Auction house Sotheby’s has decided to revive its “Glitch: Beyond Binary” NFT auction after receiving criticism regarding the lack of diversity during the initial launch. This new art sale is scheduled to open on April 19 and will showcase 34 lots of digital art from various artists involved in the “glitch art” movement, as announced in a tweet by the auction house last week.
“Glitch: Beyond Binary” serves as a relaunch of the previous “Natively Digital: Glitch-ism” auction held last month, which had been temporarily halted due to concerns about the underrepresentation of female artists.
To address these concerns, Sotheby’s has taken steps to improve diversity by appointing renowned glitch artists Dina Chang and Dawnia Darkstone, who are also known as Letsglitchit, as co-curators for the upcoming NFT auction. This move is aimed at ensuring a more inclusive and representative selection of digital art.
In co-curating “Glitch: Beyond Binary,” Letsglitchit expressed the goal of presenting a diverse collection of exceptional artists, each with their unique vision and approach to the world of glitch art.
Additionally, the re-curated Sotheby’s auction will feature Indian glitch artist Cyber Shakti, showcasing her captivating artwork titled “DownloadinG Shiva.” Other notable artists participating in the upcoming auction include XCOPY, neurocolor, Jake Osmun, and more.
Sotheby’s explained that glitch art is a practice that intentionally employs digital or analog errors to disrupt and transform a piece of art, creating a “glitch.” These errors can manifest as MP3 skips, crackles, a preview window briefly showing shards instead of an image, or a website hiccuping upon loading and scrambling its contents.
The art marketplace noted that while these occurrences are typically unintended and unwelcome, glitch artists intentionally provoke them. For artists in this genre, glitches serve as a medium for political and identity expression, allowing them to convey unique perspectives and messages through their work.
Sotheby’s has underscored its commitment to representing individuals from diverse backgrounds, encompassing people of all gender identities and expressions, sexual orientations, races, ethnicities, languages, neuro-types, sizes, abilities, classes, religions, cultures, subcultures, political opinions, ages, skill levels, occupations, and backgrounds. This emphasis on inclusivity reflects a broader effort to ensure representation in their art auctions.
Sotheby’s, as one of the oldest and largest auction houses in the world, specializes in brokering art, collectibles, jewelry, and real estate.
