The market for NFT art (digital works of art with a certificate of authenticity as one-of-a-kind art) is growing at a tremendous rate.

In the world of real art, “one-of-a-kind” pieces have value. Because there is only one piece in the world, prices soar at auctions, and forgeries are sometimes produced.

The history of digital art, on the other hand, began in the mid-20th century with the advent of television and multimedia. The term “media art” has been used since the beginning of the 20th century.

The most famous media art event is Ars Electronica, which began in Linz, Austria in 1979 and continues to this day.

Digital technology is inherently characterized by its ability to copy large quantities of the original without deterioration.” In the art world, where “one-of-a-kind” is the mainstay of value, digital art has been shrugged off due to its lack of individuality.

However, in March 2021, BEEPLE’s work was sold at Christie’s for 7.5 billion yen, and the NFT was awarded the Med. It was the sublimation of media art into contemporary art.

The NFT art market boomed with a bang in early 2021. It is now a 100 billion yen market in a little over six months; NFT as a whole (game items, etc.) made a record market of 200 billion yen per month (August only).

Now, what kind of people are buying NFT art? First, the rich who look at art speculatively. People who usually shop at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, etc. are buying to try it out. ゙. Art world legends such as Damien Hirst have already purchased NFT works on credit at auction.

On the other hand, it is the young virtual currency chiefs, including a large number of teens, who will support the NFT art market in the future. Not rich in real life, but rich in virtual currency. Such people are increasing.

The structure goes like this.

As young people play NFT games, they accumulate virtual currency in the form of game points, and over time, the virtual currency itself is multiplied at a great rate. The value also skyrockets. In real life, people are living a normal life, and virtual money, which has no sense of reality, is not as consuming as real currency, but rather a game. ゙NFT works are purchased. That’s why dots and CG-like pictures are popular.

Some of them have purchased NFT art in the Metaverse (a three-dimensional virtual space connected to the Internet, where users Many people enjoy displaying their works in a world where they can communicate with each other and enjoy their contents.

We are already living in a hybrid age of the real and the virtual. Even when we walk around town, we are immersed in our smartphones and spend several of our waking hours in the computer world.

So it should not be possible to say that NFT art, which exists only in the virtual world, does not exist in this world.

P.S.: Photo by Tadayuki Shimada from “The Lion is Sleeping” exhibition.

◆ Reference

CRYPTOART MARKET DATA

Total CryptoArt Value: $879,057,823.66 (256,003.700 ETH)

Total Artworks Sold: 1,174,396

OpenSea, NFT market weekly volume exceeds 100 billion yen for the first time

NFT Marketplace open sees $2.84 billion in transaction volume over the past 30 days. (August 31, 2021)

What is NFT? Who buys it? How can fashion enter the market?