Sotheby’s Opens Virtual Replica of Its London Galleries in Decentraland

Sotheby’s, the 277-year-old British auction house, is launching a digital replica of its London New Bond Street Galleries in the metaverse using the platform Decentraland.

• Sotheby’s announced Friday it is claiming its stake in the metaverse with the launch of its very own virtual gallery.
• The auction house has chosen the social platform Decentraland as its destination for artists, collectors and viewers to engage.
• The virtual gallery is located in Decentraland’s Voltaire Art District and can be found using map coordinates 52,83.
• Sotheby’s virtual site imitates the London building and features five ground-level gallery spaces and an avatar of Sotheby’s London commissionaire Hans Lomulder who will be positioned at the entrance of the auction house to greet visitors.
• “We see spaces like Decentraland as the next frontier for digital art where artists, collectors and viewers alike can engage with one another from anywhere in the world and showcase art that is fundamentally scarce and unique, but accessible to anyone for viewing,” said Michael Bouhanna, head of sales at Sotheby’s.
• In May, Sotheby’s announced it has started accepting cryptocurrency as payment for artworks. It has also delved into the NFT art market, facilitating the sale of works by the artist Pak for $16.8 million in April.