Editorial: There are several types of NFTs like those for video games or those used in metaverses. In this video, we talk about “artistic” type NFTs.
You've probably heard that some PDF files and JPEG images have sold for millions of dollars. This surprises you and you think that the world is no longer going round? (Has it even already turned around, huh?).
The excitement of NFTs shows us that humanity has crossed a new paradigm. This can be disconcerting and all the more so when we do not try to understand the foundations of this change. We move forward, we walk and we run to charge headlong into the future. What does that mean?
Nothing other than the logical continuation of our use of the Internet and computers. Well, yes, don't see it as the mystique of science fiction when there is nothing more rational in the history of science and technology. Each era has its share of new uses. This is progress, the millennials will say, this is nonsense, the boomers will say?
The astronomical prices that are exchanged for simple PNG images may seem crazy at first glance. After all, a video of a cat meowing with a pixelated rainbow as a backdrop has fetched millions of dollars.
What's so special about this cat? Honestly, nothing?
Nothing, except its history? Maybe it derives its value simply from having been “minted” on the blockchain?
We are wasting our time and energy if we try to analyze the pixelated cat and its artistic value. We cannot debate here or play art criticism to try to find any justification. In fact, that’s not where the debate is….
It’s no longer just the little geek in his room buying crypto who collects digital works. Oh no, art world institutions like Christie's (no less) or large investment companies buy and raise the stakes. The Visa company also got involved. She bought her first NFT for a whopping $150. A trifle for Visa? The equivalent of a few commissions taken from our purchases in a single day and from a single handful of cardholders.
That said, the gesture speaks volumes.
It says a lot more than what you might think at first glance. Let's remember that Visa is a financial operator that has not always been "tolerant" towards cryptocurrencies. By purchasing an NFT, the company clearly shows us that it now accepts this new technology. For some, it was even the image of resignation and the abdication of fiat currency towards cryptocurrency.
Times change, mentalities evolve and history has shown us the reluctance that we could have with new things in general.
How many artists have not suffered from being misunderstood by their contemporaries?
Let us remember that Cézanne and the Cubist clique had difficulty paying their rent, despite intensive production. Cubist works – in their beginnings – were considered aesthetic obscenities. At the beginning in any case, I make this clear before the historians flog me. Some traders refused to be paid with these paintings. It had no value after all.
Worse still, a painting with a woman disfigured like that, who would want it in their dining room?
Cubism, no thanks!
In short, you can very well take a screenshot of your Picasso, right? No need to have the original, you might say. You can even have it "remade" by a talented artist, right? A good counterfeit is even difficult to spot with the naked eye. No matter how expert he may be.
We know well that counterfeits of certain paintings are absolutely identical to the original versions. So identical that some say many of our museums are full of them. Does that bother you? However, unless you shine a microscope on the works, you will not see any difference.
Moreover, the microscopes themselves would be the first to be fooled. Painting imitators are so talented that they even trick scientific laboratories into estimating the age of the work, which shows you how well they are done!
It is not for nothing that in English, this type of crook is called "con Artist". This term is used to describe all people who are extremely gifted at falsifying behavior or works.
Let's then say that you have this work identical to the original.
I challenge you: try to resell your perfect copy of your Picasso (by claiming that it is a copy, eh).
This is how you will fully understand all the intelligence of an NFT.
With an NFT, you are sure to have the original. The real work while all the others are only carbon copies.
It is not because the work is digital that it does not have the right to have its original file. Thus, it would be impossible today to sell a fake Picasso if it had its NFT. For what? It would be fully traceable on the blockchain. Yes, yes, you know this large directory in which all exchange transactions are written and irreversible.
Understand that each owner would be scrupulously noted in this computer ledger. We would know where the work is, who it belongs to and even the exact time of its resale.
So, if in retrospect, it loses some of its splendor, however, anchored in the contemporary world, an NFT has meaning.
Behind the incredible prices that you see, it is also (but not only) the price of the technology behind which is reflected. This is also why NFTs are also very interesting and useful in other areas such as diplomas (no more fake diplomas), digital identity, video games, etc.
Thus, beyond the NFT and technology, a work of digital art has just as much weight and reason to be just an oil painting. It is simply another step forward in the history of art which is not static and fixed in a given period, as we know.
That we don't understand why a Beeple video sells for thousands of euros must be part of the same incomprehension when it comes to the works of Jeff Koons, for example. Contemporary art is just as curious for beginners (in the amount of sales of works) as are NFTs.
To the eye of an informed collector, he only sees two artists with two different mediums.
Some had the audacity to think that certain NFTs sold for a high price only because they were NFTs (and therefore computer technology).
Which brings us to the ultimate question we must ask ourselves: Does being an NFT bring (financial) value to an image? Are some NFTs worth millions really worth them?
To the first question, I want to answer you straight away to avoid any confusion. No, just because you're going to "mint" an NFT on the photo of you with your dogs doesn't mean the photo will sell for millions.
Sorry to tell you that it is worthless, just like your child's drawing (however talented he may be). It's worth peanuts and no one will want to buy it.
In fact, what we must understand is that a digital work, whether or not it is represented by an NFT, nonetheless retains the artistic codes that it implies.
Basically, remember that NFTs are only a vector here, a support just like the canvas and the painting are for Picasso's paintings.
Not all NFTs are worth millions, let us be clear. Not all of them are works of art that will go down in history... We can even predict that many NFTs currently created will fall into oblivion despite the current hype. Very few NFTs have real and perceived meaning.
.I digress because in the end, to distort Pascal's quote, we often agree to say that "art has its reasons that reason ignores"...
And, if you understood why Duchamps' urinal or Matisses sell for millions and why we can gloat with Stendhal syndrome, you will certainly understand why certain NFTs are worth millions, in fact.
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