NFT Observation Diary | Ying Jinfei, curator of Zhejiang Mei: I have not seen high-level original works

Qianjiang Evening News Hour news trainee reporter Liu Yuhan reporter Zhang Mijia

On April 10, 2022, Qianjiang Evening News released the first digital collection word-of-mouth list (click to read the special topic) - this list, organized by Qianjiang Evening News and Hour News, five evaluators with different career fields and interests and hobbies, selected 20 NFT collections for the first time on each platform, and scored them from five aspects: culture, aesthetics, community, utility and price.

Tomorrow, Friday, April 15, the second word-of-mouth list will be released, and the weekly list is a kind of combing of the current situation of the NFT, and it is also an invitation we send out to witness a new world that may be created by the NFT.

The world is being born: in 2021, the overall market size for digital collections is approaching $17.7 billion. This figure is more than 213 times higher than the previous year.

In the first quarter of 2022, the transaction volume of NFTs reached $26 billion, exceeding the trading volume of the whole year of 2021.

This year, everyone has a clear feeling that it is surrounded by NFTs - all kinds of definitions and interpretations of NFTs have appeared, some people say that it is hype, even another round of "cutting leeks"; others say that it is the future of the Internet. How exactly did NFTs come about? What kind of product can be called an NFT? At present, what is the current status of the development of this thing in China? We want to take you on a closer look.

Every Thursday, starting this week, the hourly news will launch the "NFT Observation Diary" – a group of guides from the arts, science, law, finance, and some government departments, to take you closer to the new world.

In a small article formed every week, we will introduce you to several basic perspectives on observing NFTs, help you understand the nature of NFTs and the current situation of the market, and let you learn to distinguish and think rationally:

If you support this new thing as an important part of the future, we want to remind you that there are indeed many risks here. How to face legal boundaries and cultural shocks? What should ordinary people, industries and society do to prepare? We'll let you know.

If you object, arguing that proponents exaggerate the extent to which it could change the future, then we want to tell you that NFTs may not be an inevitable choice, but you might as well enter the world first.

Of course, I believe that most people are curious and want to watch, and are hesitant to enter the market. Our suggestion is that in order to make a good judgment, we can look at what elements of NFT are composed of from its underlying logic, and by what technology is implemented? How is its mechanism of operation guaranteed?

NFT is a cutting-edge discussion and exploration, which means that this concept and related knowledge are not yet mature, and there are many possibilities for change. Our current understanding is likely to be only a phased understanding, and future development may also be unexpected.

But don't worry, we'll analyze the latest and most important developments in the NFT every week, and hopefully we'll all be on the pulse of the times at key points in the digital world.

Guiding business card

Ying Jinfei

Director of Zhejiang Art Museum Director of China Artists Association, Vice Chairman of Zhejiang Artists Association.

Ying Jinfei began to contact digital art creation in 2021, and in March 2022, released his personal NFT works. After observing the outbreak of the NFT market, he has his own thoughts and views, and has also contacted relevant people in the political and legal and financial circles to exchange cross-field issues in NFTs.

There are almost no high-level original works

In March 2021, the "Flat Panel Dimension" exhibition at Zhejiang Art Museum prompted him to come into contact with flat panel painting, thus paying attention to the field of NFT earlier.

Ying Jinfei himself focused on the creation of watercolors, prints and sculptures: "Prints, cast bronze sculptures, etc. are all reproduction art, or indirect art, which is consistent with the idea of digital collection. So he quickly accepted the NFT's operational logic and tentatively released his own digital artwork.

I found Ying Jinfei with the digital collection word-of-mouth list and asked him to comment on the relatively good NFT works we selected from the whole network last week. He glanced at the list and shook his head: "There are almost no high-level works. ”

What should a high-level NFT work look like? What are the problems in the current NFT market? Ying Jinfei chatted about his views.

Artistry and originality are fundamental

The artistic standard of the large digital collection is low

"Artistry is the most important thing." In Ying Jinfei's view, artistry is the root and bottom line of NFTs.

How to understand this "artistry"? Simply put, it is a feeling of beauty.

He gives a simple example: You love a song, and you have to spend money to download it to your own media, but because you like it, this exclusive can make you feel very fulfilled.

"Art has to move people." Ying Jinfei said.

Digital artwork, first of all, should be a work of art, it has the value of appreciation. Even if everyone's subjective feelings are different, the basic artistic standard should be achieved, not vulgar, kitsch, or just a digital creation. "Not all works of art are digital works of art after digitization, it must have digital innovation; not all digital creations are works of art, it must have artistic originality or artistic attributes."

According to Ying Jinfei's observation, the artistic level of a large number of digital collections in the current NFT market is relatively low. Even if the works of artists selected by us on the list, many of them cannot be called works of art in Ying Jinfei's view.

