From a $120,000 banana to silver Kanye, Art Basel is never short of headline-grabbing stunts. Now, with the 2021 edition of the annual art fair underway in Miami, an Armenian artist Narine Arakelian is selling one of her eggs as an NFT, with the hope that it will be used to conceive a child.
Arakelian has been exhibiting a triptych of work titled “Love, Hope, Live” as part of Art Miami, one of the satellite fairs around Art Basel. Taking the ‘Live’ part quite literally, the artwork comes with an NFT that contractually promises one of her eggs to the buyer.
According to Page Six, the artist said that she expects the buyer to conceive a child with the egg, adding that she hopes it will be bought by a couple.
“I am so happy to bring a child into the world through my artwork,” said Arakelian, who is mom to a 21-year-old son. “It’s a beautiful act of creativity to give the gift of art and life.”
“My artworks are all my children and the fact this one will actually produce a child is wonderful,” she added. “The art will always mean so much to the buyer because it brought them their child! It will always carry that special memory.”
She also emphasised that “the child will be a child once they are born, not a piece of art”.
NFTs are a hot topic at this year’s art event, with countless artists capitalising on blockchain as the next art frontier. One art event, Size Basel, features several figures from the crypto-sphere, such as Size Chad, Discount Gosling, and Zhi Ko.