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Charleston in the News - April 2021 Edition

Posted By: Alan Donald In: Charleston
Date: Mon, Mar 29th 2021 12:50 pm

Local Artist Snags $69.3 Million For One-Of-A-Kind Digital Artwork

Local North Charleston artist, Mike Winkelmann, made history on March 11th when his single digital artwork, entitled “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days”, sold at the renowned Christie’s Auction House for a cool $69 million.  It was the third highest price paid at auction for work by a living artist, and the bidding lasted nearly two weeks.  Winkelmann's art is edgy, contemporary, and reminiscent of a modern Dali, and much of his work appears to satirize real people and events from politics and pop culture.  The big "buzz", however, regarding Winkelmann's work, is not so much the content of his art but the technology that he used to secure its authenticity.  Winkelmann (also known as "Beeple" in the art community) created the art using NFT’s: Non-Fungible Tokens.  The term “Non-fungible token” essentially means that the item is unique and cannot be replicated.  A single Bitcoin, for example, is fungible; each bitcoin is worth exactly as much as all the other bitcoins in existence.  If you trade one bitcoin for another, you may presume that you are left with the same value as you had before.  If an item is a Non-fungible token, it is essentially as genuine and unique as an original Van Gogh painting.  Read more Here and Here!

Marine One and Marine Two Presidential Helicopters Make Surprise Landing At The Citadel

On March 24th, local residents of downtown Charleston and students of The Citadel were surprised to see two large military helicopters flying low over their homes.  Thankfully, the "surprise" flight was all part of a military training exercise, with the landing destination being at Summerall Field on The Citadel's campus.  The military reportedly conducted the exercise to test out the Sikorsky/Lockheed-Martin VH-92A, most notably used as Marine One or Marine Two, as well as the MV 22B Osprey.  For those less familiar with the many transportation modes of the official White House leadership, Marine One is assigned to the helicopter that carries the President of the United States, and Marine Two is assigned to the helicopter that carries the Vice President.  According to Citadel spokesman Zach Watson, once the choppers landed, cadets were even given the rare opportunity to tour the inside of each craft.  Read more Here! 

Google Plans To Invest $500 Million in Berkeley County Location! 

Google announced plans in March to invest more than $500 million right here in South Carolina, with a focus on expanding its "data center footprint" in Berkeley County.  Google first laid roots in South Carolina in 2007, and since that time the company has brought over 800 jobs to the area in various full-time and external supplier positions.  Google.org has also bestowed more than $2 million in grants to nonprofits and organizations based in South Carolina, including the Berkeley County School District.  Following the Covid-19 pandemic, Google became instrumental in supporting digital connectivity and remote learning in the Berkeley County School District through their "Rolling Study Halls" program.  Google recently released their 2020 Economic Impact Report, which conveyed that, through the use of Google products, South Carolina generated more than $4 billion in economic activity during 2020 alone.  Read more Here.

Goose Creek Biorefinery to Have Positive Effect on Chemical Processing Industry

Mainstream Pine Products, LLC announced plans to build a $90 million crude tall oil (CTO) refinery in Goose Creek.  The biorefinery will be a state-of-the-art recycling facility.  CTO is a renewable byproduct of pine trees used in paper manufacturing, and is a key component of many chemicals, which includes lubricants, adhesives, inks, paints, coatings, and rubber additives.  Operations are expected to commence in 2023.  Read more Here and Here!