Visual artist burns works of art after collectors choose digital option

Marketing ploy? Manifestation? Or more of an artistic process? Fans, followers, critics, journalists, artists…everyone is talking about Damien Hirst and the works he is burning.

Collectors had to choose between keeping the NFT – certificate of authenticity used to guarantee ownership and exclusivity of a virtual object – which reportedly sold for $2.000, or exchange it for physical art. Some 5.149 chose the latter, while 4.851 opted for NFTs, according to London's Newport Street Gallery. (Reuters) *

A jornalistas, o artista britânico disse que as obras de arte de NFTs não trocadas seriam destruídas e vice-versa. No Instagram, ele disse que queimaria 1.000 obras de arte nesta terça-feira (11).

Broadcasting the event live, the Turner Prize winner and his assistants used tongs to deposit individual pieces stacked in piles on fireplaces in the gallery as viewers watched.

“A lot of people think I'm burning millions of dollars worth of art, but I'm not, I'm completing the transformation of these physical artworks into NFTs by burning the physical versions,” explains Hirst. “The value of digital or physical art that is difficult to define at best will not be lost, it will be transferred to the NFT once they are burned.”

The works, created in 2016 with enamel paint on handmade paper and each numbered, titled, stamped and signed, will be burned until the close of the “A Moeda” exhibition, on October 30th.

Curto Curatorship:

• Understand what NFTs are and how they become profitable forms of art (State of Mines)
• NFT art what is it? (That is)

(*): Content in other languages ​​translated by Google Tradutor

(🇬🇧): content in English

(🚥): may require registration and/or signature