22 NFT donations given to LACMA by unknown collector

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) received 22 NFT donations this week. The digital works were curated by an anonymous NFT collector who goes by the alias Cozomo de’ Medici.

A tweet from the donor read: “Announcing the first in-chain donation of art from a collector to a museum, and the largest digital art collection to enter a museum.”

The official release from the museum stated that the permanent collection includes 22 digital works created by 13 foreign artists. They come from Brazil, Canada, China, England, Germany, Portugal and the USA.

Crypto Punk NFT part of the donation

LACMA noted, “With works spanning from 2017 to 2022, the collection reflects a boom in artistic experimentation with web3 technologies such as blockchain that has been burgeoning since the 2010s.”

Cozomo de’ Medici stated that the donation would permanently inscribe the art movement on the chain in art history. He reckons that it will open up museums all over the world to house the best digital works.

The donation also included CryptoPunk #3831. Recently, “Byte-perfect uploads” of the 10,000 CryptoPunk non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were added to the Bitcoin network.

As part of the Punk’s Legacy Project, Yuga Labs announced this week that CryptoPunk #110 will be added to the permanent collection of the Center Pompidou art museum in Paris. Last November, at Art Basel 2022, CryptoPunk #305 was also given to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami.

The donor stated that

“These works will now sit in one of the greatest art collections in human history, alongside physical works that define the past 6,000 years of artistic expression. Including works by Rembrandt, Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Cassatt, Andy Warhol, Monet and Georgia O’ Keeffe.”

Snoop Dog is alleged to be the donor

Meanwhile, the industry claims that the mystery donor is famous rapper Snoop Dogg. Notably, back in 2021, the rapper tweeted an acceptance of the rumor.