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The art of authenticity, or how Blockchain’s reshaping the art landscape

 

The art of authenticity, or how Blockchain’s reshaping the art landscape

Powered by innovation, and designed to bring equality, authenticity, and transparency to the global table, Blockchain has begun to make a name for itself in numerous industries. According to Statista, the global Blockchain market is expected to reach 163 billion U.S. dollars by 2027, which is a promise of enormous growth. To put things into perspective, the market’s value in 2018 was 1,57 billion U.S. dollars, suggesting that Blockchain’s reign is just about to begin. Although Blockchain’s emergence is likely to disrupt numerous industries, it is especially revolutionary for the art industry, where, for the longest time, game rules, players, and prizes were untouched by the changing global landscapes. Auction houses and powerful art collectors continued to shape the industry for years,  but Blockchain’s use is likely to change the art world’s power structure, making access to artworks easier, and the process of art purchase transparent.
The blockchain-powered art revolution has already begun: in 2018, for the first time ever,  31,5% of shares of Andy Warhol’s art piece “14 Small Electric Chairs (1980)” was put up for sale in cryptocurrencies, when blockchain platform Maecenas collaborated with London gallery Dadiani Fine Art. The very same year, Christie’s, the world’s leading auction house, recorded transactions made during the sale of the $318 million art collection solely with the use of blockchain technology. 2020 marks another important milestone for the art world: Picasso’s "Danse du ventre devant homme impassible" became the first-ever artwork by the world-famous artist sold entirely for cryptocurrencies. As Blockchain’s importance is growing, such purchases are likely to mark the beginning of the new era in the art industry.
How is Blockchain reshaping the structures of the art world? What does it bring to the art table? Let us explore 3 ingredients behind Blockchain’s potential success in the industry.

1. Authenticity

Forgery is one of the art world’s greatest challenges: Thomas Hoving, the former director of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, estimated that around 40% of art included in the various collections is actually fake. The level of criminal activity connected with art forgery and theft is high, and numerous museums around the world often discover that their collections are not as valuable and authentic as they thought. Blockchain is a response to the art world’s struggle for authenticity. Once listed on Blockchain, information on the art piece’s history and authorship cannot be altered. It is extremely important for Art Provenance - the story of an art piece’s origins - as it allows us to effortlessly trace back an artwork’s history from the latest owner to the first element in the art chain - an artist himself. With the use of Blockchain technology, ensuring Art Provenance is easier than ever, and buyers can be sure of the authenticity of the purchased art, for information cannot be manipulated once it is in the system. Why is it so important? Without clearly established origins of art pieces, ownership becomes a problematic issue to tackle. For example, in 2008 Swiss dealer Alain Dreyfus bought the painting by Alfred Sisley only to discover, years later, that it rightfully belonged to the Jewish family, as it was stolen by the Nazis in 1940. Dreyfus returned the painting to the authorities, demanding reimbursement from the auction house. It is just one of the examples of authenticity’s importance for every art buyer. Luckily, thanks to Blockchain, ownership is easy to determine, as every owner is marked in the system, taking authenticity to the next level.

2. Equality

The art world used to be dominated by the prominent auction houses, and rich collectors, making investing in art difficult for outsiders, who did not fit the traditional art buyer’s profile. Blockchain’s emergence into the art scene democratized the art world, removing the need for third-parties in the process of art purchase. Artists can directly sell their pieces without any assistance from galleries or auction houses. In turn, they gain control over artworks’ prices and freedom from the industry’s gatekeepers whims. Given that Blockchain allows for easier securitization of assets, it is becoming increasingly popular to buy shares of extremely valuable pieces of art. Such a procedure is considered far less risky, and makes for a good investment, as fractional ownership can be easily transferred onto somebody else. As Blockchain eliminates the need for a middleman, fees connected with art investments are much lower, and buying art requires smaller capital than ever before. For the first time ever, one’s geographical location is irrelevant: in the decentralized, global system, everybody can purchase art, provided they have funds for it.

  
3. Transparency

As everything from an art piece’s history and authorship is transparent, Blockchain encourages the fair and democratized art market. Whatever you see is what you get, and manipulation of information is simply impossible, which is why Blockchain-powered art cannot be subjected to censorship. In 2019, French street artist Pascal Boyart created a mural celebrating the 10th anniversary of Bitcoin’s Genesis Block, hiding Bitcoins inside the art piece. Within a month, the mural was painted over by the Parisian authorities, and immediately recreated in the Blockchain universe, since crypto art cannot be ever altered, and therefore censored. Transferred to the Ethereum’s virtual world, the fragments of the mural can now be bought by users on marketplace OpenSea. Transparency is Blockchain’s second name, and art’s new best friend, saving artists, art collectors, and investors from legal battles, and governments’ censorship.

Blockchain’s non-changeable nature is a double-edged sword

Although Blockchain’s transparency and non-changeable nature help to ensure the authenticity of art pieces, it is entirely ineffective with the work of old masters. Very often, identifying an author of an art piece is difficult and requires extensive research. In such a situation, creating an art piece entry in the Blockchain database can be problematic. If the author is different than first thought, we cannot alter the information in the Blockchain database, which causes information inconsistencies. For modern art, it is usually not a problem, as authors are typically known, but for older art pieces, whose authors are long dead, it creates numerous challenges with data storage.

All in all, Blockchain may be the answer to the art world’s struggles with transparency, authenticity, and equality, as it democratizes the art market, allowing both artists and buyers to eliminate the need for a middleman, and rewrite the rules of the art game.  Born to create a fair, borderless world, Blockchain may become art’s best ally against forgery, theft, censorship, and dominance of big auction houses, and art galleries. Perhaps art is long, life is short, and blockchain is forever.

Sources:
1. https://www.statista.com/statistics/647231/worldwide-blockchain-technolo...
2. https://decrypt.co/31210/a-picasso-artwork-was-just-sold-for-cryptocurrency
3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/zoharelhanani/2018/12/17/how-blockchain-cha...
4. https://medium.com/maecenas/how-blockchain-can-improve-art-provenance-an...
5. https://businessblockchainhq.com/business-blockchain-news/art-industry-i...
6. https://coincentral.com/blockchain-technology-art/

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