by Paddy Johnson and William Powhida on March 9, 2021
Beeple (b. 1981), EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS, 2021. Non-fungible token (jpg). 21,069 x 21,069 pixels (319,168,313 bytes). Minted on 16 February 2021. Starting Bid: $100. Hammer price: 6.6 million. Offered as a single lot sale concurrently with First Open. Online, 25 February to 11 March
On this episode of Explain Me we do a deep dive on Non-Fungible Tokens, NFTs, pronounced Nifty, but also N-F-T. Joined by guests Marina Galperina, features editor of Gizmodo, and former curator and writer on digital art, and Amy Whitaker, author and assistant professor of visual arts administration, hosts William Powhida and Paddy Johnson navigate the headlines generating news around this new digital currency, the basic definitions, and the potential and dangers it poses to artists.
Timestamped resources
Read and Watch
- Amy Whitaker, A New Way To Pay Artists, TEDXfoggybottom
- Amy Whitaker and Roman Kraussl, Fractional Equity, Blockchain, and the Future of Creative Work, Management Science, July 2020
- Amy Whitaker, Art and Blockchain: A Primer, History, and Taxonomy of Blockchain Use Cases in the Arts, Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts. Summer 2019
- Amy Whitaker, Hannah Grannemann, Artists’ Royalties and Performers’ Equity: A Ground-Up Approach to Social Impact Investment in Creative Fields, CMSE Vol 3, no 2, pg 33-51.
- Memo Atkin, The Unreasonable Ecological Cost of #Cryptoart, Dec 14 2020
- Rea McNamara, How Crypto Art Might Offer Artists Increased Autonomy, March 2, 2021
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by Paddy Johnson and William Powhida on August 4, 2020
Jordan Casteel, “Within Reach”, New Museum installation view, 2020. Photo: Dario Lasagni
In this episode of Explain Me, critic and curator Antwaun Sargent joins us to discuss the effects of the pandemic and Alex Greenberger’s Zombie Figuration, a confusing essay that appeared earlier this month in ARTnews. In the first half hour we discuss the disparate effects of the pandemic and general politics. Then we move on to art, zombies, race, and why art has limits. Listen on Spotify, Stitcher, and Apple Podcasts.
BIOGRAPHY
Antwaun Sargent is an art critic and a writer who has contributed to The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vice and more, as well as essays to multiple museum publications. His first book, “The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion” (Aperture) is out now. In April he announced a new partnership with Gagosian that will include working on four exhibitions and contributing features to their magazine. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
LISTENER ADVISORY: In this episode, Paddy Johnson occasionally repeats Antwaun Sargent’s words when his audio cuts out. This leads to periodic moments when Johnson and Sargent speak at the same time.
LINKS
EARLY WHITNEY BIENNIAL REVIEWS
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