Beeple's Digital Sculpture HUMAN ONE Debuts at Castello di Rivoli

Beeple (Mike Winkelmann), the digital artist behind the $69 million Christie's NFT sale, will exhibit for the first time in a museum at Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea near Turin on April 24. His work HUMAN ONE, a kinetic video sculpture featuring a dynamic animation of an astronaut-like figure in an evolving landscape, will be part of the exhibition 'Espressioni con Frazioni,' which examines new technologies' impact on human experience. The piece, acquired for $29 million by venture capitalist Ryan Zurrer last autumn, will be displayed in the Manica Lunga alongside Francis Bacon's Study for Portrait IX (1956-57) from the Collezione Cerruti, creating a contrasting dialogue. Museum director Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev had engaged Beeple in a series of conversations between 2021 and 2022 to understand his work and the digital art ecosystem, publishing the interviews in a spirit of openness despite acknowledging the controversial nature of featuring a 'young white heteronormative male from the United States.' Christov-Bakargiev described Beeple as a 'reverse Prometheus figure,' emphasizing the human labor behind his technology-driven art.