Millions In 1’s and 0’s
An artist named Beeple, or Beeple Crap, became a very rich man last Thursday. Beeple, otherwise known as Mike Winkelmann, made just shy of $70 million (paid in cryptocurrency) when the auction for his artwork finally closed after weeks of bidding. What sold was “Everydays — The First 5000 Days” — Mike Winkelmann posted a drawing in 2007 on May first and on May second and May third and so on every day, every single day until 2020. A picture everyday for 5000 days.
Mike Winkelmann chooses Instagram as the platform for his art and is very popular on the platform for his creations. Difficult to categorize, Beeple’s artworks are cryptic, fantastical, funny, and absurd. They are vile and awesome and obviously the product of an incredible imagination. More than anything else though, the art found on Beeple’s page is unique, and detailed. And it’s a luxury to be able to scroll through multiple at a time giving seconds to the inspection of each.
At Christie’s auction, Winkelmann’s artistic aggregate of 13 years was sold as an “NFT”. An “NFT” or Non-fungible token is any digital file that has been verified and sold at an NFT auction. Digital assets sold at auctions are sold at “NFT” auctions. They’re different than a signature because while you can forge masterpieces and forge signatures of masters it’s much easier copying digitally. Easy as two clicks.
NFTs both monetize and privatize experiences on the internet, a platform that is famous for its free nature. In writing this I’m compelled to either welcome or condemn this because that’s how we tend to respond to new things right? Suspicious of danger. Instead, I’d like to explore it, in the search of a truth.
So what’s the big deal. What makes the NFT market different from any other trading market. Real green money and more importantly, a trader that gets in at 8 and leaves at 5 doesn’t have the capability to do the things you can do through NFT trading. For example, the trade of “moments”. The biggest newest thing is trading basketball “moments” on NBA Top Shot. One of which was bought for tens of thousands and is now worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The moment was Lebron James’ dunk made as a tribute to the late Kobe Bryant. It’s strange to me that things are being turned into assets simply to be traded. To make money for people that have the money, to buy an imaginary thing with invisible money.
Because for example “a Bitcoin” doesn’t exist — No attributes make a bitcoin a bitcoin. A Bitcoins’ ID could be 1267145 but that number isn’t a bitcoin. It’s more uniquely the population of Trinidad than it is a Bitcoin.
So I find myself distracted looking at “Everydays — The First 5000 Days” and not sure what I’m looking at, art, a representation of art, or 69.3 million dollars. I guess that’s my point, the NFT trading market doesn’t hurt the things they trade it’s just one more way for people with money to make even more money from obscure, hyper-specific “assets”.
The difference between NFT trading and the stock market is that “Lebron’s Tribute dunk” can’t offer work to people like companies can when they grow exponentially. All money made goes to the house.
It reminds me a little of “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” AKA that painting from Ferris Bueller. “The First 5000 days” is obvious and you’re drawn to seeing the quantity of little pictures, whereas in Seurats’ there is only a picture in the whole. At first glance, Winkelmann’s work only looks like a collection. It looks like that for the next glances too. Absurd. But eventually, it looks like time spent. And now, when I look at it like it’s one thing, it takes shape. It ebbs and flows and while I find no answers investigating many of Winkelmann’s individual cryptic artworks — I get this.
