Art has never been closed in an ivory tower separated from reality, so it should not come as a surprise that its market might undergo variations especially when a big part of reality will reside in the digital world, i.e. the metaverse, which is talked about a great deal these days.
Considering the infinite contents that go around the web, it is quite evident that some of them might be of artistic nature. Through NFT, works of art can go around in the digital world from a seller to a buyer and NFT themselves are a guarantee tool which proves with absolute certainty who the owner of the digital work of art is.
The acronym Non-Fungibile Token refers to an ownership certificate of a digital content.
Let us think of a photograph. Being in digital form, if the photographer publishes it on the internet, it can be endlessly reproduced, and everybody can use it as they want. If it is used improperly or in an unacceptable way, one may ask for the shot to be removed. In some cases one must pay to download it in high resolution or to use it for commercial aims, but this does not make you the owner of the photograph, it just gives you permission to use it.
The photographer may transform the picture in an NFT, which is a sort of univocal code which identifies the work. Who buys this NFT becomes the exclusive owner of the image, and is therefore allowed to sell it again.
In actual fact, as there are no laws regulating this kind of commerce, it is quite difficult to understand how the buyer is able to protect and assert ownership. Still, the fact is that many people have already invested in NFT. It is interesting to note that in some cases it is not about works of art, yet more of “single pieces” like the first Tweet of the first ever SMS: they have been associated to an NFT and these NFT have been sold, and whoever bought them became owner of something that does not really exist, in a concrete way, which one can never “hang in the living-room” and that is endlessly reproduced on several web pages.
On the other hand, NFT of works of art digitally created could be generated, works of which no material copy has been printed.
Beyond financial and legal dynamics, philosophical implications and moral judgements, it is interesting to know that the NFT system might actually allow artists to protect their art and guarantee an economical gain. The question is: will this be a stimulus to imagine new forms of art? At Cinquerosso Arte we hope so, because we dream of a world where creative people can express themselves and live from their work, and that their work helps to make people’s lives better.
