Pace recruits top gallery stars including teamLab and Loie Hollowell to create NFTs for its Web3 arm

A constantly evolving constellation of bird-like creatures by Random International, a meditation on birth by Loie Hollowell, and an exploration of the topology of space by Sui Jianguo are among the new projects in the pipeline from Pace Verso, the megagallery’s Web3 arm.

Pace has pursued Web3—the nebulous term denoting decentralization and collaboration across the cryptospace—more enthusiastically than any other major gallery, embracing the challenge of bridging the cryptosphere and the traditional art world. Now, with its latest slate of projects, it’s doubling down on NFTs through collaborations with five artists and collectives represented by the gallery.

Loie Hollowell, Split bullets (2022). Courtesy Pace Verso.

The program will debut both at international art fairs around the world and online during the autumn and winter. A number of projects, including Tara Donovan’s ‘QWERTY’ and Loie Hollowell’s ‘Split Orbs’, have been produced as part of Pace’s recently established partnership with generative art platform Art Blocks.

“Generative art is where some of the best art is being made in this space, most of it through Art Blocks,” Ariel Hudes, director of Pace Verso, told Artnet News. “Our artists are really interested in using the generative tools to expand their practices.”

Some projects also mix NFT and IRL. With “QWERTY,” Donovan will release a series of NFTs based on arrangements of a single letter or symbol from computer keyboards. The first 56 people to stamp the NFTs on art blocks will also receive a physical print of the NFT. The project will be on view at Frieze London from 12 to 16 October.

Tara Donovan, QWERTY (2022). Courtesy Pace Verso.

The prices for the works vary widely. The collective teamLab’s first-ever NFT project, a series of seven unique NFTs bearing the phrase “Matter Is Void,” will be priced at $200,000 each. (In a twist that aims to “explore ideas of authorship and ownership,” according to Pace, the owners of the works will be able to change the text at will, but anyone can download and display the NFTs at any time.) The project will form part of the gallery’s presentation at Paris+, Art Basel’s new French fair.

At the lower end of the price spectrum is “Life in Our Minds,” a series from London-based art studio Random International, which gained notoriety for its viral Rain room installation. Buyers will receive constellations of “Boids”, 3D bird-like origami objects that evolve according to the contents of their owners’ wallets; The “Boids” become rarer and more elaborate the longer they remain in the collector’s custody. The largest range in the Pace Verso’s lineup, it will also have the lowest price point, likely in the hundreds of dollars.

TeamLab, Matter is empty water (2022). Courtesy Pace Verso.

Pace Verso was founded in November 2021 as a means to champion artists engaged in new technology. The first release consisted of digital artwork from Lucas Samaras’ “XYZ” series. Concurrent with the physical presentation of NFTs at Pace’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach, Pace Verso also released works by Glenn Kaino and DRIFT artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta, which came from a collaboration between the artists and musician and digital art innovator Don Diablo.

When asked how Pace Verso thinks about the broader decline that the NFT market has experienced over the past six months, Hudes said, “When an artist comes to us and says, ‘I want to do a performance piece,’ we don’t say, ‘what do confident in the continued strength of the performance art market?” It’s about what our artists are interested in doing.”

Additionally, she added, the tumble has largely impacted “high numbers of art-in-name-only NFTs that were meant to be flipped…. Whad actually replaced there is interest in capital-A art that holds its value.“

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