I’m excited to announce my new role as Visualist for UNICEF’s Giga program and their forthcoming NFT2.0 initiative. To inaugurate this campaign, I participated in a two-part auction hosted by CfC St. Moritz in partnership with UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein and Christie's to benefit Giga. Check it out below!
Creating Connections – Digital Art for Connectivity
CfC St. Moritz is pleased to announce their two-part charity art auction hosted in partnership with UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein and Christie's to benefit Giga. The two-part auction features a live portion held on January 11, 2024, during CfC St. Moritz, and an online auction hosted by Christie's 3.0 and curated by Nina Roehrs (Roehrs & Boetsch) from January 24 – 31, 2024. The two auctions are united under the theme "Creating Connections – Digital Art for Connectivity" and are held to jointly support Giga, a UNICEF and International Telecom Union (ITU) initiative to connect every school and student to the Internet and information.
Live Auction at CfC St. Moritz, featuring artwork by Cole Sternberg
The first auction takes place live on the second day of the CfC St. Moritz conference at the Suvretta House St. Moritz. Bertold Mueller, Delegate of UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein and Christie’s Managing Director EMEA, is auctioning three bespoke pieces from acclaimed contemporary conceptual artist Cole Sternberg.
In September 2023, Sternberg traveled to the Engadin to capture visuals using a vintage 1970s Canon 35mm camera, a notebook, and a laptop. Each piece is prefaced by that journey as well as the history of the region. In a traditional painting, a standalone NFT, and an art piece merging physical media with digital art forms, Sternberg narrates a compelling story, spanning from glacial threats to Vaslav Nijinsky's final dance. The works developed by Sternberg for both the live and online auctions artfully weave together and coalesce into a sublime ode to the natural beauty of this special place.
1. ‘ample shade for ferns and lilies’ is a large-scale painting across three panels of Italian linen measuring 172.7 cm x 274.3 cm. Sternberg merges his photography of the region with painterly techniques and exposure to environmental elements to produce a robust synthesis of abstraction and materiality in the work.
2. ‘he staggered under the burden of the empire’ is Sternberg’s first standalone 1/1 digital work (NFT). In the piece, the Artist merges painterly layers with vintage photography featuring Vaslav Nijinsky, who performed his last public dance in the Suvretta House on January 19th, 1919. The work captures both the joy and haunting nature of the historic moment, while also preserving Nijinsky's steps, which appear to still echo within the hotel.
3. ‘somewhere in between’ A merging of physical media with digitality, this piece serves as the apotheosis of the Artist’s experience in the Engadin region. With each element being produced in tandem with the environment, it blurs the lines between the earthly and the synthetic, between organic human composition and biomimicry. The painterly element was exposed to the environment of the Engadin, the digital component features photographic and painterly elements created in the region, and the sculptural rock acts as a sage, looking onto the painting and screen akin to the mountains peering down on the lake. It is the Artist’s first combination of digital and physical work in a singular sculpture.
UNICEF & Christie’s On-Chain Auction to Benefit Giga
The second auction, online and on-chain, is facilitated by renowned global auction house Christie's and features a curated selection of artworks by Nina Roehrs from around 20 donating digital artists, including a 1/1 generative digital work by Cole Sternberg entitled ‘in that languorous heat we counted miles differently.’
About Giga
Giga is a global initiative by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to connect every school to the Internet and every young person to information, opportunity, and choice. Against the backdrop of rapidly evolving digital technologies, it is unimaginable that one-third of humanity – or 2.6 billion people – still remain offline. Among them are children who are at risk of falling behind, simply because they don’t have access to the Internet and the learning opportunities that come along with it. Giga is bridging this gap by creating open-source technologies and procurement solutions that help governments connect schools to the Internet. Powered by the latest technologies in artificial intelligence, mapping, and blockchain technology, Giga has provided connectivity support to thousands of schools around the world
Since its inception in 2019, Giga and its partners have connected nearly 6,000 schools and 2.4 million students to the Internet.
