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Lobster Land Museum opens Wednesday 30 June, with a live DJ set from Devo

“Forget Cubism, this is artistic expression and experience on another level. With the rise of the NFT, the digital art movement is now a tidal wave, and so many new ideas are possible. Never before has a generation been able to so radically shift artistic possibilities, it’s the perfect storm. For me Decentraland was the best second life platform to house Lobsteropolis.” Philip Colbert

This June, British contemporary artist Philip Colbert reveals LOBSTEROPOLIS CITY, his first fully digital exhibition, opening within the ‘metaverse’ of Decentraland – an open-source Virtual Reality world built on the Ethereum Blockchain. A place to explore and experience through a unique avatar, in Decentraland you can even create your own piece of the universe…which is exactly what Colbert has done. And, set across 57 Land Parcels in the district of Lobster Land, Lobsteropolis City (partnered with Vegas City) is one of the largest districts within the Decentraland metaverse. This project sees the artist’s lobster universe evolve into its latest iteration…and marks the most ambitious and largest-scale single artist venture to be seen in Decentraland to date.

Lobster Land Records
Lobster Land Records

Curated by globally renowned art auctioneer and dealer Simon de Pury at the Lobster Land Museum, the exhibition includes a series of NFT works available exclusively with NFT platform Super Rare. These include Colbert’s iconic past works Cryptofixtion and Lobster Fountain, alongside new unseen NFT works.

The opening of LOBSTEROPOLIS CITY will take place on Wednesday 30 June, and to mark the event at the Lobster Land Museum, Simon de Pury will also be hosting his first Decentraland auction.

“We are right now living and working in an interesting time for the art world, which has finally fully embraced the digital world. It has been such fun to appear as an avatar in Philip Colbert’s exciting lobster universe.” Simon de Pury

Central to the auction is a new NFT artwork created in collaboration with legendary American New wave band DEVO – a hybrid artwork and musical performance titled LOB-STER DE-VO. DEVO will also perform a live DJ set at Lobster Land Records store next door to the Museum for the launch event on 30 June.

Lobsteropolis City auction
Lobsteropolis City auction

“In art history I have always been obsessed with this crossover of art & music, from the Ballets Russes where de Chirico & Picasso designed costumes and sets for the Ballets to the aesthetics of the Punk & Pop movement. For me Devo are the ultimate art band, and for the NFT artwork they created the unique Devo track ‘LOB-STER DE- VO’. Instinctively I felt that my Lobster and the iconic DEVO hat were destined to be together.” Philip Colbert

“‘LOB-STER-DE-VO’ Clawing our way into the future. Breaking free. Looking for new traditions. De-evolution is real!” Gerald Casale, DEVO

Colbert has been building Lobsteropolis City over the last three years, with composite elements having appeared in international museum shows and through gaming, video and virtual reality platforms. These have included his 2020 Saatchi Gallery exhibition, which opened with a lobster robot-only launch in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and Lobster Land at the Modern Art Museum in Shanghai. This new project, therefore, marks a logical evolution in Colbert’s innovative, ongoing engagement with the digital possibilities of art.

To visit LOBSTEROPOLIS CITY, head here and create your avatar.