Current Event I

Are NFTS the replacement of traditional art sells?

But firstly, what is a NFT? 

Its literal meaning is "Non-Fungible Token", which in easy terms is something unique that CAN'T be replaced with something else. Examples in our daily lives that can be considered an NFT is an essay we do for a course, a ticket for an event or a coupon for a special discount in a store. In digital world, NFTs can be anything: drawings, music, videos, an article or even the original photo used for a viral meme.

 But how does something become an NFT?

 If you have a 10-dollar bill, you can change it for two 5-dollar bills, and it will still worth 10-dollars in total. But if you take that 10-dollar bill and sign it with a marker, it becomes something unique, it only exists one in all the world, and it does not simply worth 10-dollars anymore. Since it's your signature, you can put it online and sell it for an X amount of money, and its price can decrease or increase depending on the circumstances.

 Recently, this type of format among artist has become more popular, it can solve the problem of people who get profit from plagiarism. NFTs main aim is to create a sense of ownership to the artist and to the art collector, even if someone has the JPG, MP4, MP3 or whatsoever, they cannot gain any profit from it, since they are not the owner of the artwork. One advantage of this is that artist will ALWAYS have the copyright, and if the art collector wants to sell the NFTs they bought, the artist will have a percentage of those sells; this process repeats if the second owner wants to sell it. Thing that does not happen with traditional art.

Example of NFT Paris Hilton created. They are a series

of short videos sold in 1 million dollars.

But now let’s talk about 2 disadvantages this can create.

1. PHYSICAL ART CANNOT BE DIGITALIZED IN ORDER TO BECOME NFTS.

Artists that work in their products in physical form cannot convert their artworks into NFTs, unless they create new ones 100% digital. This creates a preference just for digital artis, which makes it difficult for traditional artist to monetize their products online without the fear of plagiarism.

2. VALUE IS UNCERTAIN.

Another thing that’s affecting the design industry hugely by the outbreak of NFTs is value. How do you value a physical artwork in comparison to a virtual work of art? There is no defined price for an artwork when it comes to NFT, it will always depend on what the collector wants to pay and on the cryptocurrency. If the cryptocurency drops, the value of your art also drops.

 

 

Sources:

Fitzsimons, E. (2021, June). NFT art: what is it, how it works and what it means for the creative industry. 99designs https://es.99designs.com/blog/web-digital/nft-art/

 Coleman, M. (2021, October 5). Pros And Cons of NFT Art You Should Know. TechycomP. https://www.techycomp.com/pros-and-cons-of-nft-art-you-should-know/

 Clark, M. (2021, August 18). NFTs, explained. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/22310188/nft-explainer-what-is-blockchain-crypto-art-faq