The "digital collection" that can be taken home for dozens of dollars, why is it a "blockbuster"?

After the digital yuan, the "digital collection" has gradually entered the public eye.

Nanfang + reporter learned that from April 14, the Guangdong Provincial Museum will launch three digital collections for the first time, which are based on the bronze cup of the Western Zhou animal face pattern, the Yuanqinghua character figure jade pot spring bottle and the Qingshiwan kiln ceramic plastic golden silk cat as the prototype, and the first batch of digital collections is limited to 8,000 copies.

The Cultural Relics of the Yue Museum Shiwan Kiln Pottery Sculpture Golden Silk Cat (Qing).

"With the blessing of 3D scanning technology, the exhibits in the offline exhibition hall that are difficult to see the whole picture can now be stored in the mobile phone, viewed at 360 degrees, and played with details." Chen Shaofeng, deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Museum, showed reporters the upcoming collection of digital cultural relics, "Even the small characters left by the craftsmen on the inside of the bottle can be seen, which is a big surprise for lovers who like to explore historical stories." ”

The reporter checked the relevant trading platform and found that previously, museums in Xi'an, Gansu, Hebei, Sichuan, Henan, Anhui and other places have launched a number of digital collections derived from the treasures of the town hall, and are sought after by consumers. The reporter saw on the sales platform that the price of the relevant digital collections launched by the museum is generally around a few tens of yuan, and the digital collections on the shelves, including well-known cultural relics such as the zodiac rat figurine, the copper galloping horse, and the bronze statue of the tiger head in the Yuanmingyuan, have been sold out.

Sold-out Copper Gallop digital collection.

Sold-out collection of rat-headed figurines.

In the metaverse era, everyone can become a "collector"

"Digital collections in museums" are becoming a new trend in collection and cultural creation. Since 2021, a number of museums in China have launched their own digital collections, previously, the National Museum of China Siyang Bronze Fangzun, the Western Han Dynasty Wrong Gold and Silver Cloud Pattern Bronze Rhinoceros 4 pieces of national treasure-level cultural relics developed for the theme of the digital collection, as well as Dunhuang Art Research Institute, Henan Museum and other units issued by the limited digital collection, as soon as it was launched, it was "killed".

For only a dozen to a few tens of yuan, collectors can have a collection of digital artifacts marked with unique serial numbers. Chen Shaofeng introduced that the first batch of collections of the Guangdong Provincial Museum are all national first-class cultural relics, covering the historical stages of the Western Zhou, Yuan and Qing Dynasties, and all have profound historical precipitation, aesthetic level and cultural connotation. It is commonly found in the Central Plains and rarely occurs in the south. This bronze cup with animal face pattern from Guangdong is a historical witness to the cultural exchange between the north and the south.

Waiting for sale, the Yuebo digital collection of Western Zhou animal face pattern bronze cup.

What exactly is a "digital collection"?

The concept has been proposed for several years. In simple terms, it refers to the use of blockchain technology, corresponding to the unique digital credentials generated by specific works and works of art, on the basis of protecting their digital copyright, to achieve true and credible digital distribution, purchase, collection and use.

The "NFT (Non-Fungible Toke)" mentioned frequently in social media, Chinese translated as "non-homogeneous token", refers to the buyer's ownership certificate of the collection, which is currently mostly found in the field of digital art collection.

The world's first NFT project - CryptoPunks pixel avatar.

As the name suggests, NFTs are unique, irreplaceable, and indivisible. This "unique" trait is also an important trait that is popular with collectors. The digital collection launched by Yuebo this time specifically explains in the relevant push that "each digital collection corresponds to a specific work and artwork, and has a unique serial number on the chain as the only proof of ownership, so as to realize the confirmation, distribution and use of its digital copyright on the chain".

2020-2021 is a time period of explosive growth in digital collection transactions. In March 2021, digital artist Beeple spent 14 years creating a work of 5,000 pictures, "Every Day: 5,000 Days", which was finally sold at Christie's for more than $69.34 million, and this auction was also the first pure digital artwork in the history of a large auction house to be auctioned in the form of non-homogeneous tokens (NFTs), which quickly set off a public discussion of digital collections.

