Will NFTs disrupt the future of art?

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The development process of painting is always from simple to complex, from single color to multiple colors, and painting techniques gradually change from single to diverse.

At present, with the development of VR technology, VR painting has also begun to come into people’s eyes. When the TV picture changes from black and white to color, it is enough to surprise the audience; when the movie changes from a silent film to a sound film, the audience’s experience is very different; and when the painting changes from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, it is enough to make the audience feel that painting can also Let people have an immersive experience! Yes, the paintings of the internationally renowned VR artist Mao Siyi can make everyone feel extraordinary when they first see it!

For the audience to appreciate such exquisite, imaginative and three-dimensional works, it has to start from Mao Siyi’s first contact with VR painting. In August 2020, Mao Siyi came into contact with VR painting for the first time in Singapore. This painting method abandoned the previous painting method of flat display, but made painting three-dimensional like sculpture. Unlike traditional paintings that are displayed in a two-dimensional space, VR painting requires the painter to wear VR glasses and create in a three-dimensional space. Therefore, this method of creation not only requires the painter to have a strong spatial imagination, but also requires the painter to have a stronger ability. Because the difficulty of painting increases, the time consuming will naturally be longer. In addition, since VR painting is just emerging, how to use painting software to create also requires VR painters to explore. It can be said that choosing VR painting means choosing a path full of thorns and difficulties. However, the various difficulties of VR painting did not stymie Mao Siyi, she chose to teach herself. Without any teacher, in less than two years, she learned 5-6 VR drawing software, such as Tilt Brush, Gravity Sketch, Shapelab, Medium, AnimVR, OpenBrush, etc. This strong self-learning ability has made many well-known VR artists admire.

Since Mao Siyi completed her first VR painting on August 26, 2020, more and more ideas flooded into her mind. Every time she paints, she has a new harvest. It was also in the VR creations again and again that she suddenly thought of why VR painters use this high-tech painting form to spread the excellent Chinese culture? As a traditional Beijing girl, Mao Siyi grew up in an artistic family and studied Chinese and Western painting. After that, she studied in Paris and held personal art exhibitions in Singapore and other places. Her global vision also allowed her to see the broad development space of VR painting. If the traditional culture is used as the carrier, combined with this novel painting method, not only can China be at the forefront of the VR painting industry, but also can take this opportunity to promote Chinese culture to the world. With this original intention, she cooperated with the Cultural Propaganda Department of the Hebei Provincial Government to shoot a VR promotional video for the Hebei exhibition area of the “Dubai 2020 World Expo” China Pavilion, and cooperated with Douyin & PICO to shoot a promotional video for “Shan Hai Jing”. Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center cooperates to restore Thangka with VR painting…

In 2021, the concept of the source universe will explode, and the world will usher in a wave of technological innovation. Mao Siyi is also constantly using VR painting to renew traditional painting through her own efforts. I believe there will be more Chinese traditional culture in her works in the future. Element, and constantly strive to innovate the combination of VR painting and art. Although she is a VR female artist, she has amazing innovation ability, and it is this ability to make breakthroughs that makes her works very appealing!

“Great artwork is not a painting on the wall, it’s a painting on the blockchain.”

It would be inappropriate to say this before 2021, but after 2021 it seems to make some sense. Non-fungible tokens have emerged from the concept of finance, sky -high NFT artworks are writing new history, online pictures that were once commonplace have become “boundless money”, and simple graphics composed of numbers break through the previous upper limit of this money number, you It doesn’t matter what your digital device owns anymore, what matters is the digital credentials you own on the Ethereum blockchain. Maybe one day what you read on NetEase Art is not all art news, but there may also be valuable NFT artworks. Where will the hurricane NFT artworks lead to future art? Maybe we should start from the beginning.

