Nifty News: Instagram’s NFT platform? Warhol’s Amiga art, Beeple’s holograms … and more

Digital artist Sean Williams claims that Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram is working to create its own NFT marketplace.

STORY TIME:INSTAGRAM IS BUILDING AN NFT PLATFORM RIGHT NOW AND THEY’RE REACHING OUT TO UPCOMING ARTISTS IN THE NFT SPACE TO HELP THEM BUILD IT. THE CATCH? They’re reaching out to artists IN OUR COMMUNITY to give them insight on what the NFT community needs, and disguising

— Sean Williams (@iArtSometimes) May 18, 2021

Williams tweeted to his 12,000 followers on May 18 that Instagram had invited him and other artists to speak on an NFT focused panel, and to provide feedback on how the company can “build a better platform for creators.”

However, the approach hasn’t gone down well with Williams, who feels that Instagram wants to leverage NFT artists' insights to provide market research for the development of an NFT platform of its own.

The NFT panel is part of a three-day event named “Creator Week,” which is touted as an opportunity to help creators “build their community” and grow their business.

Williams claimed the company offered him $1000 to sit down with the development team and give his insights but made a non-disclosure agreement part of the deal.

“An honorarium of $1000 while we sit in a room with upper-level management and the dev team to build product??? Weird. Sounds like a platform that’s behind, and looking to use the leverage they’d had over the last ten years to pretend like they care.”

Williams sold an NFT named “Haunted by a Taste of Freedom” last month for 10 ETH on SuperRare, worth around $24,530 at today’s prices.

Beeple’s holographic NFTs

Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple, has partnered with rendering software providers RNDR, and its parent company OTOY to create holographic NFTs.

Beeple has joined the advisory boards of both firms to offer his expertise as an artist and long-time user of OTOY’s OctaneRender software.

RNDR is a blockchain-based rendering platform that utilizes GPU power from a distributed network to render graphics. Beeple will help the platform create a new form of holographic NFTs, along with minting his entire catalog on RNDR’s network. The announcement on OTOY’s website notes that:

“The collaboration will focus on developing the first blockchain NFTs (non-fungible tokens) that are fully immersive on holographic displays and mobile AR, and are validated using deep forms of authentication on the RNR blockchain network.”

OTOY will also be leveraging another partnership with Light Field Labs to create the “world’s first glasses-free holographic display panel,” to showcase the upcoming holographic NFTs from Beeple.

Beeple recently told Variety that NFTs weren’t a passing fad:

“It’s actually very simple and can be applied to so many different things. It’s proving ownership of something. It’s hard for me to imagine this kind of all evaporating away. People have too much of an emotional connection to this stuff.”

Andy Warhol NFTs from the 1980’s

Art auction house Christie's announced the launch of an NFT auction named “Andy Warhol: Machine Made” yesterday.

The auction contains five tokenized artworks recovered from floppy disks in 2014 which stored artwork that was created by Andy Warhol in the mid-1980s.

The five artworks have each been minted by Christie’s as one-of-one NFTs, with all sale proceeds going to the non-profit “The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts.”

The NFTs depict artwork created on Warhol’s Commodore Amiga computer from the ’80s, and the collection includes two self-portraits, a banana on a blue background, and his famous flower and Campell’s soup can motifs.

The auction is running from May 19 to May 27 on Christie’s website, and the minimum starting bids for each piece is $10,000.

Webster’s definition of an NFT sells as an NFT

Dictionary maker Merriam-Webster tokenized a photo of its definition of an NFT and sold it on OpenSea for 15 ETH worth around $37,000 last week.

Dictionary Publisher Merriam Websets auctions NFT of the definition "NFT"Recently, dictionary specialist, Merriam-Webster announced its plans to go super meta and auction an Non-Fungible Token (NFT) of... the...https://t.co/KtS9oWPaA0#NotForProfit #NFT pic.twitter.com/bYYINpdNod

— Michael Bacina (@MikeBacina) May 19, 2021

The one-of-one NFT depicts a GIF of a dictionary that opens up to a page displaying its NFT definition.

The one-of-one dubbed “The Definition of NFT '' was auctioned off for a good cause, with the net proceeds going to the non-profit organization “Teach for All” — which offers education and outreach services to disadvantaged communities across the globe.