In a world’s first, Switzerland’s recent contemporary arts fair ‘Art Basel’ provided attendees with the opportunity to buy ‘phygital’ artwork which will later be stationed outside of earth’s orbit.
Entitled ‘Moon Phases’ (which also gives away the artwork’s place of extra terrestrial residency), the collection featured 125 mini metallic sculptures, with each depicting the features and proportions of the moon. All 125 were sold for a whopping $2 million each, meaning the collection’s creator, which is world-renown contemporary artist Jeff Koons, pocketed a healthy $250 million in the process.
That being said, Koons won’t be able to keep hold of all of the collection’s revenue, as in addition to exhibition fees, the money generated from the collection’s sale will go towards funding the sculptures’ voyage to the moon via SpaceX expeditions. Upon their arrival on the lunar surface, the sculptures will be taken to a region of the planet known as ‘Oceanus Procellarum,’ whereupon their placement, Koons will become the first-ever artist to have their art displayed outside of earth’s orbit.
Although resting approximately 384,400 kilometres away from their owners, ownership of each of the sculptures is represented through an earth-bound NFT, with each digital asset coming with a photo of its respective sculpture on the moon, as well as another sculpture that possesses a gemstone which marks its exact lunar position.
