Cyrpto art and conceptual art
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Crypto art encompasses art forms that make use of the blockchain technology (in particular NFTs) not only as a medium for the dissemination of artistic work but also as a reference for artistic creation.
In crypto art, an artwork is associated with a NFT that certifies the scarcity (number of copies, typically 1), ownership (current owner), and provenance (historical owners and creator) of the work of art.
Crypto art shares many traits with conceptual art, in particular when blockchain technology is integral to the artistic message and not only the medium.
Conceptual art is an artistic movement where the idea or concept behind the work is more important than its physical form. The execution is often secondary, and the artwork may exist as instructions, documentation, or ephemeral actions rather than traditional objects. It challenges conventional notions of aesthetics, authorship, and materiality.
To start, let's review some popular examples of conceptual art:
Marcel Duchamp – Fountain (1917)
A porcelain urinal presented as art.
Example of a ready-made, challenging the traditional idea of artistic authorship.
Yves Klein – Zone of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility (1959)
Klein sold immaterial space in exchange for gold, which he then threw into the Seine River.
The artwork existed only in the act of performance and the certificate of sale.
Piero Manzoni – Artist’s Shit (1961)
90 tin cans allegedly containing the artist’s excrement.
A direct critique of the art market’s obsession with value.
Joseph Kosuth – One and Three Chairs (1965)
An installation featuring a real chair, a photograph of a chair, and a dictionary definition of chair.
A reflection on representation and the nature of meaning in art.
On Kawara – Today Series (since 1966)
Paintings featuring only the date of their creation.
A meditation on time as art, routine as performance, art as a process, not just an object.
Sol LeWitt – Wall Drawings (from 1968)
Written instructions for wall drawings, executed by others.
The idea takes precedence over physical execution.
John Baldessari – I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art (1971)
A performance where Baldessari repeatedly writes the phrase "I will not make any more boring art."
A humorous commentary on repetition and artistic intent.
Marina Abramović – Rhythm 0 (1974)
Abramović stood motionless while the audience was allowed to use 72 objects on her, ranging from a feather to a loaded gun.
A powerful statement on vulnerability and the role of the audience in art.
Damien Hirst – The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991)
A shark preserved in formaldehyde.
An exploration of mortality and perception. The title suggests that death is an abstract concept: we can intellectually understand it, but not truly grasp it while alive.
Maurizio Cattelan – Comedian (2019)
A banana taped to a wall
A playful critique of art market absurdity.
Conceptual art emphasizes the idea behind the artwork more than the aesthetic result.
NFTs embody this logic because an artwork is no longer just a physical or digital object, but an immutable certificate of ownership on the blockchain, which becomes a key part of its artistic value.
Conceptual artists have often challenged the concept of originals vs. copies.
NFTs do the same by separating authenticity from reproducibility: an image can be copied, but verifiable digital ownership, embodied by the NFT, remains unique.
In conceptual art, the medium itself can be an essential part of the message, as seen in Duchamp’s ready-mades.
In crypto art, blockchain technology itself often plays an intrinsic role in the artwork.
Conceptual art often includes the public’s reaction as part of the artwork.
In crypto art, value is frequently driven by community interaction, making participation essential.
by Larva Labs (2019) are a generative art project where the entire artwork's code is stored on-chain, making the concept of blockchain-native art more important than the image itself.
by XCOPY humorously critiques this idea: the meme “you can just right-click and save the image” is turned into a multimillion-dollar NFT artwork.
In by Matt Kane the artwork updates daily at 12pm GMT with a new composition based upon Bitcoin price volatility from the previous 24 hours. Each layer of the artwork has rotation, scale, and position tied to an hour’s price volatility.
In Damien Hirst's (2021) 10,000 physical artworks paired with NFTs. Buyers had to choose to keep the NFT or exchange it for the physical painting. If they kept the NFT, the corresponding physical painting was destroyed. The exchange period closed resulting in 4,851 holders deciding to keep the NFT, and 5,149 to keep the physical artwork. The collector’s decision was an integral part of the artwork, turning ownership into a conceptual experiment about value, authenticity, and trust in the digital vs. physical realm.