Each created as physical and digital, but one cannot exist if the other survives.
A collection of 10,000 NFTs. Each NFT corresponds to a physical painting featuring his signature multicolored dots, made from enamel paint on handmade paper. The pieces were initially available for $2,000.
Collectors had 1 year to decide between the digital NFT or the physical artwork, both of which are artworks in their own right. After the exchange deadline, on 27th July 2022, the final NFT Supply is 4,851 NFTs. 5,149 NFTs were burned in exchange for the physical artworks.
Currency for lack of a better word is good. Currency is right. Currency works. Currency clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.
The art market is counterintuitive. Currency is not. It is simple and like most great things, deceptively so. Visually pleasing, your favorite color will resonate just a little brighter than the rest. Comforting in some areas where the dispersion profile matches your gaze ever so slightly more. Yes there is complexity behind the thin unique coats of circular paint pushed into security paper but it exudes childlike happiness.
A “pristine” 45,000-year-old cave painting of a pig may be the oldest artwork in the world. With modern technology is it safe to say at least one physical piece will remain? Or will our collective electronic infrastructure hold and evolve to preserve the code? Will society hold? