Quick take:
- Discussion among editors circled around whether an NFT represented the art or if it was just a token that certifies the art’s authenticity and ownership.
- One Wikipedia editor, Jonas, wants to simplify the categorisation of NFTs by putting it in its own list.
- The discussion is set to re-open at a later date due to “lack of reliable information”.
Editors on free user-generated information website, Wikipedia, have voted against categorising non-fungible tokens as art after a debate around “the most expensive art sales by living artist” sparked off amongst the group of editors in December.
On Jan 12, editors came to a consensus to remove Beeple’s $69 million NFT and other similar content from the top art sales category.
Wiki editor “Jonas” wrote on the discussion page that “Wikipedia really can’t be in the business of deciding what counts as art or not, which is why putting NFTs, art or not, in their own list makes things a lot simpler. NFTs have their own list, which should be linked in the article, and entries generally shouldn’t be listed in both”.
Much of the discussion circled around confusion on whether an NFT is art or whether it’s just a token that certifies authenticity and ownership of the art.
On Twitter, members of the NFT community weighed in, saying that removing NFTs from the art category takes recognition and legitimacy away from digital artists.
🚨 Art Emergency!! 🚨
— Duncan Cock Foster (@DCCockFoster) January 12, 2022
There is a debate happening rn on @Wikipedia that has the potential to * officially categorize NFTs as ‘not art’ on all of Wikipedia. *
Wikipedia is a global source of truth. Having NFTs categorized as ‘not art’ would be a disaster!
🧵:
With the rise of NFT, digital art has been given bigger recognition as a true artistic medium, especially with the sale of some of the most expensive NFTs art such as the $69 million Beeple NFT, amongst other multimillion-dollar NFT art sales.
One Twitter user says that the discussion is really about whether the sale of an NFT art counts as an art sale and is a separate issue from whether the token itself is art.
Isn’t it really about whether the sale of an art NFT is an art sale?
— Matt Rixman (@MattRixman) January 12, 2022
Claiming that the token itself is art isn’t going to help people who are struggling to understand the technology.
While many creators in the NFT community are focusing on NFT-based digital art, NFTs can also come in the form of music, movies and other forms of digital media and assets, further muddying the waters around this discussion.
Stay up to date:
