Everyone is talking about NFTs, and famed auction house Sotheby’s will not be left behind.
Sotheby's announced its first-ever NFT collaboration with the mysterious and world-renowned digital artist Pak. Entitled "The Fungible," the collection's pieces are up for auction on leading NFT platform Nifty Gateway now through April 14.
NFTs, which stands for non-fungible tokens, represent digital assets ranging from artworks to music and even wearables, and each NFT proves verifiable ownership of said artwork on the blockchain. "The Fungible" collection will be as unique as it is rare, special to each collector who purchases the artwork.
See also: The 20 Top-Selling NFT Artists to Collect Right Now
"The Fungible" collection consists of multiple parts to be released over three days. "Fungible Open Editions," exploring society’s understanding of value, are available now. A series of individual "Cube" NFTs are made available in unlimited quantities. The pieces can be purchased in set pieces of "A Cube," "Five Cubes," "Ten Cubes," "Twenty Cubes," "Fifty Cubes" "Hundred Cubes" "Five Hundred Cubes" and "Thousand Cubes." Prices for each start at $500 for a single "A Cube" NFT, but the pieces you receive increase with scale. For instance, if a collector buys six cubes for $3,000, they will receive two NFTs: “Five Cubes” and “A Cube”, for $2,500 and $500 each, filling the $3,000 value.
The quantity of open edition NFTs available is unlimited, but the sale period is not. The sale goes live at 1 pm ET each day for a period of 15 minutes, and once the window on the Sotheby's sale closes, the amount of Cubes available will never increase. Pak and Sotheby's will announce the other two parts of the auction in the days to come, incuding additional limited-edition NFTs and more.
We're just starting.
— Pak (@muratpak) April 12, 2021
4PM ET
pic.twitter.com/tKi5nQvV5K
“I see this collection as the first digitally-native mindset of works that's presented to the traditional art world through a global auction house,” Pak is quoted in a press release. “With this kind of a scale, I expect it to play a major cultural role in telling the narrative of the digital world to the traditional world, in terms of the medium definition and value creation.”
Pak is an anonymous artist who has made strides in the digital art world for more than two decades, becoming the first NFT artist to earn $1 million with his work. Inspired by the constant evolution of technology, Pak created Archillect, a form of artificial intelligence that helps users share visual media. Working to define the true meaning of value, Pak challenges the relationship between scarcity and value while showing the world the many uses of digital art.
“Working in the lineage of esteemed minimalist and conceptual artists whose practices radically altered our understanding of what art is, "The Fungible" collection will challenge us to rethink what we know about digital art and ownership,” Max Moore, co-head of Sotheby’s contemporary art day sales in New York, is quoted. “As more and more of our lives are lived digitally, there is a much higher comfort level with a purely digital experience.”
See also: Beeple Sells NFT for a Historic $69 Million at Christie's First Crypto Art Auction
This is not the first time a major auction house has dipped into the NFT market. Christie's and digital artist Beeple made headlines in March with their record-breaking sale of his NFT "Everydays: The First 5000 Days" for $69 million. Luxury watch maker Jacob & Co. just sold its first NFT timepiece, and there are rumors that major fashion house Gucci might soon break into the NFT space.
"The Fungible" collection from Pak and Sotheby's is meant to show the interconnectedness of art and technology, and as one of the highest-selling NFT artists on the market, Pak is already paving the way for the future.
"The Fungible" collection is on sale now. Learn more via Sothebys.com.
Photography by: Courtesy of Pak
