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1. Russia’s Hermitage museum to host NFT art exhibition

The Hermitage project will become the first exhibition research in Russia in the field of art of NFT tokens and their use in the artistic field, which is the most urgent agenda in the field of contemporary art today. The exhibition will be a continuation of the State Hermitage’s work on new forms of art, which has begun within the framework of the exhibitions Innovation as an Artistic Technique (2018) and Artificial Intelligence and Dialogue of Cultures (2019) together with RDI.Creative and seminars of the State Hermitage and ITMO University.

2. Robot Sophia sells NFT art in first-ever AI auction

In Hong Kong, a digital artwork by humanoid robot Sophia was sold at auction on Thursday for $688,888 in the form of a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), the latest sign of a frenzy in the NFT art world. “I hope the people like my work, and the humans and I can collaborate in new and exciting ways going forward,” said Sophia.

3. Banksy charity painting sells for $23 million

A Banksy painting has been sold for a record price of £16.7m, and the money will be going to UK health charities.  Titled “Game Changer”, it shows a young boy playing with a figure of a caped superhero nurse. The work was a tribute to the NHS staff who have tackled Covid-19 for over a year now, and the artist delivered it at Southampton general hospital last May, with the message: “Thanks for all you’re doing. I hope this brightens the place up a bit, even if it’s only black and white.”

4. Artnet introduces NFT and cryptocurrency initiative

Artnet Auctions to host Non Fungible Tokens auctions in 2021. By engaging with NFTs and blockchain technology, artnet continues this ethos of spearheading innovation within the art industry – empowering its clients to transact in a transparent, efficient, and sustainable way. “Artnet started the first fine art auction online in 2008 – when people couldn’t even imagine buying high value products on the internet.”, says Jacob Pabst, CEO of Artnet AG. “We have already been selling physical artworks on a digital platform in the past two decades, and now with the invention of blockchain technology and the NFT, we are finally able to sell digital artwork digitally, on its original birthplace, the internet.” Artnet has been considering selling all other forms of digital arts in the past, such as video works, and are excited to be putting this vision into reality now. “With the booming NFT art market, we are expecting to see a new breadth of digital artists as well as collectors” said Jacob Pabst.

5. You can now create your own NFT art with Beeple generator

Sam Newell and Vince McKelvie’s new website lets you create what they call a ‘multi-million dollar NFT scan.’ Vince says the generator doesn’t come from a bad place, rather the opposite. “I’m happy for him. He is an open-sourced artist, gave a lot of his work away for free with no expectation of monetary gain. I do the same thing, and I think it’s cool that he was rewarded for that,” McKelvie says. Check it out here.

Beeple approves:

 

6. Billionaire Mark Cuban launches digital NFT art gallery, Lazy.com

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and an art collector, launched a digital art gallery for users to display NFTs. The website is already live and has seen scores of visitors already. “People bought NFTs, they created them, they need a lazy way to show them off,” Cuban said. “There really was not an easy way to do it before Lazy.com.”

Stay tuned for more news next week!

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