Crypto-art and NFTs: a technical and aesthetic analysis

Abstract

Over the past few years, especially after the pandemic outbreak in 2020, the art world has witnessed the unrestrained development of Crypto-art and NFTs. After reaching record breaking numbers, today, NFTs constitute an ever-growing market that cannot be ignored or treated like a mere transitory trend. Crypto-art is seeking its place in the history of art and the different actors involved in the traditional art field are starting to respond to these new artistic and economic stimuli that could lead to a progressive convergence of digital and physical domains. The present dissertation investigates Crypto-art’s phenomenon from a double perspective: a more technical and technological point of view on one side and a conceptual and aesthetic perspective on the other, reflecting the hybrid nature of the EGArt course. Therefore, the thesis is essentially structured in two parts. The first deals with technical aspects related to Crypto-art, namely the blockchain technology on which it is based, taking into account its advantages but also its threats, whereas the second focuses on conceptual aspects of NFTs, such as Crypto-art’s radical revolution of aesthetic fruition and art collecting, but also recurrent dynamics that surprisingly pertain to NFTs as well as the traditional art system. For the purpose of this dissertation, different actors working in the art field whose activity involves Crypto-art were interviewed in order to examine how the art world is concretely reacting. In conclusion, this work aims at offering a general overview of Crypto-art, which is not taken into account as a phenomenon on its own, but is considered in a wider context that includes its intersections with the traditional art system and its possible future implications.