Christie’s digital art auction raises more than $50k for UNHCR

Christie’s hosted a charity auction with proceeds going to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The auction included 11 digital artworks sold as NFTs.

The “Bridging Worlds: Digital Art Beyond Borders” charity auction took place from October 23 and ends on October 30, 2024. The auction raised a total of $51,387 from digital art sales, according to final bid prices listed on Christie’s.

The auction was curated by Micol Ap and featured 11 digital artworks donated by a number of digital artists, including Snowfro, IX Shells, Mario Klingemann and Erick Calderon, also known as Niceaunties.

“The sale aims to explore the transformative power of digital art to connect worlds, transcend boundaries and foster a sense of unity across diverse artistic practices,” Christie’s X said in its post.

Last chance to bid!

Bridging Worlds: Digital Art Across Borders is a charity auction ending October 30th to benefit UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The sale aims to explore the transformative power of digital art that connects worlds and transcends borders… pic.twitter.com/kMOYQ0yrNv

— Christie’s (@ChristiesInc) 29 October 2024

For the charity auction, Christie’s partnered with Switzerland for its UNHCR innovation unit, the national partner of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Switzerland. On behalf of UNHCR, Switzerland also published a post supporting the auction, urging users to bid on their favorite digital artworks.

The digital work that received the highest bid price was called “Niceburg” by Singaporean artist Niceaunties. Niceburg features a video made from AI art showing a group of grandmothers living in the frozen wastes of the arctic tundra known as Niceburg.

Narrated by a female voice with subtitles, the video is accompanied by visuals of the ice melting and grandmothers spending time with soft stuffed animals that come to life. Niceburg sold for 4.5 ETH or $11,908.

Another notable work is IX Shells’ digital animated art called “Rompeolas — Resurgiendo a través de la Resistencia”, meaning Sea Wall – Resurrection through Resistance. The image shows a series of orange and white dots moving together to form a 3D wave structure propagating across a black background.

IX Shells is a digital artist known for her work exploring identity, nature, and the intersection of the digital and physical worlds. Its piece sold for 3 ETH or $7,850.

The digital artwork featured in Christie’s promotional video is “Crush” by Andreas Gysin. Gysin’s drawing shows coding overlapping different font colors, moving in sync with each other, on a black background. Each letter consists of a group of other keyboard letters and symbols. The piece sold for 0.25 ETH or $654.

The auction also includes non-moving digital artworks such as “Handle With Care” by Vinnie Hager and “APT 47B” by Iskra Velitchkova.