The pop singer collaborated with the digital artist on a video series about parenthood over the previous year. Three charities will benefit from the proceeds.
Is Madonna on board with the blockchain?
The pop star’s interest in nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, caught people by surprise when she paid 180 ether, a digital currency worth $560,000 at the time, for an NFT of a tattooed ape from the Bored Ape Yacht Club, a collection of digital art, in March.
The singer debuted her own NFT series, “Mother of Creation,” on Monday, which consists of three digitally created movies that portray her as a nudist giving birth to flora, fauna, and technology. The paintings are the outcome of a year-long collaboration with Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple, a digital artist.
“This is such an incredible honour,” said Winkelmann, who is best known for selling an NFT at Christie’s for $69 million in 2021. “I don’t work with many people. This is most likely the last one I’ll do for a long time.”
Madonna and Beeple’s NFTs will be auctioned for charity on the online marketplace SuperRare from Wednesday through Friday.
“It’s paradoxical to who I am,” Madonna said in a phone interview, revealing that her initial problem with the concept of digital assets prompted her to investigate what she viewed as the NFT market’s aspects of faith and community.
Beeple and Madonna then collaborated on three videos in which viewers see Madonna’s avatar giving birth to various species from a hospital bed, a rusting automobile, and a forest floor. Each video features poetry by the vocalist, some of which she wrote herself and others by the mystic poet Rumi.
“I never want to provoke merely to provoke,” Madonna stated, insisting that the butterflies and centipedes she gives birth to in the video have meaning. “They represent hope.” They represent technology.”
The Voices of Children Foundation, which helps survivors of abuse in Ukraine, the City of Joy Foundation, which helps survivors of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Black Mama’s Bail Out, which offers bail for incarcerated caregivers, will benefit from the proceeds of the NFTs.
The charity auction takes place at a time when the future of the NFT market is uncertain.
SuperRare’s founder and CEO, John Crain, said the company made $10 million in sales last month, down from a high of $35 million in October. He sees the disparity as a sign of the NFT market’s development rather than its extinction.
“It’s been a bubbly year,” Crain said, “but marketplaces are inherently volatile.” “I wouldn’t call it a bear market, but there are oscillations.”