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A variety of blockchain events coincided with the annual Miami Beach art exhibition last week. The intersection between crypto and art, although innovative, may not be as countercurrent as it seems.
An international art fair to showcase the work of established and emerging artists, Art Basel is held three times a year in various locations around the world: Basel, Switzerland; Miami Beach, Florida; and Hong Kong. Although the galleries mainly meet at the event to sell works of art, art lovers and students also participate in seeing the latest creations.
The gathering of this year in Miami Beach, however, was punctuated by a flurry of blockchain-related activities. Not directly affiliated with Art Basel, these satellite events have been programmed "strategically" to coincide with the famous art exhibition to attract rich international investors (at least, this was the intention of the Blockchain World Conference, which was held from 2 to 5 December in Hollywood – a Florida city about 30 minutes drive from Miami Beach).
One of the main conferences that took place during the last week was The Art of Blockchains, hosted by collector and entrepreneur Adam Lindemann. A rich and influential figure in the space for artistic investments, Lindemann is known for selling a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat in 2016 for $ 57.3 million to Christie & # 39; s, an 'important' home. British auctions. Now, Lindemann believes that tokenization and fractionation "are obvious next steps" for the management of the artistic heritage, according to culture and entertainment. Vulture.
The art of BlockchaiDiscussions on the role of nascent technology in the art market were discussed, including the ability to tokenise works and offer investments in their fractional parts, but some were cautious about the concept of splitting. Nanne Dekking, former president of the art broker Sotheby & # 39; s and founder of the artistic register of blockchain Artory, expressed skepticism about allowing numerous people to own a single job.
"Is it really good for a piece of art when suddenly there are 2,000 people involved?" He wondered. "I'm supporting no."
People like Lindemann, however, argue that the realm of art, with its methods of generating value for works of art, is already parallel to the panorama of investments in cryptocurrency through this creation of value. "Art Basel and all the galleries it contains have made art an asset class by promoting it together in these very expensive things," Lindemann explained. "I mean, art is already a cryptocurrency at this point."
In fact, various groups have explored the overlap between crypto and art, with platforms like Maecenas symbolizing Andy Warhols and Pablo Picassos, museums such as Schinkel Pavillon and ZKM Center for Art and Media showcasing encrypted themed art works, and organizations such as Blockchain Art Collective that creates art catalog systems based on blockchain. 2018 is the year of birth of many crypto-related artistic initiatives.
However, even if a handful of projects are dedicated to "democratizing" the art space by presumably allowing more people – not simply wealthy investors – to participate, rallies like Art Basel (and surrounding events) paint a different picture of what blockchain means to Lindemann's art is considered countercurrent in supporting the application of technology within the realm of art, but events are mainly trafficked by an elite and powerful cross-section of the company, including names as Brock Pierce (defined by a crypt "cult leader" from Rolling Stone) and curator superstar Hans-Ulrich Obrist, are not really of a contrary nature.
The artist inspired by Cripto, Simon Denny, for example, is not sure that he purchases the democratic and utopian future that many evangelists believe that the art world can realize with the help of blockchain technology . "I guess a part of me is a bit scared to see a securitization of art," he noted. "Is it something we want to accelerate?"
Along this line, the upcoming Mececenas auction of a Picasso painting, including the digitization and tokenisation of the artwork, will make the physical masterpiece "perpetually inaccessible". The painting to be auctioned could "already" [be] outside the public eye ", as Mecenate founder and CEO Marcelo García Casil claims, but the project seems antithetical to the democratization of art, as fewer people will be able to see the physical work afterwards. ; auction.
More generally, events like The Art of Blockchains, the Blockchain World Conference, and similar meetings (especially considering their prohibitive admission costs) are like blockchain cruises and other exclusive encryption events. The recent CoinsBank Blockchain Cruise, for example, has attracted a comparable crowd of crypto-elites, including artists such as Brock Pierce and John McAfee (who, it seems, is also affiliated with the upcoming Maecenas Picasso auction).
The potential of the blockchain to redefine the artistic space is real, but we must seriously consider how the intersection of these two realms, when pursued in a certain way, can easily recreate a system of unjust wealth existing. Art is already too expensive and inaccessible for many. The value of the "democratized" art work, therefore, can only emerge appreciably if the tokens representing this work are accessible. Otherwise, an encrypted market can simply provide another asset class for wealthy investors like Adam Lindemann to diversify their portfolios, while the rest of us who want to invest in art (but could not before) remain excluded.
Daniel Putney is a full-time writer for ETHNews. He graduated in English at the University of Nevada, in Reno, where he also studied journalism and queer theory. In his spare time, he writes poetry, plays the piano and dances on fictional characters. He lives with his partner, three dogs and two cats in the middle of nowhere, Nevada.
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