Sotheby’s Dead / Joel Secter

Joel Secter’s projects grapple with cultural politics and examine the way the gender binary and white cisheteronormativity structure our relationship to power and ourselves. He takes a conceptual approach to sculpture and installation seeking unity between the cultural and material. Working with found objects procured from estate sales and online marketplaces, Secter explores the multiple and layered meanings and histories accrued in consumer goods, bridging the gap between personal and shared experience. Sotheby's Dead is Joel Secter’s first work of Internet art that considers how the market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is encroaching on the traditional art market. Featuring virtual relics of Grateful Dead history that were auctioned at Sotheby's New York in the fall of 2021, Sotheby's Dead considers the hallmark of an NFT, how blockchain technology will impact our lives and the rules that govern access to property in the virtual world. For the full experience please visit www.sothebysdead.com. 

Bio: Originally from Winnipeg, Joel Secter studied Spanish and traveled throughout Latin America and Spain before pursuing motion pictures. His film The Best of Secter & The Rest of Secter was awarded Best Documentary at the Whistler Film Festival and played on Sundance Channel, Independent Film Channel and CBC. He is a graduate of the Ottawa School of Art’s Fine Arts Diploma Program and currently an MFA Candidate at the University of Ottawa.