TAEX Digest: August 2024
Digital art market news, blockchain releases, TAEX collections—you name it. Highlights of August in our new monthly digest.
Please note that TAEX launched a special column and newsletter about digital highlights of the month. Please subscribe to learn first the news selected by TAEX.
World News
Investors halting stablecoin accumulation caused Bitcoin to become unstable.
As major institutions have stopped accumulating stablecoins, Bitcoin price fell below $60,000 in the first two weeks of August, with its low point being just under $54,000. It has since been unstable, but close to the psychologically important price of $60,000.
Artists brought a lawsuit against SEC regarding security issues of NFTs
Two American artists reportedly have sued Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC), a US securities regulator, over a confusing treatment of NFTs. Filmmaker and law professor Brian Frye and songwriter Jonathon Mann filed a subpoena against ‘unlawful enforcement actions’ by SEC towards their NFT projects.
The attorneys representing Mann and Frye based their strategy on the example of secondary sales of Taylor Swift concerts. They argue that neither concert tickets, nor NFT art projects should be considered as securities or collectibles just by the fact of being NFTs.
As they stated, “the SEC’s approach threatens the livelihoods of artists and creators that are simply experimenting with a novel, fast-growing technology or have chosen it as their preferred medium”.
Scotland to open a first ‘fully digital museum’
Scottish Historic Building Trust just unveiled their plans to transform a Georgian building in Edinburgh to Scotland's first ‘fully digital museum’. As stressed by the Trust's director Mr Gallagher, a future museum will incarnate a ‘world-leading approach’ to share local history through a lens of ‘Leith and Scotland outstanding digital creative sector’.
The concept of eight digital exhibition halls is currently presented at Leith Custom House. The creators of the venue aim to combine the civic museum structure with digital art innovations.
Sony launches a new blockchain platform
Sony Block Solution Labs announced a release of the beta version of a new blockchain platform Soneium. Its goal is to give room to everyone to create crypto projects by providing necessary up-to-date tools and creating a community of innovators and collaborators. Soneium seeks to overcome ‘social, economic, and regional constraints, allowing every idea to flourish’.
By creating a public blockchain platform Sony is reassuring the global spread of Web3 technologies and the transformation of the current agenda.
Cryptopunk and Beeple at Sotheby’s Digital Art Day
The end of August was marked by Sotheby’s Digital Art Day featuring NFTs by Cryptopunk, Beeple, Vera Molnar and Tyler Hobbs. The auction was running for an entire week from August 15 to 22. This time, the sales were specifically focused on pioneering women digital artists.
Among the lots are ‘CryptoPunk #491 created by Larva Labs (est. of $ 70 000 - 100 000) and ‘Mother of Evolution’ by Beeple in collaboration with Madonna (est. of $ 70 000 - 100 000)
TAEX News
Last but not least, TAEX ends summer with its own diverse agenda :
Scoletta dell’Arte all’infinito, TAEX’s Finissage of the Scoletta dell’Arte: Digital Reform to be held on September 2 in Venice
On September 2, our Venice exhibition will be closed to the general public, as we will be hosting our Finissage, Scoletta dell’Arte all’infinito. Head of Development, Stefanie de Regel, will be sharing our upcoming plans, curator Antonio Geusa will present his special guide, while Andrea Meregalli will help the guests in the exploration of his AI-powered installation. More details via the link!
TAEX joins Contemporary Istanbul 2024 gallery lineup
We are delighted to join the 19th edition of Contemporary Istanbul this October, presenting artworks by Krista Kim, MAOTIK, and Alper Derinboğaz. Stay tuned for more details!
How has digital art been represented at the Venice Biennale?
Read a comprehensive article by our Editor Anastasiia Spirenkova on the half-century-long digital journey of the Biennale and its complicated relationship with the medium.
Interview: Francesco D’Isa on AI art
Renowned theorist, philosopher and artist of the Scoletta dell’Arte: Digital Reform exhibition Francesco D’Isa spoke at length about the integration of AI into the arts.
New Collection: Natively Digital
Following our open call, we present a group collection of the winners — artists with a Natively Digital mindset — Maria Mavropoulou and Tatsuru Arai. Just as digital natives seamlessly navigate the ever-evolving landscape of technology, we sought out artists who harness this mindset to push the boundaries of artistic innovation. The collection is curated by Daniel Peace and is available for purchase via the link.