Despite the collapse of cryptocurrencies, some investors and visionaries are still determined to create a link between the world of “physical” art, paintings or sculptures, and “blockchain”, the digital technology that promises inviolability.
The proposal by Artessere, a company created by a former banker in Liechtenstein, is very prosaic: a faithful reproduction of a painting is created, it is “cut” into small digital squares and the NFT (Non-Fungible Token, an active digitally encrypted) of each piece is sold at 100 or 200 euros per piece.
The aim is to “democratize art,” Artessere founder Anaida Schneider told AFP via videoconference.
“Not everyone has a hundred thousand dollars, or a million, to invest. So I came up with the idea of creating a kind of mutual fund on the ‘blockchain’,” she explained.
The company started its journey last year and is currently offering painters of Soviet non-conformist art such as Oleg Tselkov and Shimon Okshteyn.
Schneider bought the paintings from these artists and sets a maximum period of 10 years to resell them on the market. The idea is that the paintings gain value over time, so when they are sold, each NFT owner will receive their corresponding profits.
But what happens when the artwork loses value or is destroyed?
“We’re insured,” says Schneider. And as for the devaluation, “I hope it never happens. We are experts at this. We know what we are doing,” he emphasizes.
The former banker does not give further details about her business plan and denies that her objective is purely speculative. She assures her that her project is fully supported by the “Blockchain Act” that Liechtenstein passed in 2019.
This tax haven was one of the first territories in the world to pass a specific law to regulate the world of “blockchain” and NFTs.
NFTs – also a kind of property title to an intangible asset – represented around US$2.8 billion in the art world in 2021, according to the balance sheet of French company NonFungible.
A survey conducted in the first quarter of the year by the website Art+tech Report with more than 300 collectors revealed that 21% have already started to buy “fractional” works of art through NFT.
The art market, however, has been rocked by scandals involving forgeries of artworks registered through NFTs on the “blockchain” and the theft of cryptocurrencies. The problem is even more delicate with works that are publicly owned, in museums or galleries.
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