VPRO Backlight
NFT Mania
What is going on in the art world? Some artists are suddenly receiving millions for their digital artworks due to the introduction of so-called NFTs.
NFTs are "non-fungible tokens," a kind of digital property deed that makes virtual images tradable. For a year now, NFTs have been the expensive new toys of often young, anonymous collectors with lots of crypto money. Van Gogh died poor, but for digital artists the opposite now seems within reach.
VPRO Documentary meets a vanguard of digital artists at the largest international art fair in Miami. A wonderful new world reveals itself. Here the money is lapping at the skirting boards, the sun is forever shining and a new generation of art collectors is showing itself for the first time. In this world, NFT artists are the new prophets.
But the combination between crypto currency and media art also raises many questions. Does the NFT craze offer the long-awaited online disruption in favor of creative creators? Or is it a game played with only a few super-rich winners and many losers? Will the air soon run out of the NFT balloon? Or are NFTs the harbinger of changes that go far beyond the arts?