The digital art community is basically imploding right now as it has polarized into for and against jumping onto this train. People that knew nothing about this two weeks ago, are now cool with creating dox lists of other artists they think are on the wrong side. It’s pretty distressing.
are people actually making dox lists?
honestly i am unfollowing #NFT evangelists, though. the shit is gross. don't know what else to say, it's just sad. i do understand why some people disregard the whole "cosmically unnecessary electricity usage at a time when ...god am i writing this again? fuck" thing - no one's making money off of digital art, or if you did you had to sell your soul in order to get compensated. and now this is finally a chance for some people to buy a couple lottery tickets, mint their cool shit, and hope it takes off and makes them some money. i guess i can understand that. i think it's wrong to do, when you're aware of what the actual costs are, or if you imagine a world where NFTs were successful and transactions continued to exponentially grow. that's why the evangelists bother me, because they should know better
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 March 2021 04:18 (three years ago) link
beeple sold a NFT at christie's for $70M today (it was actually a bit lower than but fuck)
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 March 2021 04:19 (three years ago) link
Had beeple been doxxed before the auction as “mike winkelman “ or whatever ?
― calstars, Friday, 12 March 2021 04:36 (three years ago) link
i don't want to google this, but the thought occurred to me -- how much of this market is centered on anime fan art and furry porn?
― sarahell, Friday, 12 March 2021 08:10 (three years ago) link
I work for an art technology company, was worried what my bosses might think of all this but one of them just said (re: the christies sale) that it was 'gross' and 'depressing' so, er, phew I guess. Maybe the Germans have a word for when you're relieved at your boss's moral stance on an issue.
― Non meat-eaters rejoice – our culture has completely lost its way (ledge), Friday, 12 March 2021 09:09 (three years ago) link
Karl Malone, I suppose the word “dox” might be slightly hyperbolic, but there were apparently up to six lists angrily circulating of artists who were “engaging” with NFTs. One of the large platforms, Artstation, put out a formal statement/apology after the backlash. https://magazine.artstation.com/2021/03/a-statement-from-artstation/
― Kim, Friday, 12 March 2021 13:41 (three years ago) link
Scarcity has never been more abundant.— fed_speak (@fed_speak) March 10, 2021
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 12 March 2021 17:52 (three years ago) link
honestly, i'm registering my discontent and total disapproval right now because i think it's going to become permanent. may as well be people around from the beginning that argued that it was completely wrong
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 March 2021 17:56 (three years ago) link
The sad thing about NFTs is that all logic says they are dumb and will go away and are unsustainable, but ultimately they’re going to make a lot of people rich and I’m just too lazy/shook/broke to buy in
― bruce spr!ngisH3r3 (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 12 March 2021 18:00 (three years ago) link
this is a problem created by people who thought "the problem is that i'm not rich. the solution is to try to get rich and outsource the costs to people who don't know what i'm even talking about and don't realize they're bearing the costs. again. in 2021. on purpose, by people who think of themselves as good people"
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 March 2021 18:04 (three years ago) link
let me know if you want to know what else they thought
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 March 2021 18:06 (three years ago) link
There are collectors who pay millions of dollars for conceptual art pieces. Some of them are no more than a set of instructions. At the same time, I would guess that's a pretty small part of the art market. Most collectors want paintings/sculptures/drawings/prints they can show off at their miami beach villas.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 12 March 2021 18:22 (three years ago) link
And that's pretty much how I think the NFT market is gonna shake out long term - there will be people who will pay a lot for the famous ones, but it will not be a source of income for ordinary artists, and it's going to be a small market compared to physical show off art.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 12 March 2021 18:23 (three years ago) link
I look at it like dogecoin (which is huge) - it’s a bunch of speculators who don’t care about the product, just the value. Great fit for art!!!!!
