When a JPG file sold for $69 million in March this year, people responded with a mixture of amusement, outrage and utter confusion. Who was Beeple? What made his constellation of mostly undecipherable pixels valuable? And what in the world was this new technology called an NFT?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have enjoyed extensive media coverage since Beeple sold his digital collage, “Everydays The First Five Thousand Days,” through the esteemed auction house Christie’s. While the technology behind NFTs has existed since the mid-2010s, Beeple’s high-profile sale facilitated by the same auction house that has sold famous and pricey works by Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci pushed conversations about NFTs into the mainstream. Since then, music albums, tweets and opinion columns have all been sold as NFTs often with exorbitant price tags attached.
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” at Pace Gallery, New York
If you, like me, have ever wanted to be able to articulate responses to Tara Donovan’s something-extraordinary-from-nothing-special installations that are fitter for intelligent company than, “WTF, how did she do this?!” then Wednesday afternoon presents a golden opportunity.
To provide the high-level context Donovan’s current solo show at Pace’s New York flagship (through March 6) deserves, the gallery will host an online panel discussion between Museum of Contemporary Art Denver curator Nora Abrams, University of Chicago professor and Smart Museum of Art adjunct curator Christine Mehring, and UC Santa Barbara art and architectural history professor Jenni Sorkin. Mark Beasley, curatorial director of Pace Live, will handle moderating duties. Join me on the path to enlightenment.