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Viewing Present The Future, the world’s first NFT focused art residency, Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat

Above

Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat

7—13 June 2021, with an auction on 13 June

NFTs are fast changing the art world. In March, New York’s Superchief gallery opened the world’s first NFT gallery space and the digital artist Beeple set a world auction record when his monumental collage, Everydays: The First 5,000 Days, sold for $69 million. In June the world’s first NFT focused art residency will launch in the glorious gardens of the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat on the French Riviera.

According to curator, collector and VOLTA Art Fairs director Kamiar Maleki, the goal is to present ‘the world’s first hybrid digital and physical NFT production and minting experience, combining the work of two immensely important artistic visionaries in collaboration with an equal master in his craft, digital artist Vector Meldrew.’

The visionaries in question are the British singer and composer Tinie Tempah and the French-Iranian artist Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar, who is best known for his abstracted oils and floral compositions created in his signature style of peinture raclée, a technique involving the scraping, layering and spreading of paint.

‘Art inspires music and vice versa,’ says Tinie, ‘and I am excited to present works and ideas Sassan and I have spent a year working on both in physical and digital form.’

This ground-breaking event offers a unique visual and audio experience and aims to inspire new levels of conviviality and creativity across mediums.

Six NFTs (one unique and five open editions) together with the NFT minted on site will be dropped on 13 June.

Viewing Es Devlin’s Forest For Change — The Global Goals Pavilion, London Design Biennale, Somerset House

The Wick Culture - Es Devlin, Forest for Change - The Global Goals Pavilion

Above Es Devlin, Forest for Change – The Global Goals Pavilion

London Design Biennale, Somerset House

1 — 27 June 2021

Taking over Somerset House this June is the London Design Biennale, a celebration of the world’s most innovative designers, curators and design institutes.

The centrepiece is Forest for Change—The Global Goals Pavilion, an immersive installation featuring 400 trees conceived by artistic director Es Devlin in partnership with Project Everyone.

Filling the historic courtyard, it aims to spark debate on ‘the pathway of action to a better and fairer future’ and drive awareness to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. These 17 goals can be explored at the centre of the clearing, where they are succinctly explained on colourful mirrored pillars.

‘It’s my hope that when you get to the centre, you’re able to approach these really complex global problems without feeling so daunted or overwhelmed,’ says Devlin.

There’s already much hype around Devlin’s pop-up wood, so check it out and join the conversation.

Viewing Hilary Pecis: Piecemeal Rhythm, Timothy Taylor

The Wick Culture - Hilary Pecis: Piecemeal Rhythm
Timothy Taylor, London

Above Hilary Pecis: Piecemeal Rhythm Timothy Taylor, London

Hilary Pecis: Piecemeal Rhythm
Timothy Taylor, London

14 May — 26 June 2021

The richly coloured, deliberately flattened paintings of Los Angeles artist Hilary Pecis are as alluring as they are intriguing. ‘There’s a rhythm within my paintings,’ she says. ‘Each work has a certain wonky quality, a fluidity that I try to keep throughout the process.’

The artist’s first solo exhibition in the UK presents interior scenes, cityscapes, still lifes and landscapes inspired by photographs, memories and the space around her. Thrust centre stage are a range of intimate objects, from overflowing fruit bowls and piles of books to wilting flowers and open wine bottles, that allude to the rhythms of daily life. Visual cues such as newspaper headlines hint at specific time and place.

What strikes, though, is her palette’s luminosity — each scene is suffused with a California sunlight that brings a distinctly Los Angeles feel to traditionally European genres of painting. Dive into her world — as weird and wonderful as it is.