It is the Beeple's first blockchain-based video sculpture, accompanied by an NFT representing the underlying digital assets. The work invites collectors to join the artist on a lifelong journey never launched before in digital art.
HUMAN ONE will make its debut inChristie's auction to be held in New York on Tuesday 9 November. Beeple's iconic sculpture is a hybrid physical and digital object, driven by the theme of continuous exploration. Both the object and its NFT display dynamically changing images drawn at random from a data pool of the artist's visual creations to which it is accessed via the Ethereum blockchain.
With over 24 hours of dynamic visual information timed to match the viewer's current experience day or night, theBeeple's monolithic LED sculpture evokes the shape of a magician's transparent cell. Four interconnected video screens act as walls and powered by computers built into the base of the artist-designed structure over 7 feet tall, the screens display an ever-shifting dystopian landscape through which an anonymous astronaut-like hero, the HUMAN ONE with helmet, walks rhythmically. Unaware of his fate as Sisyphus, the explorer seems to walk forever in place as the digital landscape around him continues to spin on his axis within the physical confines of the box. The smart contract for Beeple's HUMAN ONE NFT was written by Manifold. The NFT component refers to Human ONE's virtual item caches, accessible via the Ethereum blockchain. Composed of a continuous series of one-minute video clips, the main video will evolve infinitely as it is programmed to continuously update based on the artist's inspiration.
During the sale, Christie's will accept cryptocurrency (Ethereum or Bitcoin) as payment for this work in addition to US dollars. Valued as an estimate upon request, the offer for HUMAN ONE expected to reach over $15 million dollars.
Beeple is Mike Winkelmann (born 1981). It holds the record for the third highest price achieved for a living artist at auction. From Charleston, South Carolina, USA, Beeple is known for using various mediums to create phantasmagorical comic operas that make political and social commentary, often featuring prominent pop culture figures. He creates a variety of digital artworks including short films, Creative Commons VJ loops, Everydays and VR/AR works. After starting to release a series of widely used Creative Commons VJ loops, he went on to produce concert images for Justin Bieber, One Direction, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Zedd, deadmau5 and many more. One of the creators of the current “Everyday” movement in 3D graphics, Beeple creates an image every day from start to finish and has been posting it online for more than a decade without missing a single day.
Technical characteristics of the work:
BEEPLE (B. 1981) UNO ID token: 1 wallet address, 1 smart contract address, 1 kinetic video sculpture: four video screens (16k resolution), polished aluminum metal, mahogany wood frame, dual media servers; infinite video with corresponding non-fungible dynamic token (220,1 x 121,9 x 121,9 cm.) Executed in 2021 and minted on October 28, 2021. This work is unique and is accompanied by a non-fungible token.
