Distroid Issue 6: NFTs will change ... Nothing?
NFTs are becoming mainstream but are they really good for artists and digital art? Or are we just running through another hype-cycle/bubble?
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NFTs
Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are cryptographically unique digital assets created on a blockchain (and often linked to a digital file stored off-chain such as the IPFS).
NFTs have exploded into mainstream popularity with major celebrities and public figures such as Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and Lindsey Lohan, and Beeple selling art, tweets, and a variety of other digital creative works as NFTs on platforms like Foundation and Rarible.
Stories
Nathan ‘Doggface’ Apodaca Selling Viral Longboarding Video as NFT
Game Artists Not Happy That Developer Is Selling Their Nearly Decade-Old Work As NFTs
Twitter boss Jack Dorsey's first tweet sold for $2.9 million as an NFT
Neïl Beloufa: Building a bridge between institutional museums and NFTs
Why would anyone buy crypto art – let alone spend millions on what’s essentially a link to a JPEG file?
In this issue, we are highlighting Aaron Hertzmann's "Why would anyone buy crypto art – let alone spend millions on what’s essentially a link to a JPEG file?" article!
Charles’s Thoughts
Great article discussing what makes art social, and why the price of digital art is not about the art (or intrinsic work) itself, but the story or other external factors (e.g., artist’s reputation) surrounding the work.
Quotes
But art also plays many important social roles. The art in your home communicates your interests and tastes. Artworks can spark conversation, whether they’re in museums or homes. People form communities around their passion for the arts, whether it’s through museums and galleries, or magazines and websites. Buying work supports the artists and the arts.
You can build your own virtual gallery online and share it with other people online. You can convey your tastes and interests through your virtual gallery and support artists by buying their work. You can participate in a community: Some crypto artists, who have felt excluded by the mainstream art world, say they have found more support in the crypto community and can now earn a living making art.
When someone pays $90 million for a metal balloon animal made by Jeff Koons, it’s hard to believe that the work has that much “intrinsic” value. Even if the materials and craftsmanship are quite good, surely some of those millions are simply buying the right to say “I bought a Koons. And I spent a lot of money on it.” If you just want an artfully made metal balloon animal, there are cheaper ways to get one.
On the other hand, crypto art could be seen as reducing art to the purest form of buying and selling for conspicuous consumption.
In Victor Pelevin’s satirical novel “Homo Zapiens,” the main character visits an art exhibition where only the names and sale prices of the works are shown. When he says he doesn’t understand – where are the paintings themselves? – it becomes clear that this isn’t the point. Buying and selling is more important than the art.
This story was satire. But crypto art takes this one step further. If the point of ownership is to be able to say you own the work, why bother with anything but a receipt?
In crypto art, there is an implicit contract that what you’re buying is unique. The artist makes only one of these tokens, and the one right you get when you buy crypto art is to say that you own that work. No one else can. Note, though, that this is not a legal right, nor is there any enforcement other than social mores. Nonetheless, the value comes from the artist creating scarcity.
Much of this energy seems to be driven by price speculation. It’s also worth noting that the winner of the Beeple auction seems to be heavily invested in the success of crypto art. The cryptocurrencies that drive crypto art are often considered highly speculative.
I have no doubt that, right now, there’s a big NFT bubble.
There have been lots of bubbles before – tulips, baseball cards, Beanie Babies – objects that were flying off the shelves one year and then piled up in landfills the next. And, in a bubble, a few headline-making winners get rich, while a whole lot of others lose their shirts. Even if crypto art lasts, maybe the particular artist or platform where you’re buying won’t be popular in the future.
News
Princeton Scientists' Breakthrough In Closed-Loop Plastic Recycling
Market Manipulation Chatter Rises as Digital Art Scene Explodes
Fortnite Uses Apple's Own '1984' Ad Against It In Dispute Over Payments
Events
Podcasts
Tweets
Questions
What do you think is the future for NFTs after the initial hype dies?
Who do you think benefits the most from the recent NFT hype?
Contact and Sponsorship
Author: Charles Adjovu, LDCRC
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The LDCRC is a web-based research cooperative oriented towards analyzing the developing digital commons and its impact on the internet and society, and growing a global community committed to research and education on the internet and society.