If you take the scale of a mega pharmaceutical expo, infuse it with Burning Man<\/a> optimism, and sprinkle some celebrity magic on top, you arrive at something approaching Psychedelic Science, the world\u2019s largest ever psychedelics conference that took over downtown Denver for a week in June.<\/p>\n Quarterback Aaron Rogers is speaking, the Flaming Lips<\/a> are playing a show, and on the side Christie\u2019s is staging an exhibition of the hallucinogenic reflections of more than 30 artists. It\u2019s an IRL presentation of \u201cCartography of the Soul<\/a>,\u201d a sale running through June 27 on Christie\u2019s 3.0, the auction house\u2019s platform for on-chain art.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a hazy line to be drawn from the psychedelia of the 1960s through to the decentralization<\/a> maxim of today\u2019s blockchain revolution. Both ends share a deep dissatisfaction with the status quo and it was, to some degree, the countercultural spirit of California\u2019s hippie movement that fed the Silicon Valley<\/a> boom. Today, the digital world these dreamers-turned-tech-moguls created is one that Web3 is both building off and rejecting.<\/p>\n Mad Dog Jones, A Gust of Wind<\/em> (2023). Photo courtesy Christie\u2019s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Some of the works curated by Christie\u2019s and 10F1<\/a>, an NFT<\/a> collector\u2019s club, wink at this history. Sasha Stiles\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0Analog Binary Code:<\/em> (non)fungible<\/em> offers zeros and ones in capsules of differently colored mushrooms (maitake and turkey tail, to be precise) that comprise a poem. Harry Pack\u2019s fantastical Biomorphic Blues<\/em> seems to conjure the back-to-nature spirit of the \u201960s with something owed in curl and color to the illustrations of Heinz Edelmann of Yellow Submarine <\/em>fame. And The Fall<\/em> by Klara Vollstaedt is a personal video exploration of the push and pull of creating in today\u2019s digital reality.<\/p>\n More powerful, 1OF1\u2019s Lukas Amacher argued, is thinking about the show holistically rather than its composite parts.<\/p>\n \u201cTrue to mycelia\u2019s decentralized structure, rather than choosing works from artists, this show was asking them to contribute to a network of ideas,\u201d he said. \u201cMycelia and plant networks have the same governance properties as Web3. The whole is about the network of nodes rather than the individual nodes.\u201d<\/p>\n DeeKay, Self-Discovery<\/em> (2023). Photo courtesy Christie\u2019s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n For the second year running, the sale will benefit the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. This time, Christie\u2019s hopes to raise north of $600,000 for research into psychedelic therapies and judging by the roster of artists who have donated work, it may well surpass that number.<\/p>\n The auction is most confident on the prospects of DeeKay\u2019s Self-Discovery <\/em>(staring bid $77,000), which adopts the flat aesthetics of platform video games, and plays the tumbles, jumps, and slides of hapless animated characters in a dizzying loop.<\/p>\n Other names include technologist duo Holly Herndon and Mathew Drygate who offer Moat<\/em>, an organized pile of indecipherable metal objects that combine monstrously; and Mad Dog Jones<\/a>, whose fuchsia-tinged future cityscapes have sold for millions, delivers A Gust of Wind<\/em> which depicts an office worker meditating in a dilapidated alleyway. Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot<\/a> gives This Art Rejects Fear<\/em> in which she faces her treatment in Russia\u2019s justice system through a physical work (attached to an NFT) that recalls the needlework forced upon while in a penal colony.<\/p>\n \u201cThis sale offers buyers a unique opportunity,\u201d Nicole Sales Giles of Christie\u2019s digital art department said in a statement, \u201cto collect digital artworks at an array of price points and aesthetics while supporting a wonderful organization.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n More Trending Stories:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Brooklyn Museum\u2019s Much-Criticized \u2018It\u2019s Pablo-matic\u2019 Show Is Actually Weirdly at War With Itself Over Hannah Gadsby\u2019s Art History<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A Collector Clinched a Rare 17th-Century Terracotta Sculpture for a Record $2.85 Million at a French Auction. Now, the Louvre Is Snatching It<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This Famed Dollhouse Is Hung With Tiny Original Artworks, Including a Miniature Duchamp. Here Are Three Things to Know About the One-of-a-Kind Treasure<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A Writer Is Calling Out the British Museum for Using Her Translations of Chinese Poetry in an Exhibition Without Permission<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Venice Biennale Has Announced the Highly Anticipated Curatorial Theme of Its 2024 Art Exhibition<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A Couple Renovating Their Kitchen in Denmark Found an Ancient Stone Carved With Viking Runes<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"DeeKay\"](\"https:\/\/news.artnet.com\/app\/news-upload\/2023\/06\/Self-Discovery-still01-1024x1024.jpg\")
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