--- title: "The Central Park Gold Cube Is an NFT Publicity Stunt, You Idiots" description: "The tree-stump-sized gold cube worth a reported $11.7 million that graced Central Park's frozen lake is apparently promoting a cryptocurrency and NFTs." date: "2022-02-04" modified: "2022-02-04" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/gold-cube-nft" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Future Society" - "NFTs" tags: - "art" - "crypto" - "nfts" - "the digest" --- # The Central Park Gold Cube Is an NFT Publicity Stunt, You Idiots ![The tree-stump-sized gold cube worth a reported $11.7 million that graced Central Park's frozen lake is apparently promoting a cryptocurrency and NFTs.]() *\Image: Cindy Ord/Getty Images\* ## Goldmember Move over, [mysterious monoliths]() — there's a new bizarre structure capturing hearts and minds online, and the concept behind this one is a doozy. The stump-sized gold cube that graced Central Park's frozen lake for approximately 12 hours, worth a reported $11.7 million and replete with its own security detail, turned heads online [and off]() this week. So, naturally, there had to be an annoying publicity stunt behind it. The since-removed cube was created by German artist Niclas Castello, who [told *Artnet*]() that the not-for-sale cube is "a conceptual work of art in all its facets" that is meant to represent "something that is beyond our world" that he characterized as "intangible." And by intangible, of course, he means that the cube ties into the whole non-fungible tokens (NFTs) craze, which he'll be [launching on his website]() in a few weeks. The artist has already created his "Castello Coin" (trading name $CAST) that is currently being sold for about 44 cents each, and there's an NFT launch scheduled in a few weeks' time, according to a countdown timer on his site. https://twitter.com/RareOats/status/1489339443630809093 Because it is 2022 and nothing matters anymore, there is, naturally, a haughty artspeak explanation behind the cube-to-NFT connection. "The cube can be seen as a sort of communiqué between an emerging 21st-century cultural ecosystem based on crypto and the ancient world where gold reigned supreme," Lisa Kandlhofer, an Austrian gallery owner, told *Artnet*. The report noted that after its removal at sundown from the park, the "Castello CUBE" was to be taken to a Wall Street dinner that was purportedly hosting "numerous celebrities" whose names were not printed. And at the end of the day, we're sure, the idea is to make a buttload of money for the artist and everybody else involved. Exit through the gift shop! ## Cube-spo *Artnet*'s report added that Castello's other works have been inspired by Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and compared the cube to artist Damien Hirst's infamous "Memento Mori," a diamond-encrusted skull that the artist claimed he sold in 2007 for $100 million but [apparently actually kept locked in a storage facility for 15 years instead](). The report also compared the cube, aptly perhaps, to Piero Manzoni's 1961 "Artist's Shit," which is exactly what it sounds like — a series of 100 tin cans containing the artist's excrement, meant as a statement about the art world and capitalism — that each sold for the price of gold at the time, which was about $37 per tin. One of the "sculptures" was [sold again in 2016 for about $275,000](). https://twitter.com/WhiteMaleArtist/status/1413943339552952324 There's no doubt that the gold cube both looks and smells better than a can of poo from 1961, but at least the Manzoni cans had an anti-capitalist statement that went beyond the art world's latest get rich quick scheme. The best detail? It turns out the "solid gold" cube is actually hollow — in what [some observers said]() was a perfect metaphor for the NFT phenomenon itself. **READ MORE:** [An Artist Placed a Cube Made From $11.7 Million Worth of Gold in Central Park—Protected By Its Own Security Detail]() \[*Artnet*\] **More NFT madness:** [*Environmentalists Sell NFTs of Endangered Animals, Because We're Condemned to Suffer*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()