The Vatican Takes to the Metaverse

And more from the world of metaverse art.

Aug 25, 2022

Realm Roundup is now the Everyrealm Edition. (And still your best source for news about the metaverse.)

🎨 A New Home for Art Is Here

If you thought NFTs were just for the crypto obsessed, think again. In partnership with the Vatican, metaverse development firm Sensorium plans to launch an NFT gallery hosting the Vatican’s “art, content, and educational initiatives.” later this year.

The metaverse is where art comes to life. In Somnium Space you can interact with art that changes with the seasons and time of day. Elsewhere, your avatar can wander inside the artworks of Salvador Dali.

While being physically present in front of a masterpiece in a museum is a one of a kind experience, the metaverse makes the best art infinitely accessible to everyone, from everywhere.

Did you know that Everyrealm has an NFT art museum?

The Everyrealm Collection is an investment fund that acquires potentially high-growth NFTs and invests in NFT-related companies. The portfolio includes NFT works of art, collectible, and gaming assets, all displayed in a virtual museum.

Tour the museum (or even apply to invest) here:

Learn More

Metaverse-Based Art Platforms, Collections, and Shows

NFTs aren’t just meant to be held in wallets. Different NFT experiences are being built at galleries in blockchain-based virtual worlds such like Cryptovoxels and Mona, and via ‘NFT visualizers’ such as The Unstoppable Domains NFT Gallery, Mynt, Spatial, and Portals.

Here are some updates you don’t want to miss:

#1. Sotheby’s

It’s been over a year since the 300-year old auction house opened its first virtual store in the metaverse. $100 million earned from art NFTs later, Sotheby’s sees the metaverse as the next frontier for art.

Sotheby’s Metaverse, its own NFT marketplace, has helped the auction house attract a much wider audience; 78% of NFT bidders were new to Sotheby’s and half of them were less than 40 years old.

#2. Christie’s

Elsewhere, Christie’s is building its metaverse edge by focusing on NFTs and financial and technology products “that enable seamless consumption of art.”

“..A lot of people… think of it as an auction house where we sell a $100 million Picasso painting, but in reality there’s a number of different types of art and objects we sell at different price points,” says Neda Whitney, Christie’s Americas Head of Marketing. Her team is hard at work in the metaverse to reach a younger audience, with new perspectives on luxury.

#3. MoCA @ Somnium Space

An art museum that lives in virtual reality and exhibits across digital worlds? Enter MoCA.

The Museum of Crypto Art is built in Somnium Space. “What is the role of a museum in society today, when culture is moving so fast that they literally cannot respond to what is interesting to the youth?” says co-founder Colborn Bell. “Our mission is to preserve the truth,” Tweets the team.

You can buy and curate a MoCA “ROOM” at the museum, as you would at an individual wing or gallery IRL. Or browse MoCA genesis NFTs on OpenSea: as per the team, they can be thought of as digital cave paintings.

#4. Metaverse Art Week

Decentraland is hosting its third ‘Metaverse Art Week’ from August 24th-28th.

Sam Hamilton, Decentraland’s Creative Director, says “This year’s Art Week will be a love letter to what the next generation of artists are doing in the metaverse.”

Inspired by the Venice Biennale, the theme this year is the bond between man and nature, and how this could relate to the metaverse, so a lot of art is expected to include patterns and sequences that make up the natural world.

Art Week features a curated, audio-guided art tour to guide you around some of the event’s most interesting exhibitions.

Frida Kahlo’s family is launching a permanent installation called the ‘Frida Kahlo Family Red House’ – you don’t want to miss this.

One of the largest online art communities, Artnet, is presenting performance art and live poetry. SuperRare, Rarible, Known Origin, Gavin Shapiro, and Spatial are all major players that are participating. And other scheduled highlights you might want to explore include Sotheby’s collaborations, UXart Lab presenting the work of Latin American artists, and Burton Morris and House of Tang’s Pop!Wall installation.

Decentralanders can also explore Indie Village's contribution to Metaverse Art Week, including works curated by Studio As We Are, Vueltta, Infinite Objects, CADAF, Breezy Art, theVERSEverse, and many others. Indie Village will cap off Metaverse Art Week with a live concert produced by Sparrow - an eclectic mix of dueling pianos, electronic music and soul. The show starts at 8:00 PM on Sunday, August 28, 2022.

#5. The Vatican’s NFT art gallery

Metaverse developer Sensorium is collaborating with the Humanity 2.0 Foundation to build an NFT gallery to display the Vatican’s art using VR.

Father Philip Larrey from the Pope’s University in Vatican City cites the aim is to explore ways to democratize art. The collection will feature about 800 masterpieces from the likes of Michelangelo, Van Gogh and Raphael.