LG Elec unveils new NFT platform, aims to turn living room into art gallery

LG Electronics Inc. announced Monday it has launched its very own non-fungible token (NFT) platform, LG Art Lab. 

Now available in the United States, the new platform allows users to not only display but also buy and sell digital artwork directly from the TV’s home screen.

The platform includes the LG Art Lab Drops feature, which profiles artists and previews new work coming to the digital platform.

The real-time Live Drops countdown, meanwhile, alerts users about NFTs that have just been released. 

The LG Art Lab is based on the Hedera network – the most used enterprise-grade public network.

Christian Hasker, CMO of Swirlds Labs, the team behind the Hedera network, said that the Hedera Governing Council is made up of some of the world’s most innovative companies and that each member is committed to the development of Hedera and to launching competitive use cases on the sustainable, low cost and enterprise-grade public ledger. 

“Today’s announcement by LG is an impressive milestone for council member adoption,” Hasker said. “Users will be able to purchase, access and display tokenized artworks by their favorite artists on their LG televisions, bringing NFTs beyond being computer-based collectibles to becoming a piece of art displayed as any other artwork would be within the home of its owner.”

The LG TVs incorporate onscreen QR codes that let users make transactions through Wallypto, the company’s digital asset wallet for mobile devices.

Once purchased, an NFT holder can trade the token on the LG Art Lab Marketplace, where users can view their transaction history and admire their collection on the OLED TVs with self-lit pixels.

The first-ever digital artwork by sculptor Barry X Ball will be available on LG Art Lab, as shown at Seoul's first Frieze Art Fair.

The New York-based artist is famous for reinterpreting classical and modernist sculptures using the latest 3D scanning and printing technologies, as well as traditional techniques.

His Metal series captures the textures, details, and materials used in the artist’s real-life sculptures and will be available via the platform’s LG Art Lab Drops feature in the coming weeks.

His Stone series will be added to the platform in later months.

Write to Jee Abbey Lee at jal@hankyung.com