BREAKING: NFT Buyers, You Can Now Engage In Psychedelics' Legal Struggle At Christie's Auction To Support MAPS

Christie’s, the legendary art and luxury auction house, along with Dialectic and Vine Ventures, will auction off NFT works for those interested in digital art and supporting scientific studies. In this case, the research is related to the legalization of psychedelic substances to treat a diverse array of conditions in a world afflicted by a widespread mental health crisis.

Christie’s first NFT sale took place in March 2021. Since then, the auction house continued its move toward purely digital works of art, later organizing an Art+Tech Summit dedicated to NFTs, which attracted more than a thousand attendees. The world of NFTs is sparkling and could translate into an investment opportunity worthy of consideration.

The new sale, titled Cartography of the Mind, is comprised of more than two dozen NFTs which bring together some of this generation’s preeminent digital artists including Beeple, Refik Anadol and Mad Dog Jones. The event will run between June 21 and 28.

All of the proceeds will be donated to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), the authoritative non-profit organization dedicated to the study of psychedelic substances for the improvement of human lives through mental health treatments. Educating on and investigating the potential uses of psychedelics since 1986, the institution is now leading psychedelic therapy research on MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD treatment.

Artists participating in Cartography of the Mind are responsible for producing some of the most relevant works in the digital art movement. They came together as a group precisely because of their shared perception that psychedelic experiences positively influenced their work.

This gathering should come as no surprise. The production of art and artists’ lives have historically been embedded with, indeed enhanced by the use of psychedelics. Not to say that to produce great art one must consume psychedelic substances, yet time after time, artistic productions seem to flourish within an environment wherein the use, and at times abuse, of these types of stimulants was present.

Or, as MAPS founder and executive director Rick Doblin, Ph.D. put it, “Art is often used to integrate psychedelic experiences, transcending language, culture, and experience to communicate what words simply cannot.”

On his behalf, Christie’s head of Digital Art Noah Davis said, “MAPS is an organization which has benefited an incredible array of people, many of them artists, and I’m ecstatic to know that proceeds from this auction will go towards furthering their mission.”

This investment proposal also provides an opportunity for art lovers who would like to contribute to research that seeks to help solve the ongoing mental health pandemic sweeping across the world.