If you’ve ever vacantly nodded along while someone rants to you about NFTs, then this finale episode is for you. Welcome to Blockchain for Bimbos. From a genuine effort to put agency over the sale of their work back into the hands of artists was born a Frankenstein’s monster: the NFT. It’s the internet version of owning a star… if you could resell that star for millions of dollars to a crypto millionaire. Even stranger, the successful marriage of NFTs and legacy art institutions made strange bed fellows out of affluent old art collectors and dweeby tech bros. And while the era of 2021-2022 was a gold rush for those who could wrap their heads around this intentionally confounding technology, it also exposed something we always knew about the world of art, but never wanted to admit…
Ernst De Geer’s THE HYPNOSIS is now streaming on MUBI in many countries as part of their Millennial Meltdown series.
You can try MUBI free for 30 days at mubi.com/rehash.
Support us on Patreon and get juicy bonus content:
https://www.patreon.com/rehashpodcast
Intro and outro song by our talented friend Ian Mills:
https://linktr.ee/ianmillsmusic
SOURCES
Kevin Roose, “What are NFTs?” The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/03/18/technology/nft-guide.html
Valentina Di Liscia, “Artists Say Plagiarized NFTs are Plaguing Their Community” Hyperallergic (2021) https://hyperallergic.com/702309/artists-say-plagiarized-nfts-are-plaguing-their-community/
“10 things to know about CryptoPunks, the original NFTs” Christie’s (2021) https://www.christies.com/en/stories/10-things-to-know-about-cryptopunks-94347afeea234209a7739c240149f769#FID-11569
Scott Reyburn, “Will Cryptocurrencies Be the Art Market’s Next Big Thing?” The New York Times (2018) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/13/arts/cryptocurrency-art-market.html/
“Art Term: Readymade” Tate https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/r/readymade
Cynthia Goodman, “The Digital Revolution: Art in the Computer Age” Art Journal (1990) https://www.jstor.org/stable/777115
David Joselit, “NFTs, or The Readymade Reversed” October Magazine (2021) https://doi.org/10.1162/octo_a_00419
Josie Thaddeus-Johns “Beeple Bring Crypto to Christie’s” The New York Times (2021) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/arts/design/christies-beeple-nft.html
Anthony Cuthbertson, “NFT millionaire Beeple says crypto art is bubble and will ‘absolutely go to zero’ The Independent (2021) https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/nft-beeple-cryptocurrency-art-b1821314.html
Zachary Small, “The Night That Sotheby’s Was Crypto Punked” The New York Times (2024) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/18/business/sothebys-crypto-nfts-auction.html
Adam Maida, “What Critics Don’t Understand About NFTs” The Atlantic (2021) https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/nfts-show-value-owning-unownable/618525/
Anil Dash, “NFTs Weren’t Supposed to End Like This” The Atlantic (2021) https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/nfts-werent-supposed-end-like/618488/
Blake Gopnik, “One Year After Beeple, the NFT has changed Artists. Has It Changed Art?
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!