Fractionalized NFT Project Particle Loans $12.9M Banksy Artwork to Global Museums

Particle, a digital art platform that offers to fractionalize high-value artworks in the form of NFTs, has announced the loan of its Banksy painting, “Love is in the Air,” to major museums worldwide.

Established in 2020, Particle has enabled over 2,600 co-owners, including notable figures such as Beeple, Paris Hilton, and Kevin Rose, to participate in the ownership and governance of some masterpieces.

The loan of the Banksy painting to museums across the globe was voted by co-owners of Particle’s artworks, including “Love is in the Air” but also as an example of the project’s latest H.R. Giger “Necronom” sculpture, which served as a model for Ridley Scott’s “Alien” movies.

The sculpture was fractionalized into 500 NFTs, each of them in the form of an NFT.

‘Love is in the Air’, from London to Barcelona

Banksy’s “Love is in the Air” was fractionalized into 10,000 NFTs in December 2021.

Like the other fractionalized artworks from Particle, it is held by the Particle Foundation, a non-profit entity that manages the artworks accordingly to the decisions of its co-owners.

“Owners get to vote on where the work is placed,” Harold Eytan, CEO of Particle, told Decrypt. “We organize special events for collectors around the artwork and the exhibitions. And in some instances, collectors will receive personal physical components to the digital work. For example, top collectors receive an original H.R. Giger print.”

The Banksy painting, valued at $12.9 million, will start its journey in the United Kingdom this month, where it will be part of a Street Art exhibition in England, Newmarket, entitled “The Urban Frame: Mutiny in Colour.”

Following this, the artwork will tour, visiting the MOCO in Amsterdam and Barcelona for a period of six months in each location.

“One of Particle’s missions is to democratize art ownership—both at the point of buying and owning and also of viewing and enjoying,” said Eytan. “By opening artworks up to co-ownership, we are taking high-value artworks out of storage, and allowing them to be enjoyed in real life by global audiences.”

Particle’s activities benefit the growing trend among institutions to embrace digital artwork and NFTs.

The Centre Pompidou in Paris recently acquired artworks from selected artists like Sarah Meyohas and Jonas Lund.

Similarly, the LACMA museum in Los Angeles has received Generative Art pieces by Cozomo De’ Medici, which showcase the works of Dmitri Cherniak, Cai Guo-Quiang, Matt DesLauriers, and Monica Rizzoli.

“As more institutions continue to embrace digital artwork and NFTs, the future of art ownership and governance is set to evolve,” said Eytan. “Platforms like Particle are playing a key role in shaping this future, fostering a sense of shared ownership and democratizing art ownership.”