Beeple Donates NSFW NFT to Castello di Rivoli, a Rarity in the Museum World

Comments · 785 Views

The Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art in Turin, Italy, is now one of the few institutions to own an NFT by

The Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art in Turin, Italy, is now one of the few institutions to own an NFT by Beeple, the artist who helped put the digital-art format on the map with a 2021 auction at Christie’s. On Friday, the museum announced that Beeple had donated FTX BOARD MEETING, DAY #5676 11.13.2022 (2023), an image that features computer-generated versions of the embattled entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried graphically copulating with each other. Bankman-Fried, who was arrested last year for wire fraud and money laundering, ran FTX, a crypto hedge fund that has since declared bankruptcy. CoinDesk has reported that Bankman-Fried and his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison were part of a “cabal of roommates” that engaged in relationships with one another; the Beeple NFT is in part a reference to rumors that Bankman-Fried hosted orgies at the office of his currency company, Alameda Research. To underscore the NSFW quality of this NFT, the Castello di Rivoli announced the donation with a censored version of the image that blurred out most of the bacchanalia. Director Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev said this was a reference to censorship that takes place on social media, claiming that YouTube.

Comments