Back in October, I blogged about the We Buy White Albums project (where artist Rutherford Chang opened a retail outlet that stocked only the Beatles’ White Album)

He’s taken a precious object that is also a ubiquitous commodity and created a very traditional experience that highlights both aspects. As archaic as the original object is, it has managed to hold onto a good chunk of it’s (non-monetary) value over the decades. It’s a somewhat retro-futurist idea, that we have retail set up to deal with one item and one item only, decades later.

The combination of art/music/commerce/context/ubiquity gets a totally different spin (oh yes I did) with the Wu-Tang Clan’s plan to sell just one copy of their new album.

The Wu-Tang Clan has decided to release an album specifically to be a rarity. Only one copy of “The Wu – Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” – a 31-track double album that the band has worked on quietly for the last six years – will be pressed. It will be “available for purchase and ownership by one individual only.” The plan is for the album to first make a tour of festivals, museums and galleries and tickets would probably sell for $30 to $50.