Larva Labs, the co-founder of the famous CryptoPunks NFT project, expressed his surprise upon learning that the artwork was being exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in France. The exhibition, which runs from July 7th to August 9th, showcases six of the rarest and most coveted CryptoPunks NFTs to the public. This marks a significant milestone for the NFT industry as an increasing number of art institutions are starting to recognize the significance of NFTs as a new form of digital art.
Centre Pompidou’s Policies of the Immaterial exhibition featuring 13 French and international artists has welcomed a new addition. Among the original pieces on show from famous artists, including Matisse and Picasso, is CryptoPunks #110, a non-fungible token (NFT) artwork. The acquisition committee of the National Museum of Modern Art handpicked the artists, with Matt Hall, co-founder of CryptoPunks creators Larva Labs, expressing his surprise and honor upon seeing the project displayed. The NFT was donated to the museum by Yuga Labs, the owners of CryptoPunks, as part of their “Punks Legacy Project.” The exhibition features a variety of art related to blockchain, such as generative art, pixel art, and crypto art, showcasing the full spectrum of talent related to blockchain technology.
Curators of the exhibition, Marcella Lista and Philippe Bettinelli, aimed to provide an informative experience for visitors by demonstrating how these works fit into the wider history of art. They believe it is an “original study of the crypto-economy ecosystem and its impact on definitions and boundaries of artworks, creators, collections, and the audience.” Larva Labs also has an Autoglyph, from the first-ever on-chain generative art collection, on display beside other illustrations of computer-generated art from the 1960s onward. Additionally, pioneers in the art world using blockchain are showcase, such as Yves Klein and Sarah Meyonas. French artist Fred Forest’s piece, “Network-Parcel,” was the first to be auctioned exclusively online in 1996, while Sarah Meyonas’s “Bitch Coin” pioneered the concept of tokenized art.
Overall, visitors can expect to gain insightful knowledge about the relationships between blockchain technology and artistic creation by witnessing various artworks belonging to the blockchain community. The exhibition runs until January 2024, with the acquisition of NFTs adding to France’s national heritage.