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Fractionalized NFT Project Particle Sends Banksy Artwork on Loan to Global Museums

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Sead Fadilpašić

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Sead Fadilpašić

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Sead specializes in writing factual and informative articles to help the public navigate the ever-changing world of crypto. He has extensive experience in the blockchain industry, where he has served...

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Last updated:

July 13, 2023

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Love Is In The Air, aka Flower Thrower or LIITA, by Banksy. Source: banksyexplained.com

Digital art platform Particle will loan its fractionalized Banksy painting to prestigious museums across the world.

“Exciting news! Banksy’s iconic “Love Is In The Air”, generously loaned by Particle co-owners, begins its Europe tour,” Particle Collection shared on Twitter.

The tour will start in the UK next month, claims Decrypt. After that, Amsterdam and Barcelona will house it for six months each.

Launched in 2021, Particle was founded by Loïc Gouzer, former chairman of Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art; Shingo Lavine and Adam Lavine, co-founders of Ethos.io; Philip Eytan, co-founder and chairman of Voyager; and Oscar Salazar, founding CTO and Chief Architect of Uber.

It is a project that fractionalizes high-value artworks into non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Per their website, an artwork is “particalized” – divided into particles that represent “a distinct portion of the artwork, enabling co-owners to claim a specific section of the piece as their own.”

10,000 Particles of Banksy

Banksy’s iconic ‘Love is in the Air’ piece – valued at $12.9 million – was fractionalized into 10,000 NFTs in December 2021, and it is held by the non-profit Particle Foundation.

The Foundation manages all pieces per the co-owners’ decisions. “Owners get to vote on where the work is placed,” Particle CEO Harold Eytan told Decrypt.

Particle collectors, said the website, officially join a co-ownership that decides which works to buy, as well as if and when to sell.

There are more than 2,500 co-owners at the moment.

According to Eytan, “as more institutions continue to embrace digital artwork and NFTs, the future of art ownership and governance is set to evolve.”

Alien vs. Banksy

Particle organizes special art-related events for collectors, who will, in some cases, also get “personal physical components” to the digital work.

For example, an H.R. Giger print is given to top collectors, Eytan said. The famous artist was a part of the Oscar-winning special effects team that worked on Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’ movies. Giger created the Alien itself.

Per the FAQ,

“After having minted out 10,000 Particles of the [Love Is In The Air], and after receiving feedback from the community as a whole, we decided to do things differently going forward. Starting with H.R. Giger’s Necronom (Alien III), Particles now represent 100% of the legal title, and economic rights to the underlying Art.”

The Particles for Banksy’s piece do not represent a financial interest in the underlying work of art, said the website. They represent governance rights over the art through the Foundation.

Meanwhile, the Foundation collaborates with galleries and institutions worldwide, said the team. It organized exhibitions in several cities and partnered with Phillips Auction House, Praz Delavallade, and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami, among others.

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