The impact of non­fungible tokens (NFT) on the art world

As digital art topped the list of other arts in post-industrial society, the theoretical and methodological fields of art history it is necessary to clarify a range of definitions of digital art, systematize them and bring them into compliance with international classification. The subject of the study is the phenomenon of NFT (non-fungible token), which in 2021 took first place in the annual ranking of the most influential people in the field of art Power 100. NFT — a phenomenon of not only virtual but also modern culture in general. The object of research is digital art, in the space of which there is a phenomenon that we study. The purpose of the article is to find out the place and role of NFT in the development of digital art and its significance for art in general. The author considers such aspects of the topic as: the place of virtual art in contemporary art; the importance of NFT for digital art and culture in general; prospects and risks of including the field of art into the experiments with NFT. The scientific novelty of the work is the consideration and analysis of those aspects of digital art that have become particularly relevant in the last five years. As a result of the study, the author concludes the following. Since NFT has recently been associated with art, it is natural to study this phenomenon in terms of its place in art. NFT is a new tool that meets some of the needs of creators, users, and collectors of high-end digital and non-digital objects. The presence in the NFT phenomenon of such attributes as authenticity of the object, competitiveness, market value, demand and supply, indicate that a new segment of the art market has begun to appear. The autonomous and independent NFT market can be interpreted as the beginning of the separation of digital art from the underlying art. And while it is hard to call it art in the traditional sense today, it is more likely to be digital property. The main difference between the NFT market and the usual basic art market is that the artist is valued as a person at the former, and the work itself is valued at the traditional one. The formation of the third field of art (after the first field — “old masters”, the second field — modern art, created by traditional means) requires the development of a complex of definitions for its full-fledged comprehension.