I’m curious how this prevents duplication. Sure, the blockchain records ownership which is probably the most _technically_ important part for a collector, but if you can create a 1:1 copy of the art then it’s not terribly unique. With physical art the collector knows they own it because it’s stored in their home or some gallery.<p>Provenance is also only a problem for classical art that is hundreds of years old. Modern art is much easier to track and will likely remain so since it’s only ever existed in a time of mechanical record keeping. NFT doesn’t even prevent fraudulent “rare sketch by dead artist found in drawer” from happening since an artist can work in as many mediums as they want.<p>But finally, if you can create a 1:1 duplicate of the art because it’s 100% digital then does it have the same value brought on by rarity that current, physical art has. I’d argue that most of the value of a physical pice of art is the rarity and the prestige ownership of that rare object brings.<p>EDIT: I'm not sure how this prevents forgeries either (though I don't think that's all that big of a problem for art dealing). If I can make a 1:1 copy of a piece of art I can attach it to some other NFT blockchain and sell it as my own. Will I make as much? Maybe not, but it's such a common tactic on app marketplaces I don't know why it wouldn't happen here as well.
Interesting article, especially for people who are not very familiar with NFTs. So basically with this you can prove you are the digital owner of a unique digital “piece” of art and overcome the problems of classic art pieces.
What was missing from this article is copyright and display/viewing rights. Is it ok for these digital masterpieces to be displayed freely over the internet? Are they restricted in resolution? Do they work like normal digital photography?
The idea of transcending the line between the real world and the digital using NFTs is particularly useful, and I bet we are going to start seeing this kind of thing regularly when publishing and acquiring NFTs get streamlined.<p>I believe this is a career building point for artists adopting NFTs, akin to Instagram's early adopters.