- The art industry has struggled for years, with the issue of counterfeit work and fake records.
- Blockchain, as a DLT, can help reform the art world.
Art has been a form of expression for centuries, with artists expressing themselves through paintings, statues, sculptures, and others. Collectors and enthusiasts, spend millions of dollars to preserve these art forms and have the young generation peek into history through their collections. Museums and art galleries are public places that continue the same work and promote emerging artists and art overall.
The worth of any art piece is measured through its history, the popularity of the artist, and the chain of owners. It is common for artworks from the Renaissance period to sell for millions of dollars. The artist adds an invisible price tag to the painting, with collectors rushing to own several paintings by a renowned artist.
However, the art world is still bleeding from the wounds of legitimate provenance and authenticity of art pieces, with experts claiming that nearly 50% of artwork in circulation at present can be a fraud. Museums and art galleries are in continuous danger of promoting counterfeit paintings. Collectors have already spent millions in auctions for the piece to turn out to be a fraud and not done by the claimed artist.
The preventive measures include maintaining the long paperwork of the art piece’s history, which can be subjected to destruction. Although digitalization has eased the work, the industry still suffers from cyberfraud and theft. Can blockchain technology, owing to its contribution to other sectors, make its mark in the art industry as well?
Blockchain for Art Provenance
Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) that helps maintain an immutable record of transactions in a decentralized manner. Currently, blockchain has seen major adoption in the cryptocurrency market, with thousands of projects, along with Bitcoin and Ethereum, operating in the market.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital assets that, unlike other crypto coins, can not be copied or reproduced. They provide proof of ownership to the owner, which is recorded on the blockchain and becomes immutable. Since their launch, they have transformed the art world by opening new doors for artists, buyers, and collectors, to have definite proof of theartwork in whichk they are currently engaged.
Being a ledger, the history of transactions is transparent over the blockchain and can be verified by anyone before entering into a deal. Buyers can go through the entire chain of ownership to verify the authenticity of artwork and watch out for potential misrepresentations.
Each artwork can be associated with a unique digital identity, which includes details regarding the original artist, the market price, the chain of ownership, and the current owner. Through it, potential buyers can verify the artist through the metadata, which points back to the original artist.
However, using blockchain also comes with its share of challenges that need to be discussed before its adoption. The technology is presently in its infancy and will be new to a century-old market. Although continuous research and development are going on, it is far from entering the mainstream market and achieving complete adoption. The technology boasts a robust security model, but it is still not fully invisible to cyberattacks and fraud.
Conclusion
Already, several platforms have incorporated blockchain into art forms, including Async Art, Artory, Verisant, and even popular auction houses like Christie’s. While Verisant is working on providing blockchain-based certificates to artists, Artory provides provenance records.
With the help of blockchain, the long-pressing issues of authenticity and provenance could be overcome and open new frontiers for artists and the art world.