This is related to the development of the NFT platform, the influx of various works, and the mixing of fish and dragons. At the same time, the financial attributes of NFTs were first concerned by the public, and many people bought NFTs not because they liked them, but to buy them back and then sell them.

Therefore, Ying Jinfei advocated that NFTs cannot be fully financialized, and the artistic bottom line should be maintained. Excessive financialization will lose the most basic attributes of NFTs and will also provide the soil for capital speculation.

"The second point is originality." Ying Jinfei stressed that original copyright can be established. Without originality, copyright is illusory.

This problem is most evident in the NFTs of the museum system.

The issue of ownership should be clear

Most of the collections should not appear on the NFT platform

In the existing NFT platform, many museum artifacts have been digitized into hot NFT products. Some of them are also listed in our list, among which the Yuanmingyuan Twelve Beast Head series auctioned by Ali has attracted the most attention.

In Ying Jinfei's view, this phenomenon has great hidden dangers, and its core problem is illegality.

Ying Jinfei specifically went to check the "Cultural Relics Law" (hereinafter referred to as the "Cultural Relics Protection Law of the People's Republic of China"), and the ownership of the cultural relics collected by major museums belongs to the state, not to the specific management unit, and the museum only has the right to manage and keep. At present, the digital products of these cultural relics do not reflect the originality, and do not convert the nature of the cultural relics - the twelve animal heads are still zodiac signs, bronzes or bronzes, so "copyright" does not exist, let alone sold on the NFT platform.

On April 13, the People's Daily issued an article on this issue" entitled "Cultural relics units should not directly sell the original data of cultural relics as limited commodities", which clearly pointed out: "In the development and utilization of cultural relics information resources, cultural and cultural institutions should adhere to the public welfare attribute." Encourage social forces to use cultural relics resources to carry out reasonable innovation and creation through formal authorization, and use information technology to stimulate the interpretation and dissemination of cultural relics value, and cultural and museum units should not directly sell the original data of cultural relics as limited commodities; they should establish a management system with clear rights and responsibilities, standardized procedures, and effective overall planning, firmly grasp the correct ideological orientation, and ensure the security of cultural relics information. ”

"The general trend towards digital resources in museums is to open up." Ying Jinfei said, "In recent years, many museums around the world have promoted the opening of high-definition pictures; in March this year, some museum curators and university scholars in China jointly released the "Initiative on Museums Actively Participating in the Construction of Metacosm". In other words, artifacts belong to every citizen, and as technology advances, the ultimate form of the future is that everyone has the right to a digital image of the artifact for free.

So how should museums participate in NFTs?

The answer given by Ying Jinfei is to introduce originality.

On the basis of cultural relics, creative secondary creation, the resulting literary and creative works, only then can they enter the NFT market. This is also the responsibility of cultural guidance and aesthetic guidance that museums should assume, and it is also a product needed by the current market.

The digital collection spans multiple fields

The existing system is fragmented and urgently needs to be integrated

In Ying Jinfei's view, to ensure the artistry and originality of NFTs, many potential financial and legal security issues can be solved.

"The biggest problem that our domestic NFTs are facing now is that this is a system that is completed by the integration of art and technology, but at the moment it is divided."

For the art world, many artists do not understand technology and have not yet adapted to this new way of creating. For the technology community, large departmental platforms and distributors do not understand art. And many of the buyers are also people outside the art world. At the same time, NFTs also have financial attributes, and the legal boundaries involved in this emerging industry have yet to be clarified...

Ying Jinfei pointed out that the financial, legal, artistic, and scientific and technological circles themselves are separated, and when one of the parties does a thing alone, there will be many jokes, and even the suspicion of capital speculation. This has caused the current chaos, which is embodied in two aspects: one is that the artistic level of the NFT market is too low, which lowers the aesthetic standard accepted by the public; the other is the lack of originality. If no changes are made, it will affect the credibility of the entire industry of NFTs.

"So the most important thing at present is that platforms and publishing companies need to introduce art systems, and there should be requirements for art quality and artistic standards." Ying Jinfei said, "Since we want to do digital art, we must lead and enhance the aesthetic level of the public, and the platform should not only make money, it has this mission and responsibility." ”

We will launch the word-of-mouth list every week, and we will also invite more industry insiders like Ying Jinfei to evaluate and score, this new thing is worth everyone's participation and expectation.

This article is the original work of Qianjiang Evening News, without permission, it is forbidden to reprint, copy, excerpt, rewrite and carry out network dissemination of all works of copyright use, otherwise this newspaper will follow judicial channels to pursue the legal responsibility of the infringer.