Damien Hirst burns his own art amid NFT stunt
Contemporary British artist Damien Hirst has started incinerating his own artwork after selling a series of NFTs from his latest collection. Hirst informed buyers that they could choose to purchase either the physical artwork or the representative NFT (non-fungible token). Buyers bought their pieces knowing that the physical artwork would be destroyed if they chose the NFT option.
Hirst, dressed in a metallic boiler suit and fire-safety gloves, has since begun collecting and burning the artworks in a secure firebox. The works are worth an estimated £10 million altogether.
Hirst’s first NFT collection, The Currency, was launched last year and comprised 10,000 NFTs representing 10,000 pieces of physical art. Buyers could choose between keeping the NFT or exchanging it for the physical piece. 5,149 buyers chose the original artworks, while 4,851 stuck with the NFTs. Hirst had previously revealed to his Instagram followers that he planned to burn the artworks – sold for $2,000 (£1,800) each – on Tuesday, October 11th.
The one-time YBA golden boy worked with his assistants to deposit each individual piece into fireplaces around the gallery. “A lot of people think I’m burning millions of dollars of art but I’m not,” Hirst said, clearly revelling in the controversy. “I’m completing the transformation of these physical artworks into NFTs by burning the physical versions. he value of art, digital or physical, which is hard to define at the best of times will not be lost; it will be transferred to the NFT as soon as they are burnt.”
Many people have criticised Hirst for such a flagrant display of wealth amid the cost of living crisis. Then again, when has public outcry ever stopped him before? The pieces will be burned until October 30th, when The Currency exhibition concludes.
