NFT
Art collectors and fans of the cult sci-fi film Alien will have the opportunity to purchase a fractionated digital artwork of a rare sculpture by the late Swiss artist HR Giger.
Digital art platform Particle, which uses blockchain technology to offer fractional ownership of culturally significant works of art, will make the sale, according to the company’s website.
The statue, dubbed “Necronom/Alien III, 2005,” is one of a collection of six statutes, but the only one created by Giger himself.
Valued at over $240,000, Particle has divided its ownership into 500 digital “particles” that will be sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), with each NFT representing a 1/500th interest.
The NFTs will go on sale June 16 for $1,000 each.
Holders of a fraction of the image can vote on whether to sell the physical artwork if it ever receives a bid.
Particle previously made headlines when it symbolized and fractionated Banksy’s “Love is in the Air” painting, which it acquired at a Sotheby’s auction in March 2021 for $12.9 million.
Particle then created 10,000 “Love” particles, which were sold as NFTs for $1,500 each. Since their release, the particles have dropped to a rock-bottom price of around $500.
Participants who own “Love is in the Air” particles are entitled to a $200 discount on their Alien NFT purchase.
The Giger sculpture, made of steel and polyester resin, is more than two meters long and one meter high and will be exhibited between June 7 and 8 by Particle property and in collaboration with the HR Giger Museum in Lisbon.
The piece will then travel to Prague’s Hluboka Castle as part of a Giger-focused exhibition, before being shown at Art Basel in Switzerland and at an undisclosed location in Paris.
“Through the token sale of this iconic ‘Alien’ design, we hope to bring Giger’s artistic legacy to an even wider audience,” said Harold Eytan, CEO of Particle.
“We believe that art, film and music transcend boundaries and man-made boundaries, and few are better than Giger’s profound exploration of the depths of the human psyche through art for encapsulating this truth”.
Benefits of Art Tokenization
Tokenization of works of art using blockchain technology can provide several benefits.
Primarily, tokenization allows partial ownership of a single piece of art, allowing more individuals to participate in the art market.
In addition, tokenization can create new investment opportunities by providing access to investment products built around the value of a work of art. This allows investors to diversify their portfolios and gain exposure to historically exclusive art investments.
Partial ownership of artworks also increases liquidity in the art market. It offers a new option to sell theirs if they need liquidity without selling the entire artwork, making ownership more flexible and transferable.