British artist Damien Hirst began burning thousands of his works at a gallery in London on Tuesday. Hirst had previously asked buyers whether they would like to purchase the images as an original or as a digital copy of an unchangeable token (NFT). NFT collectors’ artifacts are now gradually being destroyed. Hirst is streaming the campaign live on Instagram.
“I instinctively feel it is not right to burn a work of art. But when I think about it, I know I should burn it because that’s part of the process I’m in.”
Hirst, who is paid the highest prices for his works in the art market, presented his project “The Currency” in July last year. He offered a total of 10,000 images showing many colored dots in DIN A4 format for $2,000 (approximately 2,060 euros) each. Each image was also available as an NFT. Buyers had one year to choose the image or NFT.
5149 people, more than half chose the original. Others have chosen the NFT – the originals will now be burned at the Newport Street Gallery on various dates throughout October. (AFP)