Looking Outwards 11: Societal Impacts of Digital Art

In Sebastian Smee’s article, “Beeple’s digital ‘artwork’ sold for more than any painting by Titian or Raphael. But as art, it’s a great big zero.“, discusses the recent uprising of NFTs. An NFT is a digital file that allows people to bid and claim ownership over it. The article criticizes how the value of NFTs is not from the work itself but rather from market manipulation. For instance, graphic designer Beeple recently sold his work “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” for an insanely high price of $69.3 million when the piece was actually just a collage of colorful images. This goes to show the extent to which people are willing to go for the hype and how drastically the market for artwork has changed.