[NEWS] Rhizome Receives Largest Donation from the Sale of Artist Rafael Rozendaal's NFT Art


August 09, 2021 


 

Rafaël Rozendaal, Endless Nameless (2021), 1000 pngs created by generative algorithm and minted as NFTs 




Rhizome, the digital art nonprofit affiliated with the New Museum, just received the largest donation in its 25-year history, thanks to a generous artist. Rafaël Rozendaal, a Dutch-Brazilian internet artist, directed half of the profits from his recent sale of 1,000 NFTs to the organization. Rhizome was gifted 164 Ether in the process, an amount valued at roughly $430,000. Rozendaal's gift is the largest benefit donation in Rhizome's twenty-five year history.


That accounts for “nearly half a typical annual operating budget” for Rhizome, the nonprofit’s executive director, Zachary Kaplan, told Artnet News in an email. But the donation means more than just money, he added. “A gift like this doesn’t just go to the bottom line. We feel a real responsibility to build something new with these funds in keeping with Rafaël’s values and the needs of the field,” Kaplan said.





 

Courtesy of the artist 


 
The sold works belonged to Endless Nameless, Rozendaal’s recent generative NFT project wherein individual artworks—all squares filled with bars of bright color—are made via algorithm. The project, the artist explains on its website, is an “exploration of composition.” “We start with a square. The square is divided into sections. The sections are filled with color pairs,” Rozendaal wrote. “Sometimes all colors are used. Sometimes fewer colors are used.” All 1,000 of the Endless Nameless artworks were minted and sold last week on Art Blocks, a crypto-art platform with a built-in donation feature. As buyers snatched up the colorful squares, money was automatically transferred to Rhizome. In directing this gift, Rozendaal noted the impact and importance of Rhizome’s ArtBase in the organization’s mission, and his appreciation of the NFT community for bringing new energy and engagement to digital art practice.

“I always saw Rhizome as a great resource and as a motivator to bring discourse and credibility to the new world of net art,” Rozendaal said. “The internet is vast, and Rhizome helps to communicate the importance of digital art to a broader audience.” “I built great friendships with several people from the organization over the years and always found the conversations meaningful and interesting.” The gift arrives at an auspicious moment for Rhizome as it celebrates its 25th anniversary and following the recent relaunch of the institution-defining ArtBase, while looking ahead to how Rhizome can work with artists, engineers, partners, and the public to shape and support the future of born-digital art and culture. In the coming months, Rhizome will make further announcements as to how the gift will be used.

 



Prev [INTERVIEW] JUNG SANE with Gallery BK x Art Terms
Next [NEWS] TeamLab’s Turbo-Charged Art Playground Opens New Pavilion of the Asian Art Museum
  List