The Rise of CryptoPunks and NFT Culture

If you’ve ever vacantly nodded along while someone rants to you about NFTs, then this finale episode is for you. Welcome to Blockchain for Bimbos. From a genuine effort to put agency over the sale of their work back into the hands of artists was born a Frankenstein’s monster: the NFT. It’s the internet version of owning a star… if you could resell that star for millions of dollars to a crypto millionaire. Even stranger, the successful marriage of NFTs and legacy art institutions made strange bed fellows out of affluent old art collectors and dweeby tech bros. And while the era of 2021-2022 was a gold rush for those who could wrap their heads around this intentionally confounding technology, it also exposed something we always knew about the world of art, but never wanted to admit…

Ernst De Geer’s THE HYPNOSIS is now streaming on MUBI in many countries as part of their Millennial Meltdown series. 

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SOURCES

Kevin Roose, “What are NFTs?” The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/03/18/technology/nft-guide.html 

Valentina Di Liscia, “Artists Say Plagiarized NFTs are Plaguing Their Community” Hyperallergic (2021) https://hyperallergic.com/702309/artists-say-plagiarized-nfts-are-plaguing-their-community/

“10 things to know about CryptoPunks, the original NFTs” Christie’s (2021) https://www.christies.com/en/stories/10-things-to-know-about-cryptopunks-94347afeea234209a7739c240149f769#FID-11569 

Scott Reyburn, “Will Cryptocurrencies Be the Art Market’s Next Big Thing?” The New York Times (2018) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/13/arts/cryptocurrency-art-market.html/ 
“Art Term: Readymade” Tate https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/r/readymade
Cynthia Goodman, “The Digital Revolution: Art in the Computer Age” Art Journal (1990) https://www.jstor.org/stable/777115 

David Joselit, “NFTs, or The Readymade Reversed” October Magazine (2021) https://doi.org/10.1162/octo_a_00419 

Josie Thaddeus-Johns “Beeple Bring Crypto to Christie’s” The New York Times (2021) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/arts/design/christies-beeple-nft.html

Anthony Cuthbertson, “NFT millionaire Beeple says crypto art is bubble and will ‘absolutely go to zero’ The Independent (2021) https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/nft-beeple-cryptocurrency-art-b1821314.html

Zachary Small, “The Night That Sotheby’s Was Crypto Punked” The New York Times (2024) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/18/business/sothebys-crypto-nfts-auction.html

Adam Maida, “What Critics Don’t Understand About NFTs” The Atlantic (2021) https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/nfts-show-value-owning-unownable/618525/ 

Anil Dash, “NFTs Weren’t Supposed to End Like This” The Atlantic (2021) https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/nfts-werent-supposed-end-like/618488/ 

Blake Gopnik, “One Year After Beeple, the NFT has changed Artists. Has It Changed Art?” The New York Times (2022) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/03/arts/design/nft-art-beeple.html 

Nathaniel Popper, “What is the Blockchain? Explaining the Tech behind Cryptocurrencies” The New York Times (2018) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/business/dealbook/blockchains-guide-information.html