Crit Cross #13
Donnerstag, 15. April 2021 - 18:30 Uhr
Verein K
„NFT WTF“
Will digital ownership and consumption of art eventually replace the physical experience of seeing art, just like mp3s have replaced the record? Is there still a place for museums in the future?
An astonishing 85,000 institutions – around 90 percent of all museums worldwide – have been forced to close temporarily, and a portion of these is set to close permanently. At the same time, new collectors are buying a new kind of art and a digital artwork became the third most expensive artwork ever sold. A few marketplaces sell digital artworks from the full price range, often allowing artists to get access to collectors they would not otherwise be able to reach. Many digital artists see this as an opportunity to get rid of gatekeepers and artists from the global south have started to use nfts to sell their artworks to foreign collectors. While nfts are thus hailed by some as the solution to gatekeeping in the art world, others think they just earn bragging rights – ownership to things that shouldn’t be owned and turn art into a popularity contest, while just transferring some of the traditional gatekeeping to other people. Engaging with the writings of critics like Dean Kissick or Martin Herbert in this Crit Cross, we want to discuss the implications of these recent developments.
Readings for the session:
Is it the end of the artworld as we know it, Werner Remm, artmagazine, March 2021
https://www.artmagazine.cc/content114801.html
How the NFT Craze Reveals the Artworld’s Snobbism, Martin Herbert, ArtReview, March 2021
https://artreview.com/how-nft-craze-reveals-artworld.../
The Downward Spiral: Popular Things, Dean Kissick, Spike Online, March 2021,
https://www.spikeartmagazine.com/.../downward-spiral...
https://artreview.com/why-the-artworld-loves-to-hate-nft.../
More basics & opinions:
Will NFTs Revolutionize the Art Market or Repeat Its Greatest Failures? These 4 Factors Will Determine Their Fate, Tim Schneider, artnet, March 2021
https://news.artnet.com/.../nft-revolution-four-factors...
NFTs Are Shaking Up the Art World—But They Could Change So Much More, Andrew R. Chow, Time, March 22, 2021
https://time.com/5947720/nft-art/
How Nigeria’s leading crypto artist makes and sells NFTs, Alexander O. Onukwe,Tech Cabal, March 2021
https://techcabal.com/.../osinachi-nigeria-nft-crypto.../
Why NFTs are not the future of art but just the latest get-rich-quick scheme for the ‘cryptosphere', Jemima Kelly, Financial Times, March 2021
https://financialpost.com/.../why-nfts-are-not-the-future...
Think cryptocurrency is bad? NFTs are even worse, Amanda Yeo, Mashable, March 2021
https://mashable.com/.../nft-cryptocurrency-bad.../...
One in Eight Museums Worldwide May Never Reopen, According to the International Council of Museums, Sarah Cascone, artnet, May 2020
https://news.artnet.com/.../unesco-icom-museums-report...
We will use Zoom for our discussion, which will take place in English. Please find the link: https://zoom.us/j/92753177248...
For questions and suggestions please get in touch at critcross@verein-k.net
For more information please visit: http://verein-k.net/wp/crit-cross/
Looking forward to seeing you online!