Internet appears less than impressed with this publicity stunt by a German artist who created a huge gold cube to draw attention to his newly launched cryptocurrency 'Castello Coin.' While the art world is greatly moved by this art piece, the general public is calling out the artist on social media for displaying such a lavish piece of art in a city that is overrun by poverty.
advertisement
The New York public was left surprisingly shocked and dazzled after a cube supposedly made of pure gold appeared in the middle of Manhattan's Central Park, MailOnline reports.
The cube is the brainchild of German artist Niclas Castello. Reportedly, Niclas took more than 4,500 hours to craft the unique metal piece which - if the gold is real - could be valued at a whopping $11.7 million.
Credit: Abaca Press / Alamy
However, the cube is not just an art stint, rather the Castello CUBE (as it is officially named) is also part of a wild publicity stunt by the artist to draw attention to his newly launched cryptocurrency 'Castello Coin.'
Made from pure, 24-carat, 999.9 fine gold, the cube has a hollow core and was manufactured in Switzerland.
Even though the cube is only over a foot and a half in dimension, it is weighed to be around 410lbs - much to the frustration of the people who might be thinking of pocketing it.
Credit: Abaca Press / Alamy
advertisement
The cube has its own personal security system and has been stationed near the Naumburg Bandshell in the south of the park and tasked with keeping an eye on the glittering box.
"Never before in the history of humanity has such an enormous amount of gold been cast into a single, pure object. Gold – the eternal metal. Symbol of the sun, of light, of the good," Castello wrote of his structure.
Over the last few days in Times Square, the cube has been displayed, where huge screens displayed the mysterious coordinates N 40° 46′ 22″ / W 73° 58′ 17″ - which referred to The Castello CUBE's location.
Credit: Abaca Press / Alamy
To add to the drama, a private dinner for a select few celebs and members of the art world was held at Cipriani's on Wednesday to officially unveil the piece of art.
As per Artnet News, Lisa Kandlhofer - a Viennese gallerist at the launch - praised it as "a sort of communiqué between an emerging 21st-century cultural ecosystem based on crypto and the ancient world where gold reigned supreme."
Credit: Abaca Press / Alamy
advertisement
On the other hand, the general public on social media appears less than impressed with this lavish piece of art being displayed in a city overrun with poverty.
advertisement
"The $11.7 million gold cube sitting in Central Park should be melted down and the proceeds should go to the poor and people without homes," tweeted one person.
advertisement
"There's so much better you could do with 11 million dollars than plop a gold cube in central park and then sell nfts and crypto after putting your name in the rich people hat like, i dunno, pay for the awful infrastucture the city doesn't care enough for or something," wrote another.
Credit: Abaca Press / Alamy