The audio version of the ArtsUndone Blog. erin-schwartz.com
Recently, Christie’s auction house sold a piece of digital artwork by Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) for over $69 million. The interesting thing about the work, entitled EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS, beyond its aesthetic and mode of production, for me, is that the item sold is not a physical manifestation of the piece, nor is it “merely” a high-resolution digital file. The work was an NFT, or Non-Fungible Token.
What are the ramifications of this on the art market and future of art production? In this article, the host, Dr. Erin Schwartz addresses issues of commodity and authenticity in light of news ways of trading art.