Over the past year or so, non-fungible tokens, or NFTs for short, have made their debut on the international art scene. From Superchief in New York, the world’s first NFT gallery to open its doors in March 2021, to a host of established commercial and public galleries across the world hosting NFT dedicated exhibitions, NFTs have started to cross into the physical realm.
Previously limited in viewership to the creator, prospective buyer or owner of the NFT, the evolution from computer screen to physical exhibition spaces could help attract new audiences and potentially new investors to the world of NFTs. Displayed on large screens, these digital artworks, NFT enthusiasts no doubt hope, will help to demystify what is currently an opaque phenomenon to a more traditional art buying market.
From raising the exposure of NFT artists, to educating the public about this new from of “art”, NFT galleries could bring about a number of new developments in the space.
What is an NFT gallery and how do I create a gallery in NFT? Read on and try to find the answer.
What is an NFT gallery?
Similar to digital art being displayed on ultra large screens, NFTs, in these emerging NFT specific galleries and exhibitions, are being blown up and displayed through screens.
The process of displaying digital art on screens is not a new phenomenon. What is new, however, is the way in which these works are valued and the financial infrastructure which surrounds them. A piece of video art by Steve McQueen, for example, is owned by him, meaning if anyone else tried to sell or display his work (without purchasing it), they would face legal implications.
A digital asset diverges in two important ways. First, what is of value is the code of the token that the digital asset is attached to, not the digital asset itself. The certificate is “the original”, while the digital asset is easily reproducible. Second, there is no legal cross over between ownership on the blockchain and copyright laws in real life. If I obtained access to, downloaded and displayed a digital asset that didn’t belong to me, while there may be legal implications for the artist protected by copyright laws, the owner of the NFT has no leverage.
Thus, in simplistic terms, viewing NFTs in a NFT art gallery is not viewing the original. The original is actually not the asset in the first place.
Interestingly, while traditional digital reproductions of art are intended to reproduce some form of value of the original onto a virtual space, displaying NFTs in galleries, is akin to attempting to reproduce some of the value of the original into the real physical world.
Closing thoughts
Whether the concept of an NFT gallery has any staying power remains a complete unknown.
Physical art and capitalistic drives have long been deeply intertwined. Many, for example, question why some pieces are valued so highly, while other pieces of art are valued at close to zero.
Physical art, in short, has long been a vessel by which to store huge amounts of cash. In order for physical works to be valued so highly however, they have first been admired for their physical qualities, historical importance, aesthetics, craftsmanship or a combination of all these factors. Thus, the function of these works as a store of wealth has come secondary to their attributes. NFTs, on the other hand, it could be argued, have been valued highly first and foremost as a store of value, and on a secondary level for their aesthetics.
The valuations that have been assigned to a Vermeer or a Rembrandt for example, are, while staggering, a result of the value placed on them over a long period of time by a huge number of people. This is in part what brings droves of people to an exhibition.
Whether there is a large enough audience for any NFT gallery to stay in existence remains to be seen. If prices keep rising, commercial NFT galleries will likely continue, buoyed up by the hype. Public interest in NFTs as a form of art is, however, unlikely to be the driving force of the NFT gallery phenomenon.
What is an NFT gallery and how do I create a gallery in NFT? Now you know the answer.
