as the first luxury brand to integrate into Fashion Famous 2, joining other brands like Burberry and Gucci in the Metaverse. Research indicates that digital fashion is influential, with a significant portion of Gen Z prioritizing their avatars' style over their physical appearance. The Coach-themed takeover on Fashion Famous 2 and Fashion Klossette will be available until August 19 on all Roblox-compatible devices.
🍒 Bonus: In the wake of von der Leyen’s reelection, a fun video explaining how EU democracy (doesn’t) work
For my German speakers only - scuzi.
That’s all frens! 👋 toodeloo
See you next Sunday - if there is a next Sunday.
Visit artasaconsequence.net to discover more about my work in the art industry. You can contact me over email or find me on social media: Instagram | X | LinkedIn
