Exploring the Fusion of Art and Blockchain
The Musée d’Orsay, a prestigious museum in Paris, is breaking new ground by delving into the realms of blockchain and digital art. Their latest initiative involves the creation of an on-chain NFT exhibition, a first for the museum. Titled “The Convergence of Breath,” this collection of five single-edition NFTs, minted on the Tezos blockchain, is a product of a captivating art installation and social experiment.
“I love the fact that all the blows of all the people coming [to the exhibition] are now connected together to create a global piece,”
The centerpiece of this innovative installation, “Sigma Lumina,” a steel sculpture, conceals a QR code within its shadow when lit by light from above. Visitors to the museum are encouraged to scan this QR code, leading them to mint a unique Musée d’Orsay NFT, inspired by Impressionist works from the museum’s collection. An intriguing aspect of this minting process is that participants must breathe into their smartphones to generate the NFTs.
The collaborative effort of French artist and DJ Sébastian Devaud, also known as Agoria, and artist Johan Lescure, has resulted in over 2,000 “Sigma Lumina” NFTs being minted by museum visitors. These individual breaths have been merged to create five distinctive Musée d’Orsay NFTs, each representing a week of the exhibition’s duration.
The extraordinary “Convergence of Breath” NFTs will be up for sale on Thursday at 5 pm CET on Objkt.one, a platform specializing in one-of-one on-chain artworks. This groundbreaking display is part of the larger digital-themed exhibition, “Le Code d’Orsay,” which runs until March 10, offering visitors a unique blend of traditional art and cutting-edge blockchain technology.
Embracing NFTs in the Art World
Cultural institutions like museums have been exploring the potential of NFTs for various purposes, from revenue generation to enhancing accessibility and providing immersive digital encounters to visitors. For instance, the Centre Pompidou in Paris showcased NFTs from projects like CryptoPunks and Autoglyphs last year, alongside works by other digital artists.
Other museums, such as the Bruce Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, have conducted discussions and lectures on the historical, technological, and legal aspects of NFTs. Some institutions have leveraged NFTs for fundraising and monetization of digital collections, as seen with the British Museum’s NFT postcards featuring prints by Hokusai and the Uffizi Gallery’s sale of Michelangelo’s “Doni Tondo” as an NFT.
The State Hermitage Museum also embraced the trend by auctioning tokenized versions of masterpieces, including works by Leonardo da Vinci, resulting in substantial funds being raised through these innovative digital transactions.
