The Owner of Beeple’s $69 Million NFT Is Turning the Artwork Into an Immersive Party—You Just Have to Pay $150 to Attend
The first authorized display of the record-setting work will anchor a daylong exhibition of NFTs by 150 artists.
It was only a matter of time: in a mash-up of two of 2021’s biggest art-world trends, Beeple’s $69 million NFT is getting its own immersive experience later this fall.
Come November, the crypto fund Metapurse will host Dreamverse, a one-night-only party in New York, where Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5,000 Days—the piece of art that spawned hundreds of WTF is an NFT anyway? articles—will be displayed publicly for the first time. According to the producers, the work will be projected onto a “bespoke three-story-tall hybrid physical and digital structure.”
The projection is the headline event of the all-day program, arriving with a DJ set by Alesso in the evening. But during the day, the Dreamverse—laid out at New York’s Terminal 5—will serve as a gallery where NFTs from some 150 artists will be shown on large screens and in virtual-reality installations.
Such a venue is perhaps a strange outlet for NFTs, entities defined by both their immateriality and existence outside of established structures. But for MetaKovan (aka Vignesh Sundaresan), the founder and financier of Metapurse—and the owner of The First 5,000 Days—the event represents a natural evolution of the art form to the mainstream.
“NFTs are still thought of as abstract or virtual,” the Singapore-based entrepreneur explained in a statement. “Dreamverse is what happens when NFTs make landfall.”
Tickets for Dreamverse, which is set for November 4, are on sale now. Daytime entry to the gallery is $30, but admission to the party portion is pricier. Tickets for the latter start at $150, but up your buy-in to $475 (early bird discount) or $600, and you’ll get a commemorative NFT with your purchase (it turns colors when scanned at the door), as well as exactly one drink ticket. Upgrade to the $2,500 VIP level for a second drink voucher, as well as an extra NFT. (Cryptocurrency is accepted, of course.)
Crypto artist Alotta Money, known for their absurdist collages, is responsible for designing the color-changing NFTs. They, along with nine other self-described “OG NFT artists,” formed a kind of advisory panel for the exhibition portion, selecting the participating artists.
Taking a page from other immersive experiences (such as those devoted to Banksy and Van Gogh), Dreamverse will also boast a number of interactive components, including holograms and augmented-reality booths where visitors can make digital avatars of their own images.
The event “is a celebration of a vibrant, diverse, empathetic community,” said MetaKovan. “Dreamverse is an expression of the renaissance we have been experiencing the last few years.”