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 March 2021 19:12 (three years ago) link
I think the difference is that all dogecoins are the same, each NFT is different. So an NFT created by Grimes will have speculators chasing it, while an NFT created by man alive probably won't.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 12 March 2021 19:15 (three years ago) link
I would invest in Evil Guide Dog NFT tbrr
― sarahell, Friday, 12 March 2021 20:31 (three years ago) link
the climate part of this editorial can take a hike, but most of it is good, and it's way more sanguine about NFTs than i am.
https://rhizome.org/editorial/2021/mar/03/another-new-world/
honestly, i just want to go away. fuck all of this
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 March 2021 20:34 (three years ago) link
I mean I think the best way to think about it is that it's just a tool for selling digital art and memorabilia. It's not a type of art or a type of memorabilia or an "asset class," it's just a way of "authenticating" a digital object and creating scarcity (as you do with, say, a certified limited edition print that you could easily make more of). And I guess that's more convenient and easier to verify than, like, having a digital artist just mail you a certificate or something. But I don't think that means that there will be all that much additional interest in buying digital art once the initial hype dies down.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 12 March 2021 20:47 (three years ago) link
nah, i don't agree that. not the art part of it or the interest in art, but the first two sentences. it is much more than that, much more complicated than that
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 March 2021 20:52 (three years ago) link
it is a way of authenticating an object (not just digital - the token can and has been many things) that also negates progress that has been made on climate change. and the more popular it gets, the worst that problem gets. and that problem is ALSO a human-caused problem, one that we imposed on ourselves.
...i know everyone likes to relegate this to an afterthought, probably because people don't like that objecting on grounds of climate change sometimes feels an unfair UNO 4-color wild card that beats all. but why are we creating additional systematically growing self-inflicted wounds, knowingly?
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 March 2021 20:56 (three years ago) link
rhetorical of course, because who wants to deal with that.
better just to assume that later this year they'll switch to proof of stake. in the meantime, we can trust that regulators have got their eyes on this and _totally_ understand what's going on
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 March 2021 20:57 (three years ago) link
oh it's stupid as shit, don't get me wrong. I also doubt that its climate change impact is even 1/10000 of cryptocurrency in general.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 12 March 2021 21:21 (three years ago) link
Also, I kind of feel like part of what makes digital art fun and interesting is that it's *not* a unique object and is infinitely copiable. Like KM, part of the enjoyment of your art for me (which, again, is awesome) is very much in the fact that we can all enjoy it together through hotlinks on an ILX thread or an accessible website. So it feels extremely artificial to create a "the one" version of an evil guide dog gif or whatever just so someone can have the bragging rights. Not that I would knock you for it if you did it, bc not being able to monetize is an understandable problem for a digital artist who has to live in a capitalist society. But it feels more like creating a piece of memorabilia of the art than the art itself in a way.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 12 March 2021 21:27 (three years ago) link
thanks man alive, and yeah i agree that it tends to go against the unique property that made digital art unique in the first place.
overall, though, digital art is just a small part of what this will become, like everyone is saying. it's bringing attention to it now, because it's interesting that beeple made $69M at an auction (a week after setting a record for selling a NFT for $6M somewhere else). but later? it sounds dumb, but you could mint something like Celebrity A's first kiss with Celebrity B, and that's a really odd thing to memorialize and trade and spend money on, but so are fortnite outfits.
i guess i'm saying, please unite together to destroy this thing now while it's relatively small, rather than letting it grow until the point when another previously non-carbon intensive classification of "objects" decides to industrialize
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 March 2021 21:56 (three years ago) link
but really - and here's where i realize i just have to walk away (from the world?!?) - i could make the same argument on a cryptocurrent subreddit or something, and it would be just as futile
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Friday, 12 March 2021 21:57 (three years ago) link
The only way I would be into NFTs if they released nanites that ate the flesh off the buyer and simultaneously uploaded the video to twitter.
