Inaugural Program Includes NFTs by Lucas Samaras, Glenn Kaino, and DRIFT with Don Diablo
To mark the launch of Pace Verso, the gallery will present two NFTs by Kaino and DRIFT in its booth at Art Basel Miami Beach 2021
New York, November 18, 2021 – Pace Gallery announces the inaugural program on its new NFT platform, Pace Verso, which launches November 22 with a first drop of digital artworks from Lucas Samaras’s XYZ series. On November 29, to coincide with the physical presentation of NFTs in Pace’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach, Pace Verso will release works by Glenn Kaino and DRIFT artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta, who collaborated with DJ and digital art pioneer Don Diablo on their first NFT.
An early champion of artists engaged with technology, Pace has long held innovation as a core value. The development of Pace Verso aligns with the gallery’s history of supporting boundary-pushing artists and their projects, and it underscores the gallery’s commitment to the advanced studio practices of artists within and beyond its program. The platform is helmed by Online Sales Director Christiana Ine-Kimba Boyle.
Marc Glimcher, President and CEO of Pace Gallery, says: “We became interested in creating a dedicated NFT platform for Pace when our artists expressed curiosity about making NFTs, and after we supported their first few NFT projects with other platforms. Our philosophy is to build the tools our artists need, and Pace Verso is now a core strand of our NFT programming. Alongside offering artists the opportunity to show and sell NFTs on our own Pace Verso platform, we will continue to support standalone NFT projects with other partners. We are thrilled to launch Pace Verso with Lucas Samaras, one of the very earliest artists to join the gallery and the grandfather of digital art, as well as a pioneering new AR work by DRIFT, and two NFTs by Glenn Kaino, who has revolutionized the NFT model to achieve social change on a grand scale.”
Pace Verso was created in partnership with the Palm NFT Studio on the Palm Network, a new NFT-optimized blockchain network for culture and creativity, built by and for the open Ethereum ecosystem. The Palm Network offers low gas costs, fast transaction finality, and a 99.99%+ reduction in energy consumption when compared to Proof of Work systems.
Palm Co-Founder and Palm NFT Studio CEO Dan Heyman says: “Our goal is to create a platform with Pace that removes barriers for artists. We built our sustainable and scalable infrastructure so that, as organizations like Pace grow, they only have to think about how blockchain can amplify creativity, not their environmental impact or gas fees.”
Inaugural Program
Lucas Samaras
Following the gallery’s successful presentation of two NFTs derived from Lucas Samaras’s XYZ series earlier this fall, Pace Verso will spotlight a second suite of digital XYZ works in its first exhibition. These NFTs will be made available in multiple drops over the course of the coming weeks, with the prices of the works increasing incrementally with each new release. NFTs in the first drop are priced at $10,000 USD each and those in the second drop will be $20,000 USD each. Every NFT will be accompanied by a physical 11 x 17 inch framed print. A QR code embossed on the backs of the frames links to a web page displaying an image of the NFT and Samaras’s stream of consciousness writings.
Samaras is a pioneering figure in photography and digital art. He has been at the forefront of these mediums throughout his career, working in the digital realm well before it was widely associated with fine art. Deeply engaged with Samaras’s longtime experimentations with image making, works in the XYZ series feature psychedelic formations rendered in electric colors.
Glenn Kaino
The two new NFTs by Glenn Kaino that will be made available on Pace Verso are part of his Legacy Team project, a longstanding collaboration between the artist and the Olympic track and field athlete Tommie Smith. These digital works include Invisible Man (Ceremony) (2021), which is inspired by the opening ceremony of the Olympics and features a custom soundtrack by David Sitek and Just Blaze, and Salute (Generations) (2021), which is based on Kaino’s sculptural series Salute and references the long-lasting impact of Smith’s salute for human rights at the 1968 Olympic Games.
Kaino has cultivated an expansive, activist-minded practice that spans painting, sculpture, installation, performance, monumental public art, theatrical production, and feature film.
At Art Basel Miami Beach, Pace will present a hologram from Kaino’s digital art project Pass the Baton, which comprises baton NFTs inspired by Smith’s storied career, including his record breaking 1600-meter relay race in Launching in December, Kaino’s Pass the Baton project uses NFTs to facilitate a generative crypto-giving structure that directly funds social justice efforts and organizations.
DRIFT
An NFT created by DRIFT artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta as part of their collaboration with the DJ and digital art pioneer Don Diablo will be presented on Pace Verso. The NFT is part of the artists’ augmented reality work Block Universe (2021), which is on view in their solo exhibition at Pace’s New York gallery through December 18. The NFT comprises a one of one mp4 video file rendering of Block Universe with a soundscape by Diablo. A physical component of the work includes a handheld custom display showcasing the NFT in an infinite loop.
DRIFT is known for their research-based practice that explores the relationships between nature, technology, and humanity. The duo’s NFT will be presented in Pace’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach in addition to the gallery’s digital platform.
Upcoming Events
The artists and Marc Glimcher will participate in a series of events on Discord and Twitter in the lead up to their NFT launches. Check www.pacegallery.com/events for updates.