You were defiant and beautiful in pastel neon by Giant Swan. Edition 1 of 1.
Digital art in recent years has been growing with new technological developments creating a new world of opportunities in audiovisual experiences. Artists have been experimenting with this form since the 1960s when computers were being introduced to the greater public. While such advancements have given artists new tools to express with, digital art has yet to be fully embraced by the art market as a whole.
伴随着近年来新技术的发展，数字艺术为视听体验创造出一个充满机遇的新世界。自1960年代计算机被引入大众，艺术家们就一直在尝试此类形式。尽管发展过程为艺术家们提供了新的表达工具，但数字艺术仍然没有被整个艺术市场所完全接受。
‘sä-v(ə-)rən-tē (beginning state) by Micah Johnson. Transformative video art that changes with bitcoin contributions over a decade.
A tangible artwork may draw millions at auction with digital art lacking in the uniqueness and security that the former offers to do so. In fact, digital art can be easily reproduced, distributed, and made untraceable making it almost impossible to monetize. However, recent advancements in blockchain technology have turned a new leaf for some. Perhaps, the global pandemic also helped to fuel artists to look into Crypto art as galleries shuttered their doors and people remained at their homes sending images and videos to each other.
尽管缺乏传统艺术品所具有独一性和安全性，但一件出色的数字艺术品在拍卖会上可能被竞拍至数百万美元。实际上，数字艺术会很容易被复制，传播并变得难以追踪，从而几乎无法获利。但是，近来区块链技术的发展开创了新的局面。由于全球疫情，画廊暂停营业，人们呆在家中彼此传送图像和视频，让更多艺术家开始了解起加密艺术（Crypo art：与区块链技术相关的一类艺术）
Why Artists Join the Crypto Art Movement
为什么艺术家加入加密艺术运动
CryptoKitty Mork by Hackatao. Edition 1 of 1.
Digital artworks in the past usually easily dismissed by the traditional art market, citing issues in provenance, uniqueness, and exclusivity among other factors. This is resolved through non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which links a unique token to the specific artwork, carrying all the details or metadata such as ownership and authenticity so that it may operate in the same way collectors would want it to be. However, at the end of the day, convincing artists to use and understand this segment of blockchain technology for art still hinders the development of this emerging marketplace.
过去，数字艺术品通常会因为出处，唯一性和排他性等问题，在传统艺术市场中被轻易忽略。这些现在可以通过非同质化通证（NFT）解决，这种加密货币将唯一的代码链接到特定的艺术品，并承载其所有的详细信息或元数据（例如所有权和真实性），以便可以按照收藏家所希望的方式进行操作。然而归根结底，如何说服艺术家使用和理解这一区块链技术仍然阻碍了这个新兴市场的发展。
Portraits of a Mind, Block 21. Image from Robert Alice & Ben Gentilli
It was a timely coincidence of social distancing around the world that may have helped artists to consider such a route. Meanwhile, new token providers started optimizing the technology for art, inviting artists to join their gallery spaces in the digital realm. Over the course of the year, Crypto art began gaining traction as the art industry began to look for innovative solutions for maintaining revenue and growth. Jump to 2020 October and in a surprising turn of events, the major auction house Christie’s auctions off its first-ever crypto artwork for $131,250. The work made by Ben Gentilli is one of 40 objects in the series, Portraits of a Mind, and is an attempt by the artist to make a portrait of the anonymous founder of blockchain technology, Satoshi Nakamoto.
全球性的社交隔离是一个偶然的巧合，也许这会促使艺术家来考虑这样的途径。与此同时，新的数字货币提供商开始为了加密艺术而优化技术，邀请艺术家加入他们在数字领域的画廊空间。这一年中，随着艺术行业开始寻求创新的解决方案来维持收入和增长，加密艺术也开始受到关注。2020年10月，发生了一个意外的转折事件，大型拍卖行佳士得以131,250美元的价格拍卖了首件加密数字艺术品。这件艺术品是作者本·根蒂利（Ben Gentilli）的“心灵肖像”系列中的40件作品之一，在这个系列中作者试图描绘区块链技术的匿名创始人中本聪（Satoshi Nakamoto）的肖像。
Bull Run by Beeple (Mike Winkleman). Nov. 19th, 2020.