― is that a haruomi hosono sword? (PBKR), Friday, 12 March 2021 22:31 (three years ago) link
Also, I kind of feel like part of what makes digital art fun and interesting is that it's *not* a unique object and is infinitely copiable
it isn't inherently though? It depends on what the art _is_ like, does it only exist on Netscape Navigator 3.0 or Mac OS9.2 ... that was a bit of the Rhizome.org / digital art "issue" ... and while it has way more variables than fixed media art (i.e. video), there are definite similarities. ... I remember one piece by the Vasulkas that had to be shown on a particular brand of CRT monitor, for example. A lot of this stuff is the province of museum preservation staff and archivists.
― sarahell, Saturday, 13 March 2021 00:21 (three years ago) link
until now
*mints the province of museum preservation staff and archivists*
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Saturday, 13 March 2021 00:37 (three years ago) link
Gonna mint my dick lol
― ukania west (Bananaman Begins), Saturday, 13 March 2021 00:49 (three years ago) link
Wait there seem to be bandwith issues
― ukania west (Bananaman Begins), Saturday, 13 March 2021 00:52 (three years ago) link
my bandwidth is fine
*mints yr dick*
actually, might as well mint a dick! if people participate in the whole thing they should do stuff like that
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Saturday, 13 March 2021 01:00 (three years ago) link
omg -- actually, gonna suggest this to a friend to do for realz
― sarahell, Saturday, 13 March 2021 03:02 (three years ago) link
went to look up whether anyone had NFTed boobs yet, revealing... SpankChain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVyFp8OxbDY
― Joe Bombin (milo z), Saturday, 13 March 2021 03:09 (three years ago) link
Wild guess that this disruptive technology flopped, but maybe the time is now
many benifits of boobs poll
― sarahell, Saturday, 13 March 2021 03:14 (three years ago) link
Karl Malone, I suppose the word “dox” might be slightly hyperbolic, but there were apparently up to six lists angrily circulating of artists who were “engaging” with NFTs. ― Kim, Friday, March 12, 2021 7:41 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
who made those lists? honestly, i want to follow them on twitter.
reflexively separating myself from anyone who is promoting this right now, it's like everyone half the people in an apartment complex starting an Ayn Rand bookclub. fine, do it, but I will also hang a xerox of alan greenspan farting as his toes get tickled on my the door to my apartment, make fun of all of them, and make sure that everyone knows Not Me
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Saturday, 13 March 2021 20:06 (three years ago) link
Seeing a lot of techno utopian ppl pushing hard online for this with music atm. I totally understand embracing a pyramid scheme to make a buck because there's less money in music these days, but positioning doing this as a revolutionary act is pretty depressing (which I'm seeing online from some "community-based" music spaces/people/thinkers/charlatans)
― Bongo Jongus, Saturday, 13 March 2021 20:25 (three years ago) link
i'm hoping that the crypto / NFT people will soon realize that they're actually more interested in the crypto part than the art part, and then they will never talk about art ever again and just go make money and move to their island with thiel
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Saturday, 13 March 2021 20:31 (three years ago) link
please RT into my butthole
congratulations new #NFT artists: you've speculated yourself into an evolving, exciting new butthole!!— Z_tbd (@weinventyou) March 13, 2021
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Saturday, 13 March 2021 20:33 (three years ago) link
i haven't heard back yet from my friend -- i fear she has minted "a dick" without me, and screwed me out of my share of dick sales
― sarahell, Saturday, 13 March 2021 22:56 (three years ago) link
https://io9.gizmodo.com/dc-comics-tells-artists-to-stay-out-of-nft-business-or-1846466427
― Kim, Sunday, 14 March 2021 16:48 (three years ago) link
I’m on @withFND 🌐0x2B867e8B4EfDB9a792a5A9C5524B7f61CF143b4Ahttps://t.co/m8iEeChAzw— Aphex Twin (@AphexTwin) March 14, 2021
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Sunday, 14 March 2021 21:17 (three years ago) link
ready for the funny part? this is his pinned tweet
We will spend a portion of the money on planting trees and either donating to permaculture projects or setting them up ourselves, depending on how much we get .— Aphex Twin (@AphexTwin) March 14, 2021
― Zach_TBD (Karl Malone), Sunday, 14 March 2021 21:18 (three years ago) link
looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool
I feel like the world has come full Nathan Barley
― Two Meter Peter (Ste), Sunday, 14 March 2021 21:35 (three years ago) link
What is the point of releasing music this way?
― frogbs, Sunday, 14 March 2021 23:14 (three years ago) link
$$$
― Bongo Jongus, Sunday, 14 March 2021 23:33 (three years ago) link
I'd like to discuss how 99% of NFT art is terrible art per se, also.
― Van Horn Street, Sunday, 14 March 2021 23:58 (three years ago) link
None of it is good.
I mean like what’s the point of an NFT music release. Is it just mp3s with an extra unique tag on it or something?
― frogbs, Monday, 15 March 2021 00:06 (three years ago) link
Ah, grift. Enjoy a gift link!
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/02/business/bitboy-ben-armstrong.html?unlocked_article_code=1.SU0.XIQw.waNRmXK-BCc_&bgrp=g&smid=url-share
Among other joys:
Back then, BitBoy was one of the most popular figures in the wild, scam-ridden world of crypto influencers. Cultivating a persona as a straight-talking everyman, he filmed a livestream five days a week in which he lectured his hundreds of thousands of listeners on the virtues of experimental coins with names like Polkadot or XRP. He said that regulators were fools, and that digital money offered a path to upward mobility. The Lamborghini was vivid proof: Crypto would make you rich and cool and successful.Two years later, Mr. Armstrong, 41, has lost his production company and much of his wealth. His friends have turned on him, and his wife has filed for divorce. Over the last five months, across countless social media posts and videos, Mr. Armstrong has claimed to be the victim of a “criminal conspiracy” by “terrorists” who took over his YouTube channel. “BitBoy is dead,” he recently declared....“I’m going through a midlife crisis,” Mr. Armstrong said in one of several recent interviews. “A spiritual crisis.”....Like any charismatic salesman, Mr. Armstrong has a carefully honed pitch: He used to be just a regular guy, he likes to say, until crypto changed his life. After undergoing treatment for a methamphetamine addiction in the early 2000s, he attended a Christian college and ended up marrying his admissions counselor.
Two years later, Mr. Armstrong, 41, has lost his production company and much of his wealth. His friends have turned on him, and his wife has filed for divorce. Over the last five months, across countless social media posts and videos, Mr. Armstrong has claimed to be the victim of a “criminal conspiracy” by “terrorists” who took over his YouTube channel. “BitBoy is dead,” he recently declared....
“I’m going through a midlife crisis,” Mr. Armstrong said in one of several recent interviews. “A spiritual crisis.”....
Like any charismatic salesman, Mr. Armstrong has a carefully honed pitch: He used to be just a regular guy, he likes to say, until crypto changed his life. After undergoing treatment for a methamphetamine addiction in the early 2000s, he attended a Christian college and ended up marrying his admissions counselor.
And especially this bit about the woman he's having an affair with:
Since the summer, Ms. Wolfe has been working with Mr. Armstrong to rebuild his fan base and fight for control of his company. Before she got interested in crypto, she considered law school, she said, and ran a small clinic for people who wanted to represent themselves in court — mostly men in divorce cases.Ms. Wolfe, who has been married and divorced four times, met Mr. Armstrong at a conference in 2022 as she was trying to make her way in the crypto industry. A few months later, an astrologer she had found on the gig work site Fiverr told her that someone was about to “change the trajectory” of her career.
Ms. Wolfe, who has been married and divorced four times, met Mr. Armstrong at a conference in 2022 as she was trying to make her way in the crypto industry. A few months later, an astrologer she had found on the gig work site Fiverr told her that someone was about to “change the trajectory” of her career.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 2 February 2024 20:56 (one month ago) link
iirc he posted an epic series of tweets about this a month or two ago
― mookieproof, Saturday, 3 February 2024 00:35 (one month ago) link