In a previous article, we mentioned about Superchief Gallery that is the first physical NFT gallery. Now, we would like to inform you about other organizations and museums which take action about the NFT world because the digital art ecosystem is shaped nowadays by the actions of museums!

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

The first museum that considers the importance of NFTs for art and finance is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The museum is located on Wilshire Boulevard, and it was founded in 1961. LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States, and it involves a lot of artworks from ancient times to the present. In addition to concerts, films, and amazing artworks in LACMA, we can encounter significant information about the NFT world with the help of the museum. Ongoing series of conversations about the NFT world called ‘NFTs and the Museum’ is presented by LACMA, and the event is sponsored by LACMA Art + Technology Lab. In the conversations, NFTs’ history, their effects on investment and innovation, and the impacts of NFTs on artists, consumers, and institutes are the subjects. You can reach the first part of NFTs and the Museum by the link: https://unframed.lacma.org/2021/07/12/nfts-and-museum-part-1-nfts-101

Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (ICAM)

Miami’s Institute of Contemporary Art is located in the Miami Design District, and the museum’s subject is contemporary art. The museum was opened in 1996, and it provides a lot of exhibitions from that year. In July 2021, ICAM added CryptoPunk 5293 that is a female punk from the CryptoPunks NFT collection to their collection. The pixel icon shows that ICAM has an interest in the NFT world, and the museum became the first museum to bring an NFT into its permanent collection.

The State Hermitage Museum

The State Hermitage Museum is located in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The museum was opened in 1764, and people can encounter various collections, such as Egyptian antiquities, classical antiquities, jewelry and decorative art, and so on, in the large museum. If we analyze The State Hermitage Museum from the perspective of NFTs, we should say that the museum cares about the developments of NFTs in the field of art. In August 2021, the museum minted several masterpieces from its collection as NFTs. For instance, the artwork of Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Leonardo da Vinci is minted and sold as NFTs by The State Hermitage Museum.

The Newark Museum of Art

The Newark Museum of Art is the largest museum in New Jersey. The museum consists of the major collections of American art, contemporary art, decorative arts, arts of Asia, arts of Africa, and arts from the ancient world. Moreover, The Newark Museum of Art considers the importance of NFTs, and the museum became a host for a virtual and free talk called ‘NFTs and Art Explained’ in November 2021. In the talk, the NFT world was explained to beginners, and the details of NFTs in the field of art and finance were expressed. Also, the future impacts of digital assets were another subject in the virtual talk.

Whitworth Art Gallery

Whitworth Art Gallery is located in Manchester, England. The museum involves approximately 55000 items in its collection, so we can say that the museum is very rich in terms of artwork. In addition to common artwork sense, the museum showed its thought about NFTs. In July 2021, the museum minted and sold William Blake’s The Ancient of Days that is the presentation of God and black gap as an NFT. The artwork is the most popular and iconic item in the museum, so people showed an interest in the NFT. The money came from the sale of the amazing artwork is used for supporting community outreach projects.

The National Museum of Liverpool

If we go past for analyzing the relationship between NFTs and museums, we came to the National Museum of Liverpool. The museum is located in Liverpool, England, and it presents the story of Liverpool. In addition, the museum showed the importance of NFTs for everyone. In 2018, the museum constituted an online exhibition called ‘Crypto-Connections’. In the exhibition, people could select personal possession and museum objects, like rings, ammonite fossils, fruit bowls, and necklaces. Then, each visual from the exhibition became an NFT with the help of a decentralized gallery called ‘The Possession Gallery’. You can examine the collection of Crypto-Connections by the link: https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/collections/cryptoconnections