LACMA Accepts Blockchain Art from Cozomo de’Medici
Ignore the stale speculation that Medici is Snoop Dogg. The real story is that a major institution is still excited about NFTs in the midst of crypto winter.
Yam Karkai, Woman n°001 (2021). JPG delivered as an NFT, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, promised gift of The Cozomo de' Medici Collection, © Yam Karkai, image courtesy of the artist.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) today announced it has accepted 22 digital artworks from collector Cozomo de'Medici. They described the gift as 'the first and largest collection of artworks minted on blockchain to enter an American art museum'.
'For decades, artists have incorporated technology within their practice, and the intersection of art and technology has been central to LACMA's programming since the '60s,' said the museum's CEO Michael Govan and Director Wallis Annenberg in a statement.
'We're grateful to Cozomo de' Medici for his forward-thinking generosity that will expand the diversity of our art collection and propel us to develop new standards and techniques for preserving works created on the blockchain,' they said.
We don't know the true identity of Medici, whose name is a play on Renaissance art patron Cosimo de' Medici. Despite lingering rumours to the contrary, and a tweet from the rapper himself saying 'I am @CozomoMedici', Medici probably isn't Snoop Dogg.
The evidence? The url of Snoop's tweet describes it as a prank. And Medici later posted a photograph of himself on the shores of Lake Como with his face concealed behind a Crypto Punk. The rest of him was short and white.
Whatever his real name, Medici has been a tireless advocate for NFTs.
Since joining Twitter and NFT marketplace OpenSea in August 2021, he has built a considerable following, including 277.9k followers on Twitter and some 30,000 subscribers to his weekly NFT newsletter.
In his Twitter bio, he describes himself as 'grand patron of the digital arts'.
'With this gift, my goal was to help bridge the worlds of on-chain art and contemporary art, which until now have existed separately,' Medici said.
Artists whose works were included in the donation include photographer Justin Aversano, Chinese contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang, and the creators of CryptoPunks.
Others include Yam Karkai, Adam Swaab, Claire Silver, Neil Strauss, Monica Rizzoli, and Pindar Van Arman.
LACMA already has a number of blockchain works in its collection, including John Gerrard's Western Flag (NFT), a work from Tom Sachs' Rocket Factory series and pieces by Erick Calderon, Jessica Wimbley, and Peter Wu.
Last year, the Museum announced a new fund to support the acquisition of digital art by female artists. Works will soon be acquired by Nancy Baker Cahill, Shantell Martin, and Krista Kim.
The fund was 'spearheaded' by none other than Paris Hilton.
LACMA's continued interest in NFTs is notable given huge declines in the cryptocurrencies—both Ethereum and Bitcoin are currently worth about a third of their peak prices—and the value of NFTs.
According to DappRadar, however, total organic trading volume of NFTs was down just slightly in 2022, falling from US $25.1 billion in 2021 to $24.7 billion. That's thanks to a significantly higher number of trades, up from 58.6 million in 2021 to 101 million in 2022. —[O]
