Pace Verso Launches NFT Tribute to Joy Division’s 44th Anniversary
Pace Verso, the Web3-powered art division of Pace Gallery, is preparing to launch an astrologically-infused NFT project this fall, in collaboration with multidisciplinary artist Peter Saville, musician Stephen Morris, and the Joy Division Archive.
The gallery established a multifaceted partnership with Art Blocks in 2022, where it presented multiple NFT projects by Jeff Koons, Zhang Huan, Glenn Kaino, DRIFT, Lucas Samaras, and more.
CP1919, which debuts on October 9th during Frieze London, commemorates 44 years since the release of the English rock band Joy Division’s seminal album “Unknown Pleasures” by Factory Records in 1979.
Formed in 1976 by Morris, Ian Curtis, and Bernard Sumner, was heavily influenced by early punk and served as one of the leading pioneer music groups of the post-punk movement. Their debut album Unknown Pleasures dropped in 1979.
Discovering the CP1919 Star
First detected by Cambridge University astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell in 1967, CP1919 (“Cambridge Pulsar 1919”) was the first pulsar rotating neutron star that emitted radio waves at regular intervals to ever be discovered.
“Pulsar,” a contraction of “pulsating star,” occurs as a result of the gravitational collapse of a star during a supernova that is less than 20 solar masses. To put it simply, the collapsing CP1919 star, characterized as a “neutron star,” measured around 20 kilometers — but if that collapsing star was any bigger in size, it would have become a black hole.
The collapsing star’s signal was captured on a plotter as one long, continuous line, but subsequently enhanced and reformatted in layers by Harold Craft of Cornell University to show the frequency and symmetry with which the pulses first appeared.
This visualization was eventually published in the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Astronomy, where Sumner of Joy Division discovered it.
Saville and Morris Reimagine CP1919
Naturally, the NFT project adopts the CP1919 name as a tribute to the OG visual pulse of the collapsed CP1919 star that is displayed on the cover of Unknown Pleasures, which Sumner suggested Saville use for the 1979 album cover.
Saville, renowned for his groundbreaking designs for Joy Division and New Order, marks his first collaboration with a former Joy Division band member. Morris, a founding member of Joy Division and long-standing drummer for New Order, brings his rich musical legacy and extensive Joy Division archive to this contemporary digital collectibles art project.
CP1919 encompasses animated, three-dimensional imagery created by Saville, coupled with an original soundtrack featuring previously unreleased vocal samples from Joy Division.
The project itself comprises two distinct digital artworks – CP1919: Sweeping Sun White 2023 and CP1919: Sweeping Sun Black 2023.
Sweeping Sun White 2023
CP1919: Sweeping Sun White 2023 is an open edition NFT with a monochromatic white palette, with an unlimited number of editions available. It also includes auditory components featuring recently uncovered Joy Division sound and vocal samples. Holders who purchase the open-edition piece will receive a unique, corresponding limited-edition t-shirt.
Sweeping Sun Black 2023
CP1919: Sweeping Sun Black 2023, on the other hand, is a one-of-one edition with a monochromatic black palette.
It will be auctioned exclusively through Pace Verso, and its immersive artwork and soundtrack, featuring previously unreleased Joy Division vocal fragments, will remain accessible solely to the auction winner (and never released to the general public).
The winner will receive their artwork on a commemorative hard drive in a bespoke slipcase. A portion of the proceeds from CP1919 artwork sales will be donated to the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), a UK-based nonprofit dedicated to suicide prevention, in memory of Ian Curtis, Joy Division’s late frontman.
The CP1919 NFT collection is expected to be released on October 9 at 12:00pm ET through Pace Verso.
Editor’s note: This article was written by an nft now staff member in collaboration with OpenAI’s GPT-3.5.