NFT “Rainbow Cat”

What is an NFT: Prove that I did buy this artwork

NFT is a non-fungible token (Non-fungible Token) based on the Ethereum blockchain, known as a data unit on the blockchain digital ledger, each token can represent a unique digital data, also Represents unique digital objects such as artworks. Common homogeneous items in daily life include gold, mobile phones, bitcoin, ether, etc., whose market value is equal without special marks, and can be substituted for each other as homogeneous items. Non-homogenization is the opposite. Artwork is the most typical example. A painting or a sculpture—original works or limited editions are non-homogenized existences, and NFTs are non-homogenized digital commodities and products. Tokens, of course, also include game equipment, online songs, online videos, digital paintings, etc.

NFT art has unique and unique attributes, which cannot be split or replaced. Therefore, the blockchain will record every transaction and every owner. The Internet makes copying, pasting, and copying very convenient, but NFT gives artworks The value of uniqueness, as a buyer, is not copyright or the right to use, but a digital certificate that “proves that I really bought this artwork”.

A Brief History of NFTs: From Colored Coins to CryptoKitties

According to relevant media reports, the history of NFT can be traced back to 2012. The concept of colored coins is often considered to be the origin of NFTs. Since Bitcoin’s scripting language allows a small amount of information to be stored, this information can be used to represent things that actually exist in the real world, so there is a view that physical objects can be stored. Associated with digital currency, this special coin is called colored coin. The transaction method of colored coins is equivalent to Bitcoin, but due to its unique nature of connecting physical objects, it can be easily distinguished from traditional Bitcoin transactions, so although Bitcoin has not considered expanding in this direction in subsequent update iterations , but the emergence of colored coins still lays the foundation for the development of NFTs.

coloredcoin

The game field is the first to try to establish a connection with NFTs. TCG, which uses card collection as one of the main gameplays, may be the most suitable for NFTs. “Spells of Genesis”, which was launched in 2015, will be “the first ever blockchain-based mobile game. “As a signature, the card game “Force of Will” was inspired by this and applied blockchain technology to online simulation battles around the same time.

The card game Force of Will

The real connection between the art field and NFT happened in 2017. Matt Hall and John Watkinson, two software developers of Larva Labs, used a pixel art generator to generate a total of 10,000 24*24 pixel avatars based on random rules, including 6039 men. , 3840 women, of whom 696 wore lipstick, 303 had muttonchops, 286 had 3D eyes, 128 had red faces, 94 had braids, 78 had teeth, 44 wore beanies, and 8 A punk with no obvious features, and a very rare number 8348 with 7 attributes at the same time – beard, buck teeth, smoking, wearing earrings, a mole, classic color wear, top hat, out of tribute to the spirit of punk, this A series was named “CryptoPunks”.

“CryptoPunks”

‘Crypunk’ auctioned at Christie’s

In the same year, a company called Crypto Cats launched the “CryptocKitties” game. Players create a digital image of “CryptoCats” through a string of codes. The cats stored on Ethereum are all unique, and players can collect them online at the same time. , cultivating and exchanging virtual pets, the most expensive of which, the Dragon, sold for as much as 600 ethers, which was about $170,000 at the time. At the end of this year, the Ethereum ERC 721 protocol (the programming standard for non-fungible tokens) was born, and “cryptocat” is also considered to be the origin of NFT tokens.

“CryptocKitties”

NFT outbreak: virtual art creates real sky-high prices

In 2021, after nearly four years of development, NFTs in the art field finally ushered in an explosive moment. Some people believe that the main reason is that after the epidemic, the governments of various countries including the United Kingdom and the United States chose to issue currency to stimulate the economy. There is more cash in the bank account, but there are fewer places to go out and spend. In the short term, traditional investment solutions While losing its attractiveness, more attention is turned to NFT – this seemingly blue ocean field. Of course, the factors that contributed to its outbreak also include: due to the impact of the epidemic, the reduction of physical world contacts and the increase in digital virtual connections, the encrypted digital market including bitcoin prices have repeatedly hit new highs, and the rapid development of the DeF ecosystem has made NFT tokens easy to trade and circulate.

