What's In Your Wallet
NFT in Art, what is it really?
NFTs are digital things that represent something else, such as a piece of art, a film, or even a tweet. They confirm the item’s existence and ownership by storing data on a blockchain (a distributed ledger technology).
Since the introduction of NFTs in 2016, numerous artists have experimented with using this new digital device to advertise their works. NFTs are most commonly purchased and exchanged through auction platforms, where payments are paid in bitcoin (such as ether currency). An NFT is distinguished from a typical digital work by the concept of a certificate registered on a blockchain.
The public and media debate over NFTs is polarized: in the views of its most ardent supporters, NFTs symbolize the future of art, while their adversaries see them as a massive swindle and waste of energy.
How can the NFT phenomenon be defined? To what extent does it defy established contemporary art codes?
Crypto enthusiasts and skeptics
On the one hand, there is the crypto-evangelist side, which adheres to a narrative that portrays NFTs as a dramatic revolution that will transform everything.
This is precisely the debate surrounding the dramatic 2021 sale of a work by the artist Beeple (a collage of vignettes made by digital software) at Christie’s for approximately US$70 million. The purchase was “emblematic of a revolution in progress,” according to the two primary buyers, and represented “the beginning of a movement carried out by an entire generation.”
On the other hand, there are many who are skeptical of cryptography. Hito Steyerl, a well-known media artist, holds this position. She considers NFTs to be the “equivalent of toxic masculinity,” and attributes their rise to “the worst and most monopolistic characters” who “extract labor from insecure employees” and “take up way too much attention and soak up all the oxygen in the room.”
Because of this polarization, the true potential of NFTs, as well as their shortcomings, which are also very real, are sometimes eclipsed by caricatured views of principle. However, inside this ecosystem of NFTs, there is a diverse range of artistic practices.
Emerging artistic scenes
The NFT format clearly reflects a new type of traded object. It is based on a new sort of contract (known as “smart”), which is the outcome of blockchain technology advancement. In this way, the NFT format has given birth to a new creative scene. Or, more precisely, situations defined by a high effervescence — but also by some inconsistencies.
The “native” scenes of the NFT format, that is, those born with the invention of this format, are distinguished by a high level of media visibility, a large volume of far-reaching financial investment, and, for some of its participants, a desire to reshuffle the cards of the art world by criticizing its established order.
A high proportion of NFT producers come from the creative industries sector, such as 3D modeling, graphic design, animation, or video game design. This sector has developed a very big pool of abilities in recent decades, whose creative surplus finds a way of expression in the NFT format, but is also a source of supplementary money to cope with the sometimes insecure conditions of creative employment.
Many figures in the native NFT scenes are outsiders (neophytes) in comparison to the established art world, to use sociologist Howard S. Becker’s phrase. That is, they interact in circles other than those of the institutional art world, and they frequently break its rules.
A more equitable art world?
In this regard, the speech of the primary customers of Beeple’s fantastic work is extremely illuminating. In an interview, MetaKovan and Twobadour (two crypto investors of Indian heritage) reveal:
“We were raised to believe that art was not for us from an early age.
We have always been opposed to the concept of exclusivity. The metaverse is all-encompassing. A valid metaverse will be one in which everyone has the same rights and powers. It is especially egalitarian.”
However, there are significant discrepancies between the egalitarian discourse they advocate here and its application in the projects of these two investors. For example, entrance to the technical art event Dreamverse, which they planned in New York in 2021, was between US$175 and $2,500 – an unreasonable expense for many amateurs. This price hierarchy, on the other hand, reproduces an exclusivity logic that benefits the most wealthy.
Museums are wary.
The disparity between NFT market value and museum value is remarkable. The former is at an all-time high, while the latter is still at rock bottom. Indeed, the collection of NFT by museums remains a relatively marginal practice to this day. Only a few NFTs are included in museum collections. Some are obtained as a result of a museum show, where they are displayed on digital screens mounted on the wall.
The disintermediation (removal of intermediaries) and reintermediation (introduction of new intermediaries) that characterize the world of NFTs have an impact on cultural legitimacy. The stated revolution of NFTs, in its disruptive impulse, cuts itself apart from a chain of well-established, legitimate intermediaries – gallery owners, curators, art critics, traditional collectors, and public subsidies.
It has replaced them with new intermediaries, primarily “whales” — cryptocurrency investors who have amassed a fortune — or popular culture celebrities. These new intermediaries overinvest in financial capital in the creation of NFTs in order to obtain status as a collector or to enrich themselves by boosting the value of works. However, they frequently lack the social and cultural capital to gain access to museums, exhibition spaces, and collections.
In search of credibility
However, because all NFTs are openly searchable on their customers’ e-wallets, these works are available to the public. Some collectors buy paintings only for the sake of speculation. Others obtain exposure by presenting their NFTs in a metaverse (virtual environment) like Decentraland or Space.
Others go even further in their desire for legitimacy: in the spring of 2022, a collection of artists, curators, collectors, and NFT platforms planned a Decentral Art Pavilion in conjunction with the Venice Biennale. The exhibition, which remained outside the official program, attempted to place NFTs in the orbit of this important contemporary art event.
However, the presence of NFTs was minimal in this edition of the biennial. Only the Cameroon pavilion featured NFTs, which were overseen by a curator with a questionable track record.
The consecrated art world may recognize NFTs through other avenues, such as the more experimental practices presented at this year’s Documenta art exhibition in Kassel, Germany, or through artistic movements from developing countries, such as the Balot project, which used an NFT to criticize the appropriation of a work originating in the Republic of the Congo by an American museum.
As a result, recognition may come from the margins. In some circumstances, though, the marginal actors may have easier access to the established art world since they share its codes.
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