How Technology Completes
Digital Art

LG SIGNATURE Joins the NFT World

In December 2021, the NFT platform Nifty Gateway held an online art auction where the digital work Merge was sold for $91.8m, setting a record as the highest public auction price for the work of a living artist. The piece itself, which depicts a solitary pale-coloured sphere set against a darkened background, is nearly impossible to interpret according to existing conventions of present-day art. Moreover, Merge also differed greatly in how it was auctioned and how its ownership was attributed.

For the auction of Merge, Pak and Nifty Gateway introduced a new “mass” buying system: during the 48-hour long auction, bidders could make unlimited purchases of “units,” or stakes that accumulated value over time, which could then join to form a greater “mass.” Ultimately, units held by multiple bidders amassed or merged together to complete the eponymous work. Given the complex buying structure involved, certifying ownership across numerous owners presented a challenge. This was resolved thanks to the use of NFTs, a novel certification method based on blockchain technology.

The unprecedented outcome of the Merge auction made huge waves. Within just 48 hours, a total of 28,983 collectors had purchased the 312,686 units that constituted Merge, bringing the total sum of the purchases to $91.8m. The wholly novel NFT-based “mass” purchase structure has made Pak – a digital artist whose identity remains unknown – one of the highest-valued living artists in terms of public auction price. NFTs represent a technological breakthrough that tackles the challenges of establishing ownership for a piece of digital art among multiple stakeholders by storing the artwork in the form of a replicable computer file. Thus, the advent of NFTs has opened up entirely new markets for collectors and artists alike.

As the 48-hour auction for Pak's Merge kicked off on December 2nd 2021, the NFT-based digital art event The Gateway was being launched in the heart of downtown Miami, home to Art Basel Miami Beach, the world's largest contemporary art fair. The event in Miami showcased the art that was part of a historic moment: nft now is the first digital media company to co-curate a major auction house sale that sold for a total of $3.6m. Held by the NFT media platform nft now and Christie's auction house, the event showcased the world's first rollable TV, the LG SIGNATURE OLED R, to display works of NFT-based digital art.

Powered by self-lit pixels, the LG SIGNATURE OLED R TV offers an optimal platform for enjoying works of digital art in top-notch quality. LG rollable OLED technology reimagines the capabilities of the TV, revolutionising the way you use your space. Naturally, the TV caught the interest of discerning consumers who are also art and interior design enthusiasts. Through a fusion of digital art and music, The Gateway celebrated a new era of innovation heralded by NFTs. LG SIGNATURE took part in this event by showcasing its lineup of premium appliances, including the LG SIGNATURE wine cellar and refrigerator.

"Art Inspires Technology, Technology Completes Art" is the brand slogan of LG SIGNATURE. NFTs bring to life the spirit of this message by applying innovative technology which aspires to open up new markets for both collectors and artists. Considering the wide, futuristic prospects that await metaverse-related technologies, NFTs are sure to be applied to much wider fields and in more diverse ways.

NFTs are also influencing the fashion industry. Gucci has recently launched an NFT-based fashion film, while Louis Vuitton has announced the release of an NFT game. Other luxury brands like Balenciaga and Dolce & Gabbana also appear to be investing in NFTs or planning to launch their own NFT projects. So what makes an NFT so popular in the fields of digital and digitally held assets?

The acronym NFT stands for “non-fungible token.” Although NFTs are based on the same blockchain technology as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, they are “non-fungible” in the sense that they are uniquely valuated and irreplaceable. Transactions involving NFTs are transparently recorded in the blockchain ledgers, and each NFT can be freely traded or transferred according to its value.

The initial interest surrounding NFTs was driven by the fact that it represented a way of certifying transactions involving digital assets, such as art or gaming assets. Since digital images or videos ultimately take the form of computer files, they can be copied or saved at any time. For these to become tradable as works of art, there needed to be a way to certify the transactions of such assets. This challenge is being handled by a distributed ledger scheme of blockchains, where all transactions are recorded transparently. Among such blockchain-based technologies, the “non-fungibility” of NFTs meant they can provide an added layer of visbility during the sale process of a digital asset.

The concept behind NFTs first emerged in 2014, and the first Ethereum-based token was minted in 2017. As such, NFT as a technology is still in the early stages of development. However, the future potential applicability of NFTs is diverse as NFTs are likely to become an integral part of securely storing and certifying transactions of digital assets.

NFTs have expanded their reach beyond the digital realm and into the offline world. The world's first NFT restaurant is scheduled to open in New York in Q1/Q2, 2023. The Flyfish Club will be a private members-only establishment, where memberships can be purchased on the blockchain in the form of NFTs.

As such, NFTs will most likely see very rapid growth and are bound to influence our lives, both online and off. As always, LG SIGNATURE will be there whenever and wherever innovation takes place, to assert its leadership in offering differentiated lifestyles suited to a changing world.