Beeple has been frequently in the spotlight over the past few years. An early pioneer and signal booster of the NFT movement, his name has become synonymous with digital art in the media. Despite this fame, the prolific creator had yet to have one of his NFTs make it into a museum’s permanent collection since that avenue had opened up. But now, FTX BOARD MEETING, DAY #5676 11.13.2022 has finally broken that streak, and it is certainly an unforgettable one.
FTX BOARD MEETING has been acquired by Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Artte Contemporanea in Italy, the first NFT in its collection and a follow-up to the museum’s 2022 exhibition of Human One, another work of Beeple’s.
The announcement comes out all the more interesting due to the fact that Castello di Rivoli had to censor their new acquisition in all press about it. FTX BOARD MEETING is, to put it lightly, a racy work. Clearly lampooning the downfall of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried, it depicts multiple versions of the man having sex with himself on the company’s office floor, the definition of a narcissistic orgy. The museum stated that they had to censor the images in order to abide by regulations on forums like YouTube to not be flagged as pornographic.
Beeple’s voice is as irreverent as ever. There’s a scintillating self-awareness within his works in the increasingly bourgeois sphere of digital art collection. He pokes fun from within the cultural and economic framework that supports him, one that he is owed much of the credit for its flourishing interest. It’s a grey area of true satire and being part of that which you jeer. FTX BOARD MEETING epitomizes the bizarre dichotomy of the digital realm in an undeniably clever way, and it’s the perfect piece for the artist’s first museum acquisition.
