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Performance Artist Known for Eating $120K Art Basel Banana Is Doing NFTs With Dole

The NFT series looks to raise funds for anti-hunger programs.

Artist David Datuna
Artist David Datuna

The performance artist known for eating (not creating) that $120,000 banana duct-taped to an art-gallery wall is trying to shoehorn himself into a new arena: non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

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Food giant Dole is partnering with David Datuna on a five-part NFT series dubbed “Taking a Bite Out of Hunger” that will be marketed by the fintech company Zytara and go on sale May 6 via the NFT marketplace Rarible. Proceeds from the auction will go to charity.

It’s the latest episode in a craze that continues to veer into the bizarre.

Many will recall back in 2019 when a single banana taped to a wall was sold to a private collector for a staggering amount at Art Basel Miami Beach. The pricy banana was then devoured by Datuna, which has earned him the nickname the Hungry Artist.

NFTs are cryptographic assets that can have variable features. So far, they have been used to represent a wide range of unique tangible and intangible items, from art to collectible sports cards to virtual real estate and even digital sneakers.

Read more: DJ Steve Aoki to Launch Sci-Fi NFTs on Nifty Gateway

Though NFTs have been around for a while, they have only recently “caught fire” and are here to stay “in a big way,” Datuna said in an email.

“NFTs will find their place as they become a major part of all creative arts and open many additional ways to raise funds for meaningful causes. It really is only the very beginning of a brave new equalized crypto world for all,” said Datuna.

‘Taking a Bite Out of Hunger’

Dole chose to work with the Hungry Artist on the NFT series because his perspective on art as a platform for societal change resonated with the firm, said Rupen Desai, Dole’s global CMO.

“This NFT series allows us to bring awareness to the global issue of food insecurity and hunger in a new and visually compelling way, converging all three,” Desai said in an email.

Read more: How Bananas and Mortgages Can Explain the NFT Craze

The fifth NFT featured in the series is dubbed “Sunshine for All,” a pop-art-inspired montage of the first four pieces highlighting the importance of closing the gaps to good nutrition, said the firm.

The NFTs might not be a-peeling to most, but the gimmick is for a worthy cause.

All proceeds will go toward funding nutrition and hunger-focused initiatives at the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and Dole’s Sunshine for All Cities program.

Tanzeel Akhtar

Tanzeel Akhtar has contributed to The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Forbes Africa, Financial Times, The Street, Citywire, Investing.com, Euromoney, Yahoo! Finance, Benzinga, Kitco News, African Business Magazine, Hedge Week, Campden Family Office, Modern Investor, Spear's Wealth Management Magazine, Global Investor, ETF.com, ETF Stream, CIO UK, Funds Global Asia, Portfolio Institutional, Interactive Investor, Bitcoin Magazine, CryptoNews.com, Bitcoin.com, The Local, The Next Web, Mining Journal, Money Marketing, Marketing Week and more. Tanzeel trained as a foreign correspondent at the University of Helsinki, Finland and newspaper journalist at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. She holds a BA (Honours) in English Literature from the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and completed a semester abroad as an ERASMUS student at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She is NCTJ Qualified - Media Law, Public Administration and passed the Shorthand 100WPM with distinction. She does not currently hold value in any digital currencies or projects.

Tanzeel Akhtar