KÖNIG GALERIE presents its first NFT auction & DIGITAL PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES IN A VIRTUAL WORLD

THE ARTIST IS ONLINE.

DIGITAL PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES IN A VIRTUAL WORLD

KÖNIG, ST. AGNES DECENTRALAND

KÖNIG GALERIE is pleased to present its first NFT auction, which will begin on March 26 and run through March 31. All of the works included in the auction are part of the group exhibition THE ARTIST IS ONLINE. DIGITAL PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES IN A VIRTUAL WORLD and are shown in Decentraland. The auction will go live on March 26 at 9pm CET on the NFT Marketplace OpenSea and will end on March 31 at 10pm CET. Start as well as end date of the auction will be accompanied by multiple events, including talks with artists and experts on Clubhouse, and live streams on Instagram.

While it may be unusual for a gallery to initiate its own auction, KÖNIG GALERIE sees taking this approach as an opportunity in the art market due to the emergence of NFTs. For the first time, the pricing of these market-fresh works of art is left to an auction. KÖNIG adapts to this new environment and the habits of NFT collectors, who value transparency in regard to price and ownership. 29 unique digital items – pictures, videos and GIFs – by 22 artists will be auctioned with starting prices of 0.5 to 2 ETH ($ 800 and $ 3200 converted), no additional buyer’s premium will be charged.

Artists such as Manuel Rossner, Banz & Bowinkel, Mario Klingemann, and Addie Wagenknecht are among the pioneers in the field of digital art, especially when it comes to exploring the possibilities of using new technologies in the artistic production process of painting and sculpture. What is going to happen to the medium of painting in virtual reality? (Manuel Rossner) What are the materials that sculptures are going to be made out of in the future, using computers? (Banz & Bowinkel) In what ways and to what extent can Artificial Intelligence get creative? (Mario Klingemann).

THE ARTIST IS ONLINE. DIGITAL PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES IN A VIRTUAL WORLD takes the exhibition THE ARTIST IS ONLINE. PAINTING AND SCULPTURE IN THE POSTDIGITAL AGE, which will take place from March 18 to April 18 at ST. AGNES, to the digital realm. The German artist Manuel Rossner recreated the brutalist architecture of the former church ST. AGNES, designed by Werner Düttmann and Arno Brandlhuber, in a 3D model and placed it in Decentraland.

KÖNIG stands on a piece of virtual land that is rented and is the first commercial gallery to show artworks in Decentraland, a virtual world based on the blockchain. Digital art is presented in a genuine environment, and the visitors of Decentraland get to experience art again, which is otherwise only offered for sale on the websites of the NFT marketplaces. What is impossible in real space, becomes possible in digital space. Rossner, for example, exploits the potential of virtual space by drilling a hole through the sidewall of the Nave of ST. AGNES, placing a sculpture all the way through the whole, and thus providing an alternative entrance all the way up to the church tower.

Participating artists: Olive Allen, LaTurbo Avedon, Banz & Bowinkel, Ry David Bradley, Damjanski, Maja Djordjevic, Ben Elliot, Rachel de Joode, Keiken, Nik Kosmas, Mario Klingemann, Zach Lieberman, Jonas Lund, Andy Picci, Manuel Rossner, Kenny Schachter, Aaron Scheer, Emma Stern, Anne Vieux, Addie Wagenknecht, Thomas Webb, John Yuyi