Damien Hirst’s Parental View of NFTs: Raising a Burning Question | editorial

QIdeas about the nature and value of art are not new: a century has passed since Marcel Duchamp overturned a urinal, signed it R. Mutt, and presented it as a fountain to the Society of Independent Artists, in response to his promise that it would accept no work of art until Artist pays application fee.

New times require new questions, and one was eloquently posed by artist Damien Hirst last week, when he began burning hundreds of his own spot paintings after offering buyers the choice of buying them as original artwork or as £2,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs). . There is a definite rationale for buyers opting for NFTs to destroy the real thing; Whether it amounts to more than selling a title deed and bulldozing the house.

Another recent transaction might seem to have little in common with Hearst’s showmanship: the $100 million sale of UK-based Secret Cinemas to an American digital ticketing firm. However, there are similarities. Secret Cinema is an immersive experience that repackages worlds from Dirty Dancing to Bridgerton as a live experience for fans prepared to pay up to £139 for tickets for a glorious fancy dress party with themed cocktails. As Hearst’s NFTs are a commodity, Todaytics Group has paid top dollar for a business that has been running for 15 years but has yet to turn a profit. Both are playing the futures market, with no guarantee that it will pay off. But the more interesting question is whether posterity will judge whether the theoretical Hearst has any lasting cultural value beyond the opportunity to brag about ownership or post an Instagram selfie.

Secret movies at least employ actors and even scriptwriters to create scenes they can discover while mingling with their favorite characters. The same cannot be said for an immersive art exhibition like the Van Gogh experience. Its London incarnation promises a 360-degree light and sound spectacle featuring some of his most famous works, including an animated simulation of his brushstrokes. In Dubai, visitors were invited to pose under a sign reading “Here, the best selfie ever”. Draw the original what is missing.

These practices differ in marketing and repackaging, and artist-led immersive works such as Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City, a theatrical re-enactment of the siege of Troy, involve an old-fashioned contract between artist and viewer – one works for the other to experience.

But it should not be assumed that different types of contracts will not catch on at a time when so much is changing technologically, economically and culturally. In 1917, another moment of convulsive change, Duchamp’s Fountain was dismissed as a joke. It was a joke, but it was also futuristic. Today there are many fountains, although the original urinals have long since disappeared. This is a precedent we would be foolish to ignore.

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