The world’s smallest country, Vatican City, power-packed with art, history, tradition and culture is bringing its finest artworks into the digital world. The Vatican has announced plans to open an NFT gallery so that people around the world can see its rich culture which boasts century-old manuscripts, art and other antiques.
The initiative is a collaboration between Sensorium, a VR company, and Humanity 2.0, a Vatican-led nonprofit that is working toward “human flourishing”, as per the website.
The Vatican’s press representative informed that the NFTs won’t be used to sell products or objects, though it is unclear what they will be used for. The representative stated – “The nature of this project for Humanity 2.0 is exclusively social and not commercial. Also, here NFTs don’t necessarily have to come in the form of artworks, but can also include tickets and other objects.”
The chairman of Humanity 2.0 Father Philip Larrey, has written books on the effect of technology on modern society and the philosophical aspect of artificial intelligence.
Father Larrey said in a statement that collaboration with Sensorium will bring new ways to democratize art, making it more widely available to audiences around the world regardless of their socio-economic and geographical limitations.
He also mentioned that the partnership with Sensorium is a step further to achieving this goal and equipping us with the latest technologies.
It is expected that the gallery will be viewable through VR and on desktops. It will be available sometime this year.
Furthermore, the Vatican is known as a cultural hub of some of the finest art and objects in the world. The Vatican’s museum was founded in the 16th century and holds some 70,000 works, including art by Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael and many more.
With this, the Vatican plans to showcase these artworks to people using NFTs. Although it is uncertain if these Vatican NFTs will be available for sale, it is huge progress to see NFTs being utilized widely.
Well, mainstream adoption of NFT is not far. Whether it’s an art festival or exhibition, NFTs are everywhere. Recently, NFT Platform Art Blocks announced plans to exhibit its NFTs at the world-famous Venice “Art” Biennale.
Venice Biennial is the most prestigious Biennale exhibition in the world, and NFTs’ presence represents an important validation for the medium.