Every Day: The First 5,000 Days beeple 2021

In the virtual world, everyone has the opportunity to become a collector.

In fact, at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the phenomenon of "one pier is difficult to find" of the mascot ice pier also occurred online and offline at the same time. The digital blind boxes of ice piers officially authorized by the International Olympic Committee are available for $99, for a total of 500 units. It is understood that some of the quotations of this batch of ice pier digital collections on the international platform in February this year have soared nearly a thousand times (the distribution platform nWayPlay allows digital collection transactions).

Digital collection of ice piers on the nWayPlay platform.

The 2022 Spring Festival Gala popular Chinese style dance "Only This Green" was also held in Beijing, and on March 3, the digital collection commemorative ticket of the dance poetry drama "Only This Green" was launched, aiming to promote national culture with innovative technology and build more bridges to the IP of national culture for the audience. It is reported that this is the first digital collection commemorative ticket in the performance industry.

Internationally, there is no shortage of cases of cultural and NFTs. Previously, the Uffizi Art Museum in Italy digitally encrypted a work by Michelangelo and sold it for 140,000 euros in cooperation with an art company, causing a sensation. Unlike foreign NFT applications, which tend to be financially financial, China has formed a new development model under the exploration of Internet companies and is in its infancy.

The digital collection market is gradually improving

Whether collectors are motivated by a love of literature and art, or with the purpose of investment, it is undeniable that a "digital collection fever" is quietly emerging.

"Digital collections can allow the audience to pay more attention to the cultural relics themselves, but also bring influence and industrial space to the museum, which helps to form a new 'collection IP'." Chen Shaofeng, director of the academic committee of the Peking University Academy of Culture and Industry and doctoral supervisor, told reporters that while developing related collections, it is also necessary to pay attention to whether digital collections have financial attributes. For ordinary consumers, it is more rational to observe.

On April 1, Jay Chou stated on his social media accounts that his digital collection, the limited edition "Boring Ape (BAYC)" digital avatar, had been stolen. According to the turnover of the thief's subsequent transfer on the trading platform, the value of the NFT exceeded 3 million yuan.

Screenshot of Jay Chou's social media.

The relevant information consulted by the reporter also confirms this view: in foreign countries, the "NFT" is essentially a token, which generally needs to be built on the public chain to ensure a recognized value. At present, some foreign institutional trading platforms are based on the alliance chain, and the platform and the alliance chain are not unified, which means that the price system of digital collections is not solid and the risk of speculation is high.

How can this phenomenon be avoided? The reporter learned that unlike the NFT with a transactional nature, most of the domestic digital collections cannot be sold twice, but can only be collected, so the financial attributes of the NFT with risk are avoided, and the collection value of the items themselves is emphasized.

Signing site of the "Self-Discipline Convention on Digital Cultural and Creative Industries".

At present, the domestic digital collection trading market is gradually being built and improved. Tencent, Ali and other enterprises have successively launched relevant trading platforms. On October 31, 2021, the National Copyright Exchange Center Alliance, together with China Academy of Art, Zhejiang Hangzhou Internet Notary Office, CCTV Animation Group, Hunan Provincial Museum, Ant Group, JD Technology, Tencent Cloud and other institutions jointly issued the "Self-Discipline Convention on Digital Cultural and Creative Industry", which includes empowering the real economy, promoting national culture, promoting industry development, adhering to original genuineness, ensuring value support, protecting consumer rights and interests, controllable alliance chain technology, maintaining network information security, and eliminating virtual currency. There are 11 consensuses on preventing speculation and financialization risks, and preventing money laundering risks, and a set of NFT models with Chinese characteristics have begun to take shape.

Would you want to buy a digital collection? Leave a comment in the comments section and write down your opinion!

Would you want to buy a digital collection? Buy - only need to spend a few tens of dollars to have your own collection Buy - "Meta universe" of course has my share! Don't buy - I still like to look at the physical offline Do not buy - feel immature, wait and see to submit

【Planner】Bi Jiaqi

【Co-ordinator】 Huang Kunyuan

[Reporter] Guan Yuqing Sun Yujia

【Intern】Wang Yixuan

【Image】Source network

【Author】 Guan Yuqing; Sun Yujia

【Source】 Southern Press Media Group South + client