Christie’s Auction Raises $50K for UNHCR

Christie’s charity auction benefited the UNHCR, where 11 NFTs of digital art were auctioned

The charity auction “Bridging Worlds: Digital Art Beyond Borders” was conducted from October 23 to October 30, 2024. The auction generated a total of $51,387 in digital art sales, as indicated by the final bidding prices displayed on Christie’s website.

The auction was curated by Micol Ap and featured 11 digital artworks donated by a variety of digital artists, including Erick Calderon, also known as Snowfro, IX Shells, Mario Klingemann, and Niceaunties and others.

“The sale is intended to investigate the transformative potential of digital art in establishing connections between worlds, transcending borders, and cultivating a sense of unity among a variety of artistic disciplines,” Christie’s stated in its X post.

Christie’s collaborated with the UNHCR innovation branch, Switzerland’s national partner for the UN Refugee Agency, for the charity auction. Switzerland for UNHCR also published a post supporting the auction, encouraging users to place bids on their preferred digital art pieces.

Niceaunties, a Singaporean artist, created the digital artwork “Niceburg,” which garnered the maximum bidding price. Niceburg is a frigid tundra in the Arctic that is home to a group of grannies. The video is a work of AI art.

The video is accompanied by visuals of the ice thawing and the grannies spending time with fluffy stuffed animals that come to life. The narration is provided by a female voice, with subtitles at the bottom. Niceburg was sold for 4.5 ETH, which is equivalent to $11.908.

Another noteworthy work is IX Shells’ digital moving art, “Rompeolas — Resurgiendo a través de la Resistencia,” which translates to “Sea Wall — Resurgence Through Resistance.”

The visual depicts a 3D wave structure that surges through a black background, formed by an array of orange and white spots that move together.

Digital artist IX Shells is recognized for his works that investigate the intersection of the digital and physical realms, as well as themes of identity and nature. Her piece was sold for 3 ETH, which is equivalent to $7,850.

“Crush” by Andreas Gysin is the digital art creation that is showcased in Christie’s promotional video. Gysin’s artwork depicts a black background with overlapping coding and varying font colors that are all in harmony with one another.

Each letter is made up of a combination of other keyboard letters and symbols. The object was sold for 0.25 ETH, which is equivalent to $654.

The auction also includes non-moving digital art, including “APT 47B” by Iskra Velitchkova and “Handle With Care” by Vinnie Hager.