Damien Hirst Starts Setting Thousands Of His Paintings In Flames
Famed English artist Damien Hirst has begun burning thousands of his paintings as part of The Currency, a physical and digital art project featuring 10,000 real-life works and their corresponding non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Holders had a year to decide if they’d prefer to keep the original artwork or opt for the digital token, with both mediums only divided by a fine margin. The ritual finally began on Tuesday at Newport Street Gallery in London, where it was also live-streamed.
According to CNN, thousands more of the works are expected to be reduced to ashes by the end of the month, as Hirst feeds painting after painting into six glass-cased incinerators packed into the second floor of the gallery’s building.
When asked if he felt that pitting NFTs against physical artworks was a gamble, especially when he was essentially discarding nearly £10 million (US$10.9 million) worth of paintings, the veteran was quick to point out the two weren’t separate entities, but rather that “there’s only ever art.”
“A lot of people think I’m burning millions of dollars of art, but I’m not. The value of art, digital or physical, which is hard to define at the best of times, will not be lost; it will be transferred to the NFT as soon as they are burnt,” Hirst explained on Instagram.
At the moment, it’s just as good as anyone’s guess if the physical or digital artworks will be worth more in the future.
“I have no idea what the future holds, whether the NFTs or physicals are going to be more valuable or less. But that is art! The fun part of the journey and maybe the point of the whole project,” the artist surmised.
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