Robert Alice has announced on September 23 the launch of Portraits of a Mind, a global art project decentralizing the founding code behind Bitcoin into 40 fragments. The project launches at Christie's New York, the world's most prestigious auction house, with the sale of painting ‘Block 21 (42.36433° N, -71.26189° E)’ in Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Day Auction on October 7th, which will be exhibited in New York from October 1st to 6th.
Portraits of a Mind is the largest work of art in the history of blockchain technology, with 40 paintings stretching more than 50 meters long and forming a complete hand-painted transcription of the 12.3 million digits of code (v0.1.0) that launched Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency. A symbolic expression of decentralization, once globally distributed, the project will draw up a global network of 40 collectors where no one individual will hold all the code. A digital fingerprint carved out of paint, Portraits of a Mind is a global portrait of Satoshi Nakamoto, answering the question of how to make a portrait of unknown identity with another question - ‘what did they leave behind?’.
Part of Block 21 includes a unique Non-Fungible Token (NFT) of the work. Functioning as both the work's authenticity structure and a core part of the artwork, the NFT draws the physical work into the digital realm. It will be the first NFT to be sold by the world's most prestigious auction house and presents a landmark moment for the NFT community.
Commenting on the much-anticipated launch, Robert Alice noted: “I want to thank all the collectors across the world for their support in making this vision a reality. The speed and worldwide decentralization of this codebase already stand testament not just to the truly global nature of the blockchain community, but also to Satoshi’s original vision.
Often overlooked, art and culture have a fundamental role to play in exploring and promoting the role of blockchain within society, while also preserving its story and histories for future generations. Portraits of a Mind is my contribution.
With the launch of Block 21 at Christie’s, the blockchain community presents, for the first time, the very basis of their culture on a global stage. I look forward to welcoming one more collector to our network - whoever and wherever they may be”
Post-War and Contemporary Art Specialist at Christie’s, Vivian Brodie, commented: “Christie’s and I are thrilled to be supporting this landmark blockchain art project with the sale of Block 21 from Portraits of a Mind in our October Day Sale in New York. This is Christie's first time presenting a work that explores crypto culture at auction and, as ever, we are very excited to welcome new audiences and collecting communities across the globe to Christie’s.
While Bitcoin, decentralization and cryptocurrency contribute to defining our contemporary landscape and future society, they deserve stronger visibility and exploration in art history. Portraits of a Mind also intrigued us with its reference and reframing of both conceptual artists Roman Opalka and On Kawara, artists engaged in practices that mirrored the qualities and structures of blockchain technologies some 40 years before Satoshi’s founding code came into being.”
Offered privately in early 2020 to select collectors, the first half of Satoshi’s codebase (Blocks 0 -20), now lie decentralized across the world, with works placed in important private and corporate collections in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, London, Paris, Gibraltar, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo.
Collectors and custodians of this historic codebase include some of the most important thought leaders in the blockchain space as well as a number of highly regarded art collectors, including CZ (CEO, Binance); Matthew Roszak, (Chairman, Bloq); Jehan Chu (Founder, Kenetic; Director’s Circle, SFMOMA; Board of Directors, Para/Site), Shaun Dije (Founder, Digix), Paul Gordon (Founder, Coinscrum), Bong Lee (Seoul Auction Blue) and other notable collectors who have requested anonymity.
Matthew Roszak, Chairman of Bloq and a collector of the project commented, “Portraits of a Mind is a landmark addition to both Bitcoin’s cultural history as well as art history itself. I was struck by the depth of the work’s narrative, its artistic examination of decentralization and its aesthetic beauty. One of the most important historical documents of our time, Satoshi’s codebase has now been immortalized in art history.”
Fellow collector Jehan Chu, Co-Founder of Kenetic Capital, added, “Bitcoin represents a paradigm shift not only in money and value but in the emerging subculture of decentralization and changing power structures. The early pioneers of Bitcoin are a fiercely proud and self-identifying tribe, and until now, have lacked the cultural objects and icons to signify their tribe. As an early Bitcoiner, this is the first object I am proud to hang on my wall to signal my history in the Bitcoin revolution.”
Block 21 is the first work from the project to be exhibited and offered publicly for sale. As one of the most important works in the series, 21 represents an iconic number in Bitcoin’s history, referencing the total supply of the iconic cryptocurrency (21m). This is the first time the world’s most prestigious auction house has offered a blockchain-related artwork, following successful sales of Al work in 2018.
Exhibited at Christie’s galleries in New York from October 1st, this will be a landmark moment for Bitcoin’s culture to see Satoshi’s historic codebase exhibited on the global stage, hanging alongside works by Monet, Picasso, Warhol and Jackson Pollock. Block 21 will be offered at an estimate of $12,000 - 18,000 USD.
The work is also linked to the Bitcoin blockchain, via a unique OpenDime key in the reverse of each painting.
The Robert Alice project was founded by Benjamin Gentilli, a London-based artist in 2018, to promote blockchain culture within the visual arts. Ben has worked across the art world internationally in London, Hong Kong and Vancouver, most recently at Sotheby's, where he left to focus his energy more creatively on developing blockchain's visual culture. Portraits of a Mind is the first work of art from the project and was made solely by Gentilli over the course of a 3-year period. Following on from Portraits of a Mind, collaboration with fellow artists and creative developers will see Robert Alice become a decentralized collective.
Christie’s, the world's leading art business, had auction sales in 2019 that totaled £4.5 billion / $5.8 billion. Christie’s is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and international expertise. Christie’s offers around 350 auctions annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewelry, photographs, collectibles, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. Christie also has a long and successful history conducting private sales for its clients in all categories, with emphasis on Post-War & Contemporary, Impressionist & Modern, Old Masters and Jewellery. Alongside regular sales online, Christie’s has a global presence in 46 countries, with 10 salerooms around the world including in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai, Zürich, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.
