Digital Basel, an online platform that marketed itself as the "digital twin" of Art Basel, the international art event, has shut down.
Art Basel and several of its gallery exhibitors, including the David Zwirner Gallery, sent a cease-and-desist letter.
Digital Basel claimed to be associated with Art Basel and offered NFTs of digital copies of thousands of artists' work without their authority.
- The platform's website, which appears to have been live for less than a week, described itself as a "digital dimension" of Art Basel, "combining technology, curatorship, deal verification, and introducing a new class of art assets."
- The NFTs listed by Digital Basel included a reproduction of Georg Baselitz's The Abgar Head, which the platform listed for $90,500.
- The Digital Basel platform also listed artists and work from hundreds of galleries exhibiting at either Art Basel or Liste, a Swiss art fair.
- Art Basel's CEO, Noah Horowitz, did not comment.
Art Basel informed its exhibiting galleries of Digital Basel in a letter sent on March 28, warning that a fraudulent website was engaging in copyright and trademark infringement.
- Art Basel's cease-and-desist letter follows several trademark and copyright issues concerning NFT companies, including Hermes.
