Do you remember that pretentious performance piece in a gallery or museum—the kind that made you wonder how it was even possible someone got away with it? You didn’t say it out loud—you have manners—but the audacity of taking the audience for granted was... breathtaking, wasn’t it?
Now picture the other end of the art world: a Picasso or modern master rolled into auction. The room quiets. The bidding begins. Tension rises. And then—BANG—millions get hammered to the table, and applause erupts. Not for the work itself, but for the number. The money. That’s what the performance was about.
Yes, ideology twisted one part of the scene—but let’s be clear: the whole thing still served the market. Galleries made secret deals. Auctions made spectacle. And in hindsight, NFTs were just the next phase—not art performing in the market, but the market performing itself.
That was the breakthrough: the first real market art performance. No substance required. The more absurd, the better. A digital rock? Perfect. The outrage only amplified the spectacle. And if you let them, they’ll run it all over again. Version 2.0 incoming.
So, let’s clarify: NFTs—at least in that first wave—were a performance by the market, for the market. It was like a group of neo-Wall Street bros discovered how to drip a Jackson Pollock in Ethereum—and hit jackpot. Sure, some rebels saw it as a workaround to escape housing market doom, but mostly it was a coup. A cultural one. The revolution got monetized.
Any truly dissident voices? Crushed under niche irrelevance. And you—dear buyer—might make some profit still, but odds are, you were the useful idiot who helped awaken a new kind of monster.
I write this as a reluctant historian, offering you the lens before the dust even settles. I’ve packed it into a neon sign layered in irony and self-deprecation. And of course, the joke is on me. Because even if every word above is true… there’s probably no one here to care.
1/1 on Series: ”Things You Think and Believe but Can’t Say Inside the Arts" for 0.39ETH
Comes with a physical signed print if the collector is willing to pay cost + postal