Beeple Instagram page: @beeple_crap
Besides the growing public interest, crypto art granted artists new possibilities of expression such as providing a program for the artwork that could manipulate the existing work’s color or shapes for the owner as if it were intended. For example, famous crypto artist, Beeple (Mike Winkleman), created a work that would change irreversibly based on the final result of the US general election: If Trump had won, the image would morph into a muscular Trump in hell. If he lost, he would die, being left to rot next to a pile of trash. Although the buyer had no knowledge of the irreversible change, the work was sold for $66,666.
除了日益增长的公众兴趣之外，加密艺术还为艺术家的表达提供了新的可能性。比如给加密艺术品提供程序，让它能够按照其所有者的意愿来操控现有作品的颜色或形状。例如，著名加密艺术家Beeple (Mike Winkleman) 根据美国大选的最终结果创作了一部不可逆转的作品：如果特朗普获胜，这幅图像里的特朗普会变成地狱里的一个肌肉男。但如果他输了，他会被留在一堆垃圾旁死去腐烂。尽管买主当时不知道这个不可逆转的结果会如何，该作品仍以66,666美元的价格售出。
SuperRare, a Crypto art online market place
Another factor that attracts artists to Crypto art is the opportunity of secondary sales. Some platforms that provide tokens to artists have built-in software that gives the artist a commission for the initial selling as well as a resale by the owner. For example, a collector that purchases digital art from Asynchronous Art, the artist is paid a commission on that sale and if the collector sells it two years later, the artist also automatically earns a 20% commission for that secondary sale.
加密艺术所吸引艺术家的另一个因素是二次销售的机会。一些向艺术家提供虚拟货币的平台具有内置软件，这个软件会向艺术家提供初次销售的佣金以及之后被所有者转售而获得的佣金。例如，一位收藏者从“Asynchronous Art”那里购买了数字艺术，该艺术家会获得该笔交易的佣金，如果该收藏者在两年后将其出售，这名艺术家也将自动从此次拍卖中获得20％的佣金。
The Roadblocks Ahead
未来的障碍
At a glance, it all sounds too easy, yet the main issues arise when considering the learning curve of the concept of blockchain technology and how to access the market for both the artist and buyers: Creating a digital wallet, paying mint fees for coin creation, security, etc. Another issue is that the artists themselves must know how to make use of the digital medium, making it harder for artists using physical mediums such as sculptures, paintings, installations to enter the market. There is also a concern in the use of a digital trade ecosystem such as blockchain that must provide distinct codes for each token produced. At a certain point in time, will the system be able to handle all the data?
这些听起来似乎很容易，但是考虑到区块链技术的学习曲线以及如何进入为艺术家和购买方提供的市场里时，一些主要问题浮现出来：创建数字钱包，支付造币费用 ，以及安全性等等。另一个问题是，艺术家自己必须知道如何使用数字媒体，这给使用实体介质如雕塑，绘画，装置的艺术家们提供了进入此类市场的门槛。在使用诸如区块链之类的数字贸易系统时，也存在一个问题，这种生态系统必须为每个产生的令牌提供不同的代码。在某段时间点上，系统将能够处理所有数据吗？
Since the technology is still in development, only time will tell. While hoping for a better solution to evolve the art market, it is possible that another newer and efficient technology may change all this, but for now, 2020 has brought increased sales in NFT based Crypto art albeit not enough to replace physical art sales. Perhaps we will see change as the world offline will have its revival with the end of the pandemic.
由于这项技术仍在发展之中，因此只有时间才能证明一切。尽管我们希望有一个更好的解决方案来振兴艺术品市场，但也许会有另一种更新更高效的技术来改变这一切。即使还不足以取代实物艺术品的销量，但就目前而言，在2020年NFT的加密艺术品销量有所增长，但也许随着全球疫情的结束，线下交易的恢复又将使我们看到新的变化。
We thank everyone who has been following Madness up to now and wish everyone a safe 2021 and a happy new year.
我们感谢一直关注Madness的每一个人，祝愿大家2021年平安幸福，新年快乐。
Translation 翻译 Rona Xia
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