Earlier this year, Taschen published On NFTs, an essay collection commemorating the 10 years since non-fungible tokens were invented. For many, talk of the market for digital art is still characterized by NFTs, which were hard to ignore when they shot into mainstream culture four years ago.
The initial fervor—and high prices—that blockchain-based artworks achieved during that period may have largely dissipated, but the anniversary comes at a reflection point for digital art as a whole. Today, the digital art world and the traditional art world feel more integrated than ever. The rise of NFTs has given way to a burgeoning interest in digital art, with collectors, institutions, and galleries all playing a part.
Rebirth, from the 2021 Spring/Summer Collection, 2021
Beeple
Heritage Auctions
Rebirth, from The Everydays - The 2021 Spring/Summer Collection, 2021
Beeple
Heritage Auctions
The rise and fall of NFTs
In the art world, NFTs were suddenly the hot topic of discussion in 2021 thanks to a string of significant sales, initiatives, and hefty prices. Beeple, arguably the highest-profile NFT artist, became the third-most-expensive living artist in March 2021 when Christie’s sold Everydays: The First 5,000 Days (2021) for a staggering $69.3 million.
Yet, by the following year, this frenzy had mostly dissipated. In September 2022, NFT transactions had fallen by 97% from their peak in January of that year, according to Dune Analytics. And digital art as a whole has been impacted. “The perceived value of digital art in mainstream culture has been undermined by the speculative NFT bubble of 2021 to 2022,” said Carlota Naviera, co-founder of digital art platform VIV Arts. “As the price of digital art was not able to consistently sustain the artificial pricing of that period, many people view it as now worthless.”
While that view still persists in parts, the NFT market has, since 2023, settled into an established, more sustainable rhythm, and the medium has become something of a mainstay. Institutions such as the Centre Pompidou have acquired NFTs for their permanent collections; major auction houses continue to maintain a regular schedule of NFT sales; and NFTs are frequently exhibited at museums and galleries worldwide. At Oxford institution the Ashmolean, for instance, NFTs play a part in the recently opened exhibition “Money Talks,” on view until January 2025.
Triangles 2, 2023
Vera Molnar
Galerie La Ligne
Triangles 4, 2023
Vera Molnar
Galerie La Ligne
Broadening interest in digital art beyond NFTs
While NFTs remain a prominent part of the digital art landscape, they represent just one facet. Digital art encompasses everything from digital painting to artificial intelligence (AI) art. At its core, digital art can be described as any art form that uses technology as a fundamental part of its creation.
Digital art is not new. Today, many early pioneers are receiving renewed appreciation in the art world, noted Mila Askarova, CEO and founder of London- and Baku-based gallery Gazelli Art House, which runs a digital art program called Gazelli.IO. Vera Molnar, known as the “mother of computer art,” currently has a solo show, “Speak to the Eye,” at the Centre Pompidou. And this fall, Tate Modern will also open the group show “Electric Dreams,” which looks at art and technology before the advent of the internet.
Askarova noted that generative art also “has found a supporting foothold among collectors who appreciate the way these artists are pushing the boundaries of the medium by creating custom code, experimenting with innovative ownership models, building communities, and carefully curating their own datasets.”
A new respect for digital art practices is also palpable for Andrea Mosca of Gagliardi e Domke in Turin, Italy. “It makes a big difference when artists are masters of the technology, which is used to express their poetic view of things, their art,” he said. “They do not just use technology, but they create technology, and propose it in an artistic form. They go beyond expectations, they explore unknown dimensions, and it depends on the attitude of the audience to dare to take a look, to be curious without preconceptions.”
Digital art in mainstream venues
Another major theme in the digital art world is the rise of venues specifically designed to showcase works in these mediums. According to The Art Newspaper, there are more than 100 “immersive” institutions around the world that showcase digital art on a large scale to massive audiences. Key examples include Outernet in Central London, which attracted more than 6 million visitors in its first year of operation in 2023 and collaborates with institutions including the Serpentine. Other examples include the Sphere in Las Vegas, an events venue which opened in 2023 and has showcased works by the likes of Refik Anadol and Es Devlin.
Digital art occasions are now common at major international art events, too. At this year’s Art Basel, the inaugural edition of the Digital Art Mile showcased digital art across various venues in the Swiss city. At this year’s Venice Biennale, there are several digital art shows including Josèfa Ntjam’s “Swell of spæc(i)es” at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia. And at this year’s Korea International Art Fair (KIAF) in September, the fair’s special exhibition “Invisible Transitions” will place an emphasis on new innovations in digital art.
Space: Mars/Still, from Machine Hallucinations, 2022
Refik Anadol
Forum Auctions
Unsupervised - Machine Hallucinations - MoMa Dreams - C #10, 2021
Refik Anadol
ATHR
The future of digital art
Digital art has been collected for as long as it has existed, but widespread adoption by collectors is still nascent. While digital art only accounted for 3% of high-net-worth collectors’ total expenditure in the first half of 2023, according to Art Basel and UBS, many in the art industry are taking the long view. “We’ll continue to see in the coming years an explosion of creativity fueled by the boom of generative AI and NFTs and I have no doubt that digital art will inevitably take a bigger place in the traditional art world,” said Sebastien Borget, who earlier this year opened the three-story Artverse in Paris to provide a space for exhibiting and communing around digital art.
Borget acknowledges that the digital art market is “niche,” but it’s likely to grow in the next 10 to 20 years. “The average age of traditional art collectors will decrease and the younger generation will naturally find more interest in digital and AI-generated content,” he said. Indeed, according to Gitnux, 87% of digital art collectors are under the age of 40.
“Digital art coexists together with classical genres...and does not enter into competition with them,” said Marie-Charlotte Knuffmann of Düsseldorf gallery Sies + Höke, which operates a program of digital art featuring a range of artists working with technologies such as AI. “Digital art does not exclude the other genres or classify them as outdated, rather contributes to enriching our world with diverse and challenging forms of art.”
The longest possible game 21, 2023
Hedda Schattanik & Roman Szczesny
Sies + Höke
Today, digital art is nurtured not only by new businesses and platforms, but also supported by institutions, galleries, and other traditional market actors. Neither booming nor busting, and with a healthy ecosystem coalescing around it, this is a market that is poised to grow organically. “It’s become much more nuanced now that the rising tide has ebbed away,” noted Askarova. “We’re left with less speculators but more appreciation for the works these artists are putting out.”
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