A gallery dedicated exclusively to digital works, which are marketed as non-expendable tokens or NFTs, opened this week in New York, presenting itself as the first physical exhibition space dedicated to these virtual assets in a context that has been increasing the popularity of this type of pieces, both in their sales and in the legitimation of their position in the art circuit, since another big city like Shanghai has just opened a temporary exhibition of these immaterial works.
With great marketing behind, these pieces have been attracting the attention of collectors, critics and artists, especially since the appearance of the NFT that gave security to the concept since it prevents the falsification of the work. In this context, the sale for $ 69 million of the work “Every day: The first 500 days”, by the crypto artist Beeple, through the traditional auction house Christie’s meant a market phenomenon that turned it into the work most expensive digital device ever.
The recent opening of the Super Chief Gallery, a stone’s throw from Union Square in the New York borough of Manhattan, thus takes a position in this world context that looks with increasing recognition to these immaterial titles of authentic certification, while it is torn between indignation, the problematization and attention in this type of experiences that, for some, could transform the logic of art and the art market.
The brand new gallery presents each work on a giant screen or by projection and until next May 25 each day it will exhibit the works of five artists, with a daily rotation for 60 days for a total of 300 different creators, according to the information cited. by the AFP news agency.
And each piece that is exhibited in the gallery will later be auctioned, said Ed Zipco, co-founder and director of the Superchief galleries, who explained that around 70 percent of the artists are not, in origin, digital creators but come from disciplines such as sculpture and photography. “More and more well-known artists from museums are getting involved.”
In this sense, the gallery owner evaluated that “it is so new that it is still difficult for people to understand” because “it is technology, so there is always a bit of learning, pedagogy to do (…) But soon it will become something totally normal. “
The NFT is a secure network of computer systems that records the sale in a digital ledger, known as a blockchain and that allows any virtual object to be associated, be it an image, a photo, an animation, a video or a piece of music, a certificate of authenticity that makes it a unique piece. And while digital art is not a novelty of the last six months, the appearance of the NFT gave collectors peace of mind about the risk of copying because the certificate with which it is sold is unforgeable. (Télam)
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