A Statement On The Adoption of NFTs – Miro Leon Bucher

After long consideration, I have decided to offer parts of my work as NFTs via OBJKT.com on the Tezos blockchain and want to clarify my thoughts and intentions behind the decision.

Whats are NFTs?

NFT stands for non-fungible token and is a unique and identifiable unit on a blockchain. Due to its uniqueness, one can store information with the token that only exists one time to identify ownership of that specific thing.

Why NFTs for art?

Digital art has the disadvantage of unclear ownership due to its easy reproduction. Blockchain technology and the implementation of non-fungible tokens within that system are an opportunity to assign more precise ownership. This is not to claim that NFTs are the only way or the best imaginable way to solve this issue, and one may also declare ownership of digital art a non-problem altogether. Yet, NFTs are a tool to add a layer to digital art that has prior been difficult to achieve.

NFTs as an investment in a highly chaotic market

The technology behind NFTs has been used to invest in projects and claim some form of ownership within them to a significant extent. They have also been used to create repetitive avatar series that have been highly traded to create in-group effects and to store monetary value in them. While I acknowledge that all utilise the same technology, I seek to be associated with neither of them.

The necessity to buy into the blockchain

I am aware of the fact that the participation in NFTs demands buying into the token of the blockchain on which the NFTs are stored. In the case of my NFTs, this requires buying Tezos' native token xtz to buy and trade my NFTs. I do not mean to encourage extensive investments in xtz nor other tokens on other blockchains for my NFTs alone.

What are my intentions behind offering my work as NFTs?

I do have a clear financial incentive to offer my work in the form of NFTs. In order to work sustainably as an artist, I need to have some form of revenue through my art creation. Since the traditional art market is not very accommodating for digital art and has similar problems to the speculation effects in the blockchain scene, while having considerably higher burdens for both artists and collectors to enter, I perceive the option of offering my art via an NFT platform such as OBJKT.com to be a viable alternative. While my preferred mode of offering my art would be through free and public display, I can acknowledge that this is not feasible considering the broader capitalist system in which I find myself to be.

I thus perceive the purchase of my NFTs as a form of a donation to which I offer ownership to a digital art piece as a sign of gratitude. I will be happy if some monetary value can be stored within these tokens for their owners to get a reward in the future, but I would not like them being perceived as simple financial investments.

The art scene on the Tezos blockchain

I perceive myself to be in the best company for my goals in the art scene that has formed around the Tezos blockchain. The hurdle to enter the NFT market on Tezos is comparatively low, also with a comparatively little carbon footprint to keep the system running. The communities surrounding OBJKT.com and teia.art (formerly hicetnunc.art and hicetnunc.xyz) are considerably more interested in original art and less interested in financial speculation. I'd much rather be associated with them than other platforms that have been treated as financial markets rather than art scenes.

Closing remarks

I see the adoption of NFTs for my art as an experiment - an experiment for which I spent a lot of time considering its potential up- and downsides. I came to the conclusion that NFT markets do have problematic aspects to them. Yet, this also holds true for most other contemporary art markets. I thus find it the most viable option to offer my digital creations in a way that can hopefully sustain my art creation process. I fully understand scepticism towards this decision and the markets in which my creations might be traded. Yet, I also hope that I was able to make my case and show my considerations. For those who want to support my creative process while not dealing with NFTs, I gladly receive donations. For anyone who does not have the financial means to support my work monetarily, you can engage with and share my art on various platforms for me to gain a broader audience. In either of these cases, I remain eternally grateful for your support.