NFTs: hype or lasting impact on the art world?

When Mike Winkelmann, aka Beeple, started drawing on his computer every day in 2007, he never expected it to be recognized as serious art—let alone land him at the prestigious Christie's auction house. Beeple's digital artwork Everydays: The First 5000 Days, a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) with a unique digital signature, sold in 2021. Much to his surprise, the collage changed hands for a whopping $69 million. These days, Winkelmann has his own studio, attempting to do what he believes every leading artist throughout history has done: change the course of art as we know it.

And it all started so humbly. Using a floppy disk and a personal computer, Kevin McCoy can still show Minted (80 min.) the original digital artworks he made in the 1990s. Together with his partner Jennifer, they faced a huge challenge at the time: how do you create unique works that can't be copied endlessly? The blockchain technique ultimately offered a solution, which also enabled NFTs to be created—although initially, they still didn't generate any income. For example, Cars (2014), the digital artwork by Jennifer and Kevin McCoy that's considered to be the very first Non-Fungible Token to be sold, only fetched twenty dollars.

A lot has changed since then: NFTs became a hype both in and outside the art world, and then became part of a so-called 'crypto clash.' Nicholas Bruckman processes this development in an accessible way in this fast-paced, interesting, and playfully designed film. He does so by focusing on a few main characters. For example, photographer Justin Aversano started selling the photos from his twins project Twin Flames as NFTs a few years ago, and is now able to support himself, meaning he no longer has to take on commercial jobs. And Cuban artist Kina Matahari, who faces censorship in her own country, has also found creative freedom in them.

Furthermore, NFTs also have their own vulnerabilities. After all, who makes sure that others don't sell your work as an NFT, like happened to Dutch artist Loish? Who steps in if you get hacked? And what about celebrities like Paris Hilton with her 'Bored Apes' on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, who are creating a revenue model with NFTs whose artistic value is questionable? And how is the market influenced, or even spoiled, by all sorts of people who think they can quickly get rich by trading NFTs? When things go wrong and the market crashes, one thing is clear: not only will ordinary investors go down with the ship, artists like Justin Aversano and Kina Matahari could easily lose their (only) source of income.