Our Highlight Deals of 2021

Alex Seton: Every Drop Shed in Anguish

We have worked with both new and long-term clients on a variety of inspiring creative projects this year from high profile commissions for public artworks through to advising new NFT platforms. Below is a wrap up of our legal and advisory work highlights from 2021.

Major artwork commissions

Reko Rennie: RISING

We acted for Indigenous artist Reko Rennie on the commissioning of a major new film work Initiation OA_RR by RISING Festival. Rennie says “the work is a road trip going back to the suburb of my birth and relates to my experiences growing up in the 1970s and '80s working class western suburbs of inner Melbourne.” The film included collaborating with Indigenous opera singer Deborah Cheetham and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Initiation OA_ RR is also a permanent installation at Melbourne CBD restaurant Di Stasio Citta as well as currently screening on level 3 at the NGV until 30 January 2022. RISING Festival is a celebration of art, music, performance and ceremony in the heart of Melbourne. For more information, visit the RISING website.

Alex Seton: Every Drop Shed in Anguish

We advised artist Alex Seton on his proposed work, Every Drop Shed in Anguish, to be commissioned for the grounds of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. This major commission will recognise the sufferings of war and service and take two years to make. When completed, it will be installed in the Sculpture Gardens as a field of sculpted Australian pearl marble droplets. Seton was unanimously selected by veterans and their loved ones to deliver this work of art. To read more about the project, visit Alex Seton's website.

Brand collaborations

Reko Rennie: Apple Music and 'Behind the Mac' campaign

We acted for artist Reko Rennie on two recent collaborations with Apple: the licensing of designs by Apple Music for FIRST, a playlist dedicated to representing new music from First Nations artists throughout the country, and feature in Apple’s ‘Behind the Mac’ campaign, part of which included a billboard of Reko working at his Mac next to his large-scale sculpture Mirri, originally commissioned for the Pt Leo Estate winery in Victoria.

NFT platforms

Blockchain.art

We are advising the first NFT platform designed for the art world, Blockchain.art (BCA) on establishing best practice standards, including analysing how existing platforms communicate terms of use with their users, mapping the scope of copyright licensing rights for platforms and NFT purchases and comparing fee structures and royalty payment processes. BCA allows galleries, museums, artists, and collectors to list, buy, sell, and manage digital artworks using NFT technology, and has recently attracted funding from James Murdoch's Lupa Systems and Betaworks. Read more in our blog.

DROPLT

We are acting for art tech start up and NFT platform DROPLT, advising on their privacy obligations, website terms of use and licensing arrangements with featured artists and galleries. DROPLT is a future focused digital art and NFT platform built to bridge the gap between the crypto and traditional art worlds. In doing so it aims to create a space for artists of all walks of life to meet, contemporary art to be placed in new and exciting environments, and allow collectors to broaden their horizons and portfolios.

As reported in NFT Evening, DROPLT "will focus on artists who have existing gallery representation, institutional exhibiting history and other “physical” mediums of displaying art". To learn more, visit the DROPLT website.