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Museums Are Cashing In on NFTs (nytimes.com) 36

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: "To wake up to one of these things is pretty special -- to have a Leonardo at home," said Joe Kennedy, the director of the contemporary art dealership Unit London, enthusing recently about an elaborately framed LED screen with a digital replica of Leonardo da Vinci's "Portrait of a Musician" glowing on his gallery wall. The original was 800 miles away in the Ambrosiana museum in Milan. The Leonardo was one of six ultra-high-resolution copies of famous paintings from across the centuries in Unit's moodily lit "Eternalizing Art History" exhibition, which closed on Saturday. The show was the latest attempt by cash-poor museums to generate money by selling nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. Last year, NFTs, usually pegged to the high-flying but volatile Ethereum cryptocurrency, took the market for art and collectibles by storm, with sales estimated in the tens of billions.

Pandemic-related lockdowns and reprioritized government spending have put the world's public museums under financial pressure. Yet so far, despite the formidable sales figures being achieved by NFTs, few institutions have explored this digital asset as a fund-raising mechanism. Unit and its Florence-based technology partner Cinello forged licensing agreements with several prominent Italian museums to create a hybrid offering of limited edition LED reproductions in period-style wooden frames, each accompanied by a unique NFT. Same-size digital versions of the Leonardo portrait, Caravaggio's "Bowl of Fruit" (also in the Ambrosiana) and Raphael's "Madonna of the Goldfinch" (in the Uffizi in Florence) were offered in editions of nine, ranging in price from 100,000 euros to $549,000 per piece (around $110,000 to $550,000). Fifty percent of sales proceeds went back to the licensing museums. By the Friday after the show closed, seven sales had been confirmed up to $274.5,000, which included at least one of the Leonardo NFTs.
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Museums Are Cashing In on NFTs More

Museums Are Cashing In on NFTs

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  • If only the NYT were sharing the report.

    https://news.artnet.com/art-wo... [artnet.com]

  • FTFY

    Enough of these nonsense stories !

  • Better in the museum funds than in the pockets of grifters and fools.

  • Buying an NFT from a museum is effectively a donation to the museum, so why bother with the extra steps?

    • Because sometimes people are more inclined to donate if they feel they are getting something, even if the something is a worthless token like a paper flower.

      A few animal shelters and wildlife protection charities come to mind that will promise to send photos of 'your' rescued animal if you set up a monthly donation.

  • "NFTs, usually pegged to the high-flying but volatile Ethereum cryptocurrency, took the market for art and collectibles by storm, with sales estimated in the tens of billions."

    Of COURSE it did.
    The same people who would buy some janky splashes of oil paint on canvas because a "supposed expert" assures them it really was painted by van Gogh, are likely almost exactly the same group of people willing to be gulled that NFTs *also* are 'almost as valuable as the real thing'.

    "I bought this NFT, it's a limited edi

  • You've been able to buy printed replicas of famous paintings for... just about ever. All this does is exchange the printed copy for a digital one.

    • You've been able to buy printed replicas of famous paintings for... just about ever. All this does is exchange the printed copy for a digital one.

      But NFTs prove that this is a 1/1 copy of the original!

      there has to be some serious irony to be pointed out in there but I just want to hit my head on my desk

      • but I just want to hit my head on my desk

        I want to figure out a way to get in on it. If people are giving up money so easily, how do I redirect that to my bank account?

        • but I just want to hit my head on my desk

          I want to figure out a way to get in on it. If people are giving up money so easily, how do I redirect that to my bank account?

          Hmm, maybe I'm missing out by not making an NFT of me hitting my head against the desk. Do animated gifs work?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tsqr ( 808554 )

      You've been able to buy printed replicas of famous paintings for... just about ever. All this does is exchange the printed copy for a digital one.

      Yes, but the high-quality print you buy in the museum gift shop doesn't cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      Yeah, but the digital print also came with an NFT, therefore... NFTs are the future and you should buy my NFTs for lots of money.

      • I've tried multiple times, but your online store is down. Here, I'm going to paste my credit card number in this message, just send me all the NFTs!!

        1234 5678 9012 3456

        My bank acccount secret password is Hunter2

  • So yea, what exactly do these idiots think they're paying for? The museums were never the copyright holders, the artists may have been (if copyright existed at the time...) but these would be so far expired....

  • It's been long surmised that the multi-million dollar auction sales of artwork also has ties to money laundering and is also associated with similar schemes as NFT's with self selling or collusion of buyers.

    How Money Laundering Works In The Art World [artandobject.com]

    Treasury Urges Closer Watch on Money Laundering in Fine Art [usnews.com]

    The Art of Money Laundering [imf.org]

    As Money Launderers Buy Dalís, U.S. Looks at Lifting the Veil on Art Sales [nytimes.com]

  • Is this a new fangled numerical notation?
  • I'm usually pretty anti-crypto and anti-NFTs, but in this particular case I don't have a problem with it. This isn't that different than a respected artist selling limited prints of a particularly famous painting. I have a limited print of a painting of a relative of mine who fought in World War 2 at an important battle and he played a significant role; the painting itself resides in a museum for everyone to enjoy but I have the print in my house as it has a somewhat greater personal value to me.

    So th

    • This isn't that different than a respected artist selling limited prints of a particularly famous painting.

      Except for a limited edition print, you both own a physical print and actually can have it in your possession. Having an NFT is just an entry in a blockchain that contains a URL pointing to the thing you allegedly own. Except the server on which said thing resides may or may not be there tomorrow; or the URL itself may or may not result in a 404 tomorrow; or the bits comprising the file that gets ret

  • From years of watching Antiques Roadshow and other similar shows, I've seen over and over again that just because something is rare doesn't make it valuable. NFTs are *only* valuable because they are rare, or one of a kind. Unlike antiques they are also 100% identical to their copies, so the rarity is an artificial construct.
    I could buy a digital work and pay 100x the asking price, making sure I got a receipt. The difference between my copy and the others? A receipt showing I paid 100x. NFTs seem to

  • Buy a poster or an NFT.

  • NFTs are like the modern day IQ test. (you lose by participating)
    Common sense? These people clearly have too much money.

    -scam schmam nft!
  • Essentially worthless, unless you can get the next fool along to buy it off you. One time there was a name for this kid of financial instrument, a pyramid scam.

  • Anybody that thinks they can make money on NFT's is, and it's because it appeals to the scarcity model of economics... there is only one of each NFT. Any artist can make something that is unique, but there are a lot of works of art that are unique with no value that someone paid for that are now worthless. Not all NFT's will be worthless, but a vast majority of them will probably become worthless.

  • There is a very large difference between a museum and an art gallery.

  • Or you could just buy a poster perhaps ??

    I've seen some good scams to part people from their money but this is a cracker.

    • You don't need to plug a poster in, they're cheap, and there's no sane angle from which an NFT has any advantage over one. Either way, you're buying a copy of a painting, and you own that unique copy.

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