Some people naturally stand out in a crowd. Viola Lukács is one of them. Tall and fashion-forward, I first caught a glimpse of her in Hong Kong at the World of Web3 Summit in April. She was standing within an installation of giant screens displaying the striking digital artworks of her once mentor and now collaborator, the celebrated French conceptual artist Bernar Venet.

It is a tale of the student becoming the teacher. A relationship that began when Lukács, an art history major, interviewed Venet for her thesis. She then went on to receive a scholarship at his studio and curated major installations of his sculptures in Europe. Fast forward a decade, and Lukács has established herself as one of the leading curator-producers in this space. Her collaboration with her mentor has endured and evolved, leading them both to Sotheby’s.

Challenging the notion of gravity in the digital space

For Lukács, the world of blockchain, algorithms and non-fungible tokens seemed a very natural extension for Venet’s artistic exploration. The artist has enjoyed a remarkable six-decade career, most notably as a sculptor, where his giant works are formed how they fall, challenging our perception of order, randomness and chance, themes that are also central to his digital collection, EVENT. 

The Sotheby’s Gen Art Program

Sotheby’s has been actively involved in the sale of generative art, particularly as the market for digital art, including NFTs, has grown. Generative art, created using autonomous systems often involving algorithms and artificial intelligence, has a rich history dating back to the 1950s. Pioneers like Vera Molnár, who experimented with computer-generated art, laid the foundation for this innovative genre. In July 2023, Sotheby’s held their inaugural Gen Art Program with a major sale of 500 of Molnár works, generating $1.2 million in sales within an hour. Vera Molnár passed away five months later in December, aged 99. 

EVENT will be the second edition of Sotheby’s Gen Art Program.

Unlike the Molnár collection, which was curated, buyers of a Bernar Venet digital work will not be buying a pre-selected piece. Instead, the proprietary algorithm will generate a never-before-seen output for minting post purchase, ensuring that each piece aligns with Venet’s artistic vision. It took Lukács, her team and Venet two years of painstaking experimentation with algorithms and forms to encapsulate Venet’s philosophy. 

“It's crucial to grasp that generative art revolves around algorithms, wherein an autonomous system plays a pivotal role in reshaping the artwork's visual or auditory characteristics, and it can transform in real-time,” Lukács said to me in a recent interview.

“At the heart of our mission lies the demonstration that generative art stands as a newly popular genre in contemporary art, offering a profound reflection of the contemporary zeitgeist”

— Viola Lukács

Lukács has accepted the challenge of convincing buyers to purchase a piece of digital sculpture that they will only see after their purchase. For crypto natives who bought into the NFT hype of 2021, the “thrill of the unveil” is not a new concept. One of the pioneers was Bright Moments, a gallery that began in Venice, California during the depths of the Covid pandemic and has gone on to tour the world, setting up temporary galleries with unveiling events in cities including New York, Berlin and Mexico City. 

Lukács believes that the buzz around NFTS in 2021 did boost digital art’s value and credibility as an investment. To woo traditional art collectors, her team has paid meticulous attention to detail by commissioning award-winning music composer Mári Mákó to create a soundscape for the campaign. Lukács anticipates that this sale will be an historic moment in the contemporary art world. 

“We're harnessing blockchain technology to bring our art to life,” she said. “But it's important to note that this isn't solely about crypto art, and we're not aiming to treat NFTs as mere collectibles. Instead, we're leveraging algorithms to elevate this project and extend Venet’s diverse practice into this new digital realm. We aim to critically engage in the digitization process thoughtfully and effectively.”

lead image: Viola Lukács