A gold cube worth around 10 million euros appeared in New York’s Central Park on Wednesday morning, escorted by security. 186 Kilograms pure 24-karat gold, was placed in front of the Naumburg Bandshell early in the morning, surrounded by photographers and New York police officers. The gold block is the creation of the German artist Niclas Castello, who labeled it as “Castello Cube”. The work is not for sale, but was used as an advertisement for the launch of the “Castello Coin” cryptocurrency ($CAST).
The Castello Coin team told ArtNet that the cube was made in a foundry in Aarau, Switzerland. It was reportedly melted using a special handmade kiln as the size and volume of the gold used required extreme melting temperatures. In order for all the gold to melt, the oven had to reach a temperature of over 2,000 degrees. It was then recast into a cube that measured more than a foot and a half. The “Castello Cube” has a wall thickness of about a quarter of an inch.
The cube can be seen as a kind of communication link between the emerging cultural ecosystem of the 21st century, based on cryptocurrencies, and the ancient world where gold reigned supreme, Viennese gallery owner Lisa Kandlhofer added to ArtNet.
The “Castello Cube” remained in the famous tourist spot for only a few hours before being shipped downtown on the exclusive Cipriani Wall Street for a private dinner. Castello classified the block as a “socle du monde” (base of the world) sculpture and told ArtNet that it is a conceptual work of art in all its facets, and that he wanted to create something beyond beyond our world, which is intangible.
The artist’s team told the New York Times that they privately sold enough coins to fund the cube project. On February 21, the coin toss will be followed by an NFT auction. It is unclear where Catello’s Cube will go after its day trip to Central Park.
