NFTs are undoubtedly an opportunity for the present and the future of art, but they come with serious consequences
This article is part of the series—Raisina Edit 2023.
From the deep nuclei of our brain, dopamine- and noradrenaline-rich fibres branch off into the brain centres in charge of controlling physiological balances. The organism's necessities related to emotional behaviour are analysed at these locations. The brain's reward system determines our actions, with the aim of procuring satisfaction of needs, enriched by pleasure. Behaviours found to be useful in fulfilling our demands are therefore repeated. It is simple—every time we experience moments of well-being, our brain reinforces that stimulus, inducing us to repeat it. This is the complex system underlying not only addictions, but also the most common behaviours—we quench our thirst after a walk in the sun; we reward ourselves with a purchase after a hard day. Following a struggle (even against the heat) or exposure to fear (even caused by experiencing the unpleasant sensation of fatigue), even an object can become a reward. Therefore, during recessions, there is an increase in the sale of certain products: Inferior goods, but useful to boost morale.
< style="color: #0069a6;">When a society that pushes all kinds of historical trauma back at the margins of everyday life finds itself at the centre of violent backlashes that impact existence, it tends to react by rewarding that pain.
After the 9/11 attack, Leonard Lauder, former president of the eponymous brand, declared that the event had caused sales of the group's cosmetics, especially lipsticks, to jump. Using the expression coined at the time, analysts defined the lipstick effect as the tendency to buy affordable luxury goods—a lipstick, for example—in times of deep economic crisis and shrinking spending power. The cause is precisely the brain's reward system; during or after a depression, amidst many sacrifices, one rewards oneself. The lipstick index can, therefore, act as an indicator of economic downturns and a seismograph of our reactions to them. When a society that pushes all kinds of historical trauma back at the margins of everyday life finds itself at the centre of violent backlashes that impact existence, it tends to react by rewarding that pain. It happened in the aftermath of Black Tuesday 1929; in 2000, prodrome of the difficult 2008; and in 2020. Humanity, however, is constantly evolving, even in the selection of objects deputed to compensate for suffering and evoke pleasure. Today, in a new space of consumption—the Metaverse—the lipstick, a small material luxury with an index function, is replaced by a virtual good associated with a non-fungible token (NFT). For consumers, virtual goods often represent a chance to own an object that would otherwise be difficult to access in reality—a dynamic that further stimulates the brain's reward system—a piece of land, a car and, why not even Klimt's The Kiss. Based on this premise, answers to the most frequently asked questions about art in the Metaverse are conceivable: Why tokenise a Schiele painting? Why prefer an NFT to a physical work of art? Why collect crypto art?
< style="color: #0069a6;">By March 2021, art NFTs had reached the top of the market, reaching a trading volume on OpenSea of US$ 4.8 billion in January 2022.
The lipstick effect is the answer; with due exceptions, these are accessible luxury goods that—even though they are composed of creativity alone, which is what we buy, to the detriment of materiality—reward us during or after a crisis.
The pandemic caused the biggest global economic recession in the last century. In light of this, the figures for the art world in the Metaverse are particularly interesting. Between January 2019 and July 2020, almost 18 percent of the total NFT exchange volume was from the sector; by mid-July 2020, it was 71 percent. By March 2021, art NFTs had reached the top of the market, reaching a trading volume on OpenSea of US$ 4.8 billion in January 2022. In this context, two rather telling facts stand out—irrespective of the trend in cryptocurrencies, and even their collapse, the sale of art NFTs remained on the rise; however, in conjunction with the war in Ukraine, a decline in the value of the most famous collections was noted. One deduction arises: Art, historically considered to be a category with intrinsic value and not subject to the consequences of an economic-financial crisis, by tying itself to NFTs, loses its status as a ‘safe haven’ and becomes a ‘consolation’ good.
If by purchasing a good, the perception of power is added to possession, the gratification with which to counterbalance the crisis, and thus, the stimulus on the reward system behind the lipstick effect, is even stronger.
< style="color: #0069a6;">In a world of omnivorous and uncritical consumers, quantitative data becomes the most significant, to the detriment of qualitative data.
Unlike a ‘lipstick’, buying art-related NFTs means having the opportunity to own easily accessible luxury goods which—by retaining their peculiar scarcity—are unique and unchangeable and produce greater fulfilment. With a click, one can immediately access the gratifying mechanism underlying art collection: Owning something unique; considering whether to generate returns from its sale; and deciding whether to conceal it from others—expressing possession through exclusion. Hence, the pleasant illusion of power.
NFTs are undoubtedly an opportunity for the present and the future of art, not only as artists’ effective tools for a creative production beyond the traditional barriers of the art market, but also as a new possibility of access to the sector, without the intermediaries of auction houses, for neophyte collectors. However, this comes with a very serious consequence. Art is no longer a cultural product to be admired, but a commodity to be owned. In a world of omnivorous and uncritical consumers, quantitative data becomes the most significant, to the detriment of qualitative data. In this cultural industry with its renewed but disturbing guise, many art NFTs, deprived of concrete motivations and artistically sound concepts, are merely commodities to be accumulated. Works of art, transformed into ‘lipsticks’ with increased reward power, become the symptom no longer—and not only—of an economic crisis, but of an aesthetic crisis.
Distorted by mechanical reproduction techniques, the artistic value of NFT-related works is too often engulfed by commodification. Therefore, it is urgent to reflect on a possible solution that, while not setting aside the extraordinary advantages of combining art and the Metaverse, protects the essence of cultural products.
< style="color: #0069a6;">The curator must acquire new skills and specialise not only in understanding the work and the cultural references of its creator, but also in deciphering the new virtual universe.
The possibility of guaranteeing the quality levels of artworks only exists by reintroducing into the sector previously removed intermediaries, i.e., curators. They are the only ones who can sanction the quality of art in the virtual world with their authority in the traditional world, and the ones who can solve the poor-quality saturation of the market. However, the curator must acquire new skills and specialise not only in understanding the work and the cultural references of its creator, but also in deciphering the new virtual universe. They must know how to move in the Metaverse and be familiar with its technologies, developing skills also in its more properly economic dimension. In this field, there are already numerous realities worthy of mention. Among others, Reasoned Art , which enhances the works of digital artists with curatorial content and avant-garde exhibitions. With the Artech Lab, in line with European projects, it also promotes an educational space for artists, curators, and enthusiasts. There is also Boson Protocol, which enables curators of the calibre of Tam Gryn to create quality art exhibitions where digital and real merge. Returning to the lipstick effect, everything that afflicts us allows us to define ourselves; even a 'lipstick', like an algorithm, can tell us about a recession. Having another space, the Metaverse, in which to reproduce the dynamics of reality is certainly an extraordinary opportunity but it is also a heavy responsibility, especially when the object delegated to reify our crisis becomes art. Accepting the latter's innovation, while protecting its sacredness, must be a living imperative in both worlds.
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Stefania Petruzzelli, PhD., after an extensive period of academic research in Italian and Comparative Literature with a focus on anthropological, historical, and social issues, has ...
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