UPDATE: The auction is now closed, with the three NFT videos (‘Mother of Technology‘, ‘Mother of Evolution’ and ‘Mother of Nature‘) fetching, $135,608, $146,816 and $346,405 repectively.
That’s a total of $628,829. Some way short of the $69million Beeple made from his last art sale. Maybe if he’d done it without Madonna?…
ORIGINAL STORY: Legendary reinventor and pop culture icon Madonna has partnered with digital artist Beeple for a three-video NFT collaboration that features a naked, CGI Madonna giving birth to a tree. Obviously.
There are three videos currently up for auction, in a series entitled ‘Mother of Creation’ with the proceeds of the sale going to three non-profits focused on supporting women and children around the world. The videos are entitled ‘Mother of Technology‘, ‘Mother of Evolution’ and ‘Mother of Nature‘.
Art imitating life
The singer said, “We set out to create something that is absolutely and utterly connected to the idea of creation and motherhood,” Madonna said of her NFTs, which are unique blockchain tokens that prove ownership of an asset, in this case a video.
The auction is here on SuperRare.
While stills of the Madonna x Beeple NFT video series might at first appear to err on the side of the erotic, the videos themselves are anything but.
“The opening of each video is essentially me giving birth. I’m doing what women have been doing since the beginning of time, which is giving birth,” Madonna explains. “But on a more existential level, I’m giving birth to art, and creativity, and we would be lost without both.”
Beeple also stated in a recent interview with Decrypt that the next era of NFTs will focus on “emotional connection and utility” instead of “rampant speculation”.
NSFW NFT…
And although the Mother of Nature NFT holds plenty of emotional weight through its audio, in classic Beeple fashion the visuals are surreal and very disturbing, especially to young audiences. The Mother of Evolution showcases how even in times of chaos and uncertainty, rebirth can still occur. Then there’s Mother of Technology which offers a dark take on humanity’s relationship with technology.
The proceeds from the SuperRare auction will be donated to three charities –The Voices of Children Foundation, The City of Joy and Black Mama’s Bail Out – and will focus on helping Ukrainian children, female survivors of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as incarcerated black women.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
