Who would have guessed a year ago that NFTs would take the world by storm, creating one of the most overhyped phenomena the art world has ever experienced. Nevertheless, we live in uncertain times and the word NFT has now been chosen as word of the year by Collins Dictionary. This intangible digital curiosity goes hand in hand with Tulip Mania; the Dutch tulip bulb market bubble, one of the most infamous market crashes in history. It occurred in Holland during the early to mid-1600s when speculation drove the value of tulip bulbs to extremes. At the height of the market, the rarest tulip bulbs traded for as much as six times an average person’s annual salary.
At this time, I think NFT stands for No F……g Talent – PCR
Art critic Edward Lucie Smith says; Yes, you can look at them. No, you can’t sit on them. Not that you would ever actually want to do so. Turn back a day, and there’s the pixelated GIF of a Nyan Cat, which “Sold For A Staggering $560,000”. Not to mention Beeples NFT of his work which sold for $69 million at Christie’s. The sale positions him “among the top three most valuable living artists.” My problem is differentiating NFTs from low tech gifs and ‘Game Art’. Sorry, these are just not good enough to be sold in the same venues as El Greco, Rembrandt and Picasso….
(Non-Fungible Tokens) are by no means confined to the realm of contemporary art, but it’s clear that they are beginning to make a significant impact there. They are things you can own. Or purchase a share in. Or not own at all – just look at the screen and let yourself go with the flow. No issues about gender. No sermons about racial equality. Lots of fantasies about money. The dreamy sensation of being up to the minute, with money set to cascade into your pocket, not out of it. Also, a suspicion that the art world, the commercial part of which has till now survived the pandemic remarkably well, may once again be heading for a fall. Sudden downturns, after big upswings, have long been part of the relationship between art and Western capitalism.
Definition of ‘NFT’: Word Frequency NFT in British English (ˌɛnɛfˈtiː) ABBREVIATION FOR
1. non-fungible token: a unique digital certificate, registered in a blockchain that is used to record the ownership of an asset such as an artwork or a collectable NOUN an asset whose ownership is recorded by means of a non-fungible token the artist sold the work as an NFT
‘NFT’, the abbreviation of ‘non-fungible token’, the unique digital identifier that records ownership of a digital asset that has entered the mainstream and seen millions spent on the most sought-after images and videos, has been named Collins Word of the Year 2021.
It is one of three tech-based words to make Collins’ long list of ten words of the year, including seven words, brand new to Collins.