GUCCI TAKES PART IN CHRISTIE’S PROOF OF SOVEREIGNTY: A CURATED NFT SALE BY Lady PheOnix

Text and image Courtesy of Gucci

The Live Auction Online from May 25th to June 3rd

Gucci announces its involvement in Christie’s online auction PROOF OF SOVEREIGNTY, the trailblazer sale curated by Lady PheOnix, one of the leading voices for contemporary digital art and culture in the new media landscape. The auction, live online from May 25th to June 3rd, brings to the public 18 new media artists utilizing blockchain technology, as well as metadata, storage and legal standards that have been virtually absent from millions of artworks associated with non-fungible tokens until now.

Opening a dialogue between 20th and 21st century digital art, the sale will set side by side artists from different backgrounds, practises and decades, from  Nam June Paik, considered the grandfather of video art, to new media artists such as Marguerite deCourcelle, also known as ‘Coin Artist’, Joshua Davis, known as ‘Praystation’, Claudia Hart, Lethabo Huma, KESH, Tamiko Thiel– passing through established artists recognizing the importance of the emergent NFT market, including Jenny Holzer and Gerald Laing Estate.

Coherent with its test and learn digital-first philosophy, Gucci will be present with its first NFT: the unique artwork was conceived using digital animation drawn from Gucci Aria, the House‘s latest fashion collection  presentation, a fashion film co-directed by Gucci’s Creative Director Alessandro Michele and award-winning photographer and director Floria Sigismondi.

Presented by Coulisse | INK

The artwork underlying the NFT speaks to Aria’s overarching message, that of a yearning to bloom and flourish after the shadow of winter has passed. Doors open as darkness yields to light and that long-awaited feast of air, reconnecting the future with the past, tossing the House’s present back to the universe, back to its origins. This visual tale marks a historic moment, bringing Gucci into a new media space and offering new meanings to the Creative Director’s introduction to the collection: “The myth of foundation is reinhabited in the light of the present”.

Gucci will donate all its proceeds to UNICEF USA in support of UNICEF’s participation in COVAX — an initiative aimed at ensuring global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.