The concise covers by graphic artist Aiga Rasch (1941-2009) for the book and radio play series “The Three ???” become NFT art. NFTs (“Non-fungible Tokens”) make it possible to provide digital content with a non-exchangeable certificate of ownership. From a technical point of view, these are entries in an endlessly updated digital register, the so-called blockchain.
Six artists from the German NFT scene will reinterpret the cover images of the three detective adventures, as Sony Music and the NFT platform twelve x twelve announced on Wednesday: “Ob Andreas Preis, Ghozt, Marco Mori, Max Schwugier, Rabea Senftenberg or Stefan Große Halbuer – they all deal artistically with the cover artworks of the renowned media artist and Die Drei??? icon Aiga Rasch.” Rasch’s cover is characterized by very strong colors – as well as a visual language that is reminiscent of pop art. The first “NFT Drop” where three of the new artworks can be purchased is scheduled for September 7th.
From 1970 to 1999, as an illustrator, Rasch was responsible for the layout and cover images of the book and radio play series. During this period, the artist designed the images for almost 90 regular Drei??? episodes. “Not only is “The Three ???” the most successful radio play series in the world – the iconic cover artwork of the books and radio plays has always had great importance here, similar to vinyl records in the past, and has shaped generations,” explained the managing director of twelve x twelve, Jan Denecke. “We are all the more looking forward to the reinterpretation of the cover artworks with unique artists.”
Sony music manager Christoph Behm added to the well-known youth series: “Although new releases still appear on vinyl, MC and CD, 90 percent are heard digitally: around 4 billion audio streams were generated by “The Three ???” last year alone So it makes sense to bring together the digitality of the brand and the creative style of Aiga Rasch’s illustrations and to dare an experiment on the NFT art market.”
All “The Three ???” radio plays are produced in Hamburg for the Sony subsidiary Europe. More than 200 episodes have been recorded since 1979 and around 50 million records have been sold. The main roles have always been spoken by Jens Wawrczeck, Oliver Rohrbeck and Andreas Fröhlich. Adults make up regarding half of shoppers these days, according to Europe. The books in the series are published by Kosmos Verlag.
