NFT, Blockchain and more of such neologisms are making their way into the contemporary art scene. From the world of music to the world of augmented reality, NFTs have become the new medium to appeal to in order to own what is immaterial and intangible.

From Wikipedia: the NFT or non-fungible token (NFT) is a special type of cryptographic token that represents the deed and certificate of authenticity written on a blockchain of a unique asset (digital or physical); non-fungible tokens are therefore not mutually interchangeable.

For months, due to lack of information and false beliefs, it was assumed that the NFT was nothing more than the latest state habit, a sign of a constantly evolving society that prefers to hide and live in another dimension rather than in real everyday life. Numerous are the perplexities that surround this not fungible token.

But, if the work is in digital format, is it not reproducible? More importantly, a collector might ask: where do I hang a digital work in the home? Near the bedside table, in the living room, above the television? Well, these and other perplexities are echoed in an increasingly volatile market in search of new ideas and innovative ideas to hold on to.

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Credits: “Hall of Visions”, Pilar Zeta (2021) via Aorist

To answer the questions listed above, we should ask ourselves: is it possible that today’s collector is no longer the same as yesterday’s? Maybe so. The famous “collectors of the past”, in their frantic search for a new piece to add to their “gallery”, are giving way to a generation of young buyers and experimenters who find in digital innovations a lifeblood and an escape route, but above all – sometimes – the much sought-after affordability. From Kanye West to Jay-Z, up to Kings Of Leon fans, the number of Crypto Art patrons is constantly growing.

It must be kept in mind that until a few years ago, the paradigm of the art market (and not only), was the following: more money more quality/value. Sententia questionable on many fronts, yet not totally unfounded, since the more you were willing to spend the more the work you were about to acquire was imbued with a decidedly high commercial value. With the NFT this scheme is almost subverted.

It’s not a regression to the booming economic society of the last century, which didn’t yet know the value of a Dalì or a Pizarro, but certainly the NFT consolidates a not insignificant market opening.

Just think of Mahmood, who in Ghettolimpo offers buyers promotional packages or single sale of artistic reproductions of the same singer in digital format with an instrumental snippet in the background. These unique achievements can be purchased with certification through Ethereum the platform that deals with this kind of digital artworks.

What if “affordable” prices such as 299 euros for a Mahmood NFT went to more than $20 million? Consider Everydays: The First 5000 Days by digital artist Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann, which tops the list of the most expensive NFTs ever sold by Christie’s Auction House.

The world’s most famous auction house debuts cryptocurrencies in 2021. With a record $69.3 million, it brings the young American illustrator Beeple to be the third highest-rated living artist after Jeff Koons and David Hockney.

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Beeple, Everydays: The First 5000 Days (2021)

Everydays: The First 5000 Days is in jpg format and is a collage composed of 5000 images created and posted from 2007 to 2021. It incorporates surreal scenes and drawings of politicians like Donald Trump and Mao Tse Tung alongside cartoon characters from Mickey Mouse to Pokemon. Functionality proof and the certificate of authenticity lies in the fact that the realizations are not interchangeable or even fungible (in contrast to bitcoins).

Also from Beeple, another world record of $6.66 million: 10-second video shows Trump lying face down with expletives scrawled across his naked body.
Certainly a strong point of much of NFT’s sons are the constant assonances with today’s political and social realities. Denounce, criticism, satire are the intentions that much more than machinist and aesthetic ingenuity yield in the pockets of artists 2.0.

But what if the NFT in accordance with this current investigation was sold “for good”?

Just in the last weeks an appeal for donations has been made in NFT format to cope with the urgent situation in the Ukrainian territory. The non-governmental organization Come Back Alive, which helps Ukrainian military forces, received as much as $3 million in Bitcoin (BTC) in a single donation. Buyers right through social channels are asking the country’s Ministry of Defense to accept donations in crypto, such as Tether (USDT).

Again, through the NFT platform Orica, an NFT campaign was launched last year to help build a school in Uganda. But, if already in the last century with Nauman, Abramovic and so on the presence of digital, video and performance had peeped into the art world, does it really seem so strange that a gif or a meme could become a cultural heritage tomorrow?

We are immersed in a sign communication in which “How are you” is sometimes replaced in chat by a sticker or something similar. But above all, is the claim to synthesize actions, an unrepeatable moment such as a performance so different from the purchase of a “3D artifact“?
Whether it is the eagerness to possess or the warning of a revolution in the artistic and social field, the road to the fruition of art is becoming increasingly complex and less democratic.