Banksy Artwork Gets Purchased… Then Torched To Be Sold As An NFT
Image via Burnt Banksy
A blockchain company purchased a US$95,000 Banksy piece, burned it, and then broadcasted it on Twitter. The process was all for the sake of turning the work into a virtual asset called a non-fungible token, or NFT.
The company behind the stunt, Injective Protocol, bought the screenprint, Morons (White), from an auction. The original print, one of an edition of 500, was a black-and-white depiction of an art auction with the message, “I can’t believe you morons buy this s**t.” The team then set it on fire and live-streamed everything through the Twitter account, Burnt Banksy.
Later, the group of self-proclaimed “tech and art enthusiasts” created a digital representation of the artwork, which is now available as an NFT and can be viewed and purchased digitally.
According to Injective Protocol executive Mirza Uddin, the burning event was “an expression of art itself.”
“We entirely recreate the physical piece and input specifications, such as the art version number into the smart contract code, so no one can ever alter the digital art in any way. The physical piece will forever be memorialized in this NFT,” Uddin added.
In the video showing the burning process, a member of the team said that the goal of it was to “inspire” artists to “explore a new medium of artistic expression.”
“If you were to have the NFT and the physical piece, the value would be primarily in the physical piece,” he said.” “By removing the physical piece from existence and only having the NFT… [this] ensures that no one can alter the piece and it is the true piece that exists in the world. By doing this, the value of the physical piece will then be moved onto the NFT.”
The digital Morons (White) remix will be on auction on the OpenSea marketplace until March 9.
The art will now live on as an NFThttps://t.co/1k8EXyUOEZ
— Burnt Banksy (@BurntBanksy) March 4, 2021
[via Dazed Digital, cover image via Burnt Banksy]
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