The latest brand to jump aboard a non-fungible token bandwagon already groaning under the weight of art, music, gaming, beverages and sports collectibles is soft-core porn publishing pioneer Playboy, which is inviting submissions for its first NFT exhibition next month.
In partnership with Sevens Foundation, a non-profit that helps digital artists create and exhibit NFTs, Playboy will choose 50 winning submissions for its inaugural series, mint them as NFTs and promote them on social media.
The first topic of the proposed four-part series is “The Art of Gender & Sexuality”, with October 1 the closing date for submissions. In the month following, winning artists will have their work showcased at the NFT.NYC conference to be held in Times Square, New York City.
Playboy Has Form in the Crypto Space
In previous flirtations with the NFT space, Playboy collaborated with digital artist Slimesunday on May’s “Liquid Summer” collection featuring archival photographs of Playboy model Lena Forsen, the so-called “First Lady of the Internet”. Last month, the multimedia brand posted articles teaching artists how to mint NFTs, using the example of its initial foray into collecting NFTs via 2020’s Beeple Bull Run series.
The leisure and lifestyle magazine’s crypto journey actually began in 2018 when Playboy TV started accepting payments in bitcoin.
For Liz Suman, its vice-president of art curation and editorial, Playboy’s interest in crypto and NFTs is “a natural fit” for a magazine with a near 70-year history of resisting censorship and championing free speech.
We’ve always been a place that champions art in sometimes controversial ways and see NFTs as the frontier of creative expression going forward … As a female curator working in the digital art space, I’m most excited about the opportunity to build on that legacy by working with more female artists and diverse voices.
Liz Sulman, VP, art curation and editorial, Playboy
Sevens and Playboy Chase ‘the Global Promise’ of Blockchain
For its part, Sevens Foundation developer Tim Kang says the non-profit organisation is selective in who it works with to ensure niche social issues and minorities are represented in “the global promise” of blockchain.
We seek out partners and relationships who represent and align with our goals. It’s important for us to elevate women and LGBTQ+ voices to achieve healthy equality and understanding, so we’re excited to work with Playboy to highlight artists in the community who value cultural progress and integrity through creative expression and digital works.
Tim Kang, Sevens Foundation developer
Neither Sevens nor Playboy will derive any profit from the exercise, and both entities will showcase the chosen artists’ work across their collective social media channels and digital platforms, with a combined reach of more than 25 million followers.
