On March 11, 2021, Christie’s auctioned a digital work by American artist Mike Winkelmann called Everydays – The First 5000 Days. The sale of the piece seems to herald a virtual-dominated world coming sooner than we expected. As Lev Manovich wrote, “What is more likely is that just as the printing press in the fourteenth century and photography in the nineteenth century had a revolutionary impact on the development of modern society and culture, today we are in the middle of a new media revolution — the shift of all culture to computer-mediated forms of production, distribution, and communication.”

With the development of science and technology, the transformation of art to virtual has become irresistible, and new words such as blockchain art and encrypted digital art are constantly being mentioned. Blockchain is about decentralization and everyone can participate. Once art is on the blockchain, it will be integrated with consumption patterns, trend elements, entertainment methods, etc., and become something very close to people.

There are many advantages to digitizing art. First, the works of art in the past were limited by physical objects, and many physical works were not only difficult to relocate, but also easily damaged during the relocation process. But in the era of digital art, people only need a computer to enjoy these digital artworks anytime, anywhere. To some extent, digital art breaks the constraints of time and space. In addition, art works have always been expressed by artists through a certain medium. When the form of artistic expression is no longer limited to traditional forms such as painting and sculpture, more people have the right to express.

Art can accept everything. A computer-generated virtual world is coming our way.

Bibliography:

Manovich L., 2001, What Is New Media?