In March 2021, the NFT artwork created by digital visual artist Beeple is the best footnote to this explosive moment. For 13 years, he made a digital image every day, and finally stitched it into “Everyday: The First 5000 Days” (Everydays). : The First 5000 Days), and was auctioned at Christie’s, which was also the first time NFT artwork was auctioned on the Christie’s platform. On March 11, it was sold at a sky-high price of US$69.34625 million, or about RMB 450 million, setting the third highest auction price for works by living artists, but artist Beeple said in a subsequent interview that the price of NFT art is definitely a bubble.

Everydays: The First 5000 Days

On March 16, 2021, another news reported by the media also showed the commercial value of NFT art. Famous street artist Banksy’s work “Idiot” (“Mornos”) was bought for $95,000, then the buyer burned the painting through a live broadcast and launched an NFT version on Opensea for 228.69 ETH out, about $400,000. At the same time, the “Idiot” lit by masked buyers in the live broadcast also changed the artwork from physical existence to NFT. As media reports said: The fire seems to be heralding the world that the era of NFT art is officially coming. But what’s more worth mentioning is that “Idiot” was originally made for Banksy to make fun of the art market – a painting at the auction site read “I Can’t Believe You Idiots Bought This” (I Can’t Believe You Morons Actually Buy This Shit).

“Idiot” (“Mornos”) burning live footage

“Idiot” (“Mornos”) artist Banksy

Omnipotent NFTs: A Tweet or a Video

The price bubble or the “idiot” ridicule did not stop the continued popularity of NFT. It broke through the narrow definition of art, and began to involve NFT in a wider field. In addition to game cards and artwork, NFT has more diverse forms.

On March 23, 2021, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey auctioned his first tweet “Just setting up my twttr” in 2006 through NFT, and finally sold 1630.58 ethers. The transaction price was about 2.9 million US dollars, equivalent to about 18.87 million yuan.

“Just setting up my twttr”

The NBA Top shot, a digital asset collection jointly launched by NBA and Dapper Labs, releases the peak moments of NBA games as NFTs in the form of small video packages, and players can exchange, collect and trade NFT cards of their favorite stars. With the influence of stars and the low threshold for registration and use, it has quickly become one of the most popular NFT products. Currently, LeBron James’s player card has set a new highest transaction price at $208,000.

NBA Top shot

“Every Day: The First 5,000 Days” is a competition for high-end collectors, and NBA TopShot is a carnival among mass players. In July 2021, Benyamin Ahmed planned an NFT project called “Weird Whales”, which included 3,350 pixelated whales, all of which were sold out within 9 hours of going online. The 12-year-old software engineer made more than $350,000, and perhaps the “weird whale” collectors are more from mass gamers.

“The Weird Whale”

Detonating Gunpowder, In the Mood for Love, and NFTs of Internet giants

Our attention has shifted to China, and the popularity of NFT is also increasing day by day. Like the international market, it also points to both high-end collectors and mass players.

Art Cai Guoqiang made his first attempt at NFT in 2021. For the tenth anniversary of the establishment of Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai, “The Eternity of a Moment – The Detonation of 101 Gunpowder Paintings” was sold for 2.5 million yuan in a 48-hour auction on the TR Lab online platform. The US dollar transaction set a record for the highest transaction of NFT works by artists in the non-encryption field. Then Cai Guoqiang released his second NFT on the TR Lab online platform. As a small surprise to give back to the NFT community, this work is aimed at public players. The 99 limited-edition NFTs named “Break Yourself” will be used for sales proceeds. To support the educational projects of Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai.

Cai Guoqiang and his Gunpowder Paintings Blasting Moment Hall of Nations Madrid 2017 (Courtesy of the Prado Museum, Spain)

Famous film director Wong Kar-Wai once again received more attention this year, not only for the release of his four classic works “Fallen Angels”, “In the Mood for Love”, “2046” 4K restored versions, but also because Wong Kar-Wai’s first film was named “Flowers in Flowers”. The NFT work of Love – A Moment will be filmed at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in October. According to reports, this is an unreleased clip of Wong Kar-wai’s classic film “In the Mood for Love” in 1999, from the first day of starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung. Shooting, this NFT is only released in version 1, with a duration of 1 minute and 31 seconds.

Movie “In the Mood for Love”

As a technology wind vane, Internet giants should never miss NFT, and the series of products they launch are more related to mass players. In May 2021, Alipay launched a joint NFT payment code skin with Dunhuang Art Research Institute and “Assassin Five Six Seven”, and Ali also launched a special NFT digital art session. On July 12, Netease’s game “Eternal Calamity” also tried NFT. The “NARAKA HERO” series of blind boxes issued by the Australian NFT publisher MetaList Lab studio was launched on the Binance NFT market. The NFT series of blind boxes received ” The official IP authorization of “Eternal Calamity” was sold out within 15 minutes of its launch. In early August, Tencent announced the release of 300 “Thirteen Invitational Vinyl Record NFTs”. Weibo launched the NFT trading platform “TopHolder No. 1 Collector”, which was launched in the internal test in early August, and various topics of “Weibo NFT Works” and “Auctioning Your First Weibo” were crowded.

Give NFT an award and build a pavilion

More and more artists are involved in the field of NFT, and the boundaries of NFT art are constantly expanding, from a JPEG to audio, video, games, movies… and gifts, blind boxes, etc., what form will be extended in the future, we are worth looking forward to . But is NFT an opportunity or a bubble, a carnival or a scam, a fortune or a crotch, art or garbage, a new collection method or the reappearance of “tulip mania”? These topics are debates that cannot be avoided in the face of NFTs.

There is no doubt that on the one hand, NFT makes every transaction traceable, guarantees the authenticity and verifiability of artworks, and also guarantees the rights and interests of artists and collectors; based on the transparency of blockchain technology, all transactions and circulation are encrypted. Records cannot be tampered with, and the authenticity of NFT artworks is easy to verify. NFTs issued in the primary market enter various platforms in the secondary market, and artists can profit from each transaction. At the same time, the unique properties of NFT make it have scarce value, even the artist himself cannot copy it.

On the other hand, the most popular NFT trading platforms are based on the Ethereum blockchain, such as Opensea, Rarible, Foudation, etc. It seems to be a problem whether NFT artworks focus more on artistic value or financial attributes. Compared with traditional artworks, NFT is more suitable for appreciation. Or a collection?

In any case, NFTs have become part of today’s art, and future art cannot insulate NFTs. On July 7, 2021, the Miami Museum of Art collects NFT work Crypto Punk No. 5293 – one of the “cypherpunks” with purple lipstick, moles, and scruffy hair. Global blockchain interoperator Overline is about to build the world’s largest NFT digital art museum, which will include NFT artwork, music files, and other digital assets.

The future is unknown, but we are also more willing to face the future positively. What will the future NFT be like? Maybe the best answer will be given in the future. After going through 2020, which is called the year of the future, and about to pass through 2021 when NFT explodes, NetEase Art, as an Internet platform, will pay more attention to NFT art and NFT field, give full play to its own Internet technology attributes, and focus on and imagine the NFT art. In the future, it will also plan to launch special NFT projects: NFT Youth Art Award, NFT Online Art Museum. The NFT Youth Art Award aims to discover the most dynamic NFT creations. While forming the NFT youth art community, it invites big names in the art and technology circles to participate in the awards, touches the appearance of future art at the moment, and imagines the temperament of future art; NFT line The Shanghai Art Museum uses technology to drive art, uses art to describe technology, and displays the most creative NFT art online. Great artworks may be on the exhibition wall or on the blockchain, but online must be the most creative NFT works. Good presentation venue.