The Centre Pompidou, which houses France’s National Museum of Modern Art, announced on Friday its plans to present a new exhibition that explores the connection between art and blockchain.
The exhibition will showcase NFTs from the highly sought-after CryptoPunks and Autoglyphs projects, as well as works from 12 additional digital artists.
According to the announcement, CryptoPunk #110 and Autoglyph #25, which were donated to the Centre Pompidou, will feature at the museum in the spring, along with 16 other NFT artworks from recognized artists.
Centre Pompidou is among one of the largest modern art museums in Europe. This would be the first time the museum has accepted to display NFTs in its collection, which includes masterpieces by renowned artists such as Frida Kahlo, Henri Matisse, Vassily Kandinsky, and Marc Chagall.
“Web3 is an innovative territory that artists have now seized upon to create original and daring work, and this collection reaffirms our support for artists in their conquest of new means of expression, which is the foundation of modern art,” said Xavier Rey, Director of the National Museum of Modern Art in a press release.
Yuga Labs, the owner of the CryptoPunks IP, gave away the NFT to the museum through the Punks Legacy Project. The project aims to showcase CryptoPunks in major museums worldwide and started back in November when Yuga donated CryptoPunk #305 to Miami’s Institute of Contemporary Art.
“Seeing CryptoPunk #110 displayed in the Centre Pompidou, arguably the world’s most prestigious contemporary art museum, is a great moment for the web3 and NFT ecosystem, and we’re honored to help drive this cultural conversation,” said the co-founder of Yuga Labs Greg Solano.
Yuga believes the move will help reaffirm the artistic legitimacy of digital projects in the art community.
