ARTBLOC: Art Meets Technology
Tokenization of Artworks and the Future of Global Art Markets
Translated from:
#ARTBLOC #ArtWorks #ArtInvestment
“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” — Henry Ward Beecher
In the contemporary moment, where artificial intelligence is eliminating manual labour and technology overwhelms every genre, perhaps the only unvarying field of creativity is — fine art. This may be for the reason that an artwork carries the intention of its creator, and is constructed through not mere aesthetics and convenience — but through the long-standing history and agonizing politics behind its creation. It is easy to categorize “art” and “technology”, or “creativity” and “science” as intangible (like water and oil).
At least until the introduction of blockchain technology.
In recent years, a cryptocurrency auction on the blockchain-based platform, Maecenas sold an Andy Warhol piece at maximum $5.6 Million, of which 31.5% was owned by cryptocurrency. Works of Pablo Picasso are also planned to be tokenized and sold through upcoming cryptocurrency auctions. In other words, anyone has the potential to own world-class masterpieces by simply purchasing tokens rather than going through the process of art dealers.
Should blockchain technology based platforms be activated, issues surrounding traditional art markets will be solved. The first problem is the lack of transparency in the sales and trading of an artwork, which corrupts the fairness in price and authenticity of an artist’s creation — ultimately decreasing its value. However, with blockchain technology, all data surrounding an artwork is automatically formed and recorded to be disclosed transparently. This method greatly rids the problems surrounding monetary and artistic values of an artwork.
Another concern in existing art markets is the liquidity of artworks. As their investment and asset values get more and more recognized, many potential buyers desire to purchase them, but fail to because of their high price. Should artworks be tokenized and sold in fractional ownership sales through blockchain, anyone can easily own a da Vinci or a van Gogh painting.
There are already several platforms based on blockchain technology that exist currently, but none of them are yet to overcome the growing limitations of the art trade.
To reduce the burden of existing concerns of art investing, companies like ARTBLOC were created. Through a split-sale, or fractionalized ownership method the everyday art enthusiast can gain possession of an artwork by purchasing a divided 1/n titles per piece. ARTBLOC offers a highly progressive way of gaining an artwork’s ownership since one does not tangibly obtain the artwork — yet gain profit just as so.
The video below shows a speech from Jess Houlgrave, co-representative and chief operations officer of Codex Protocol. I recommend it for anyone that is curious about the relationship between blockchain technology and the art market, as well as their future impacts.
About ARTBLOC
Opening up art investment for all, ARTBLOC enables micro-art investment by tokenizing the fractionalized ownership of masterpieces. ARTBLOC serves as a community for sharing art world information and critiques as well as a platform for art investment. ARTBLOC aims to drive the growth of the art market in general and support the artists, ultimately bringing art to our everyday lives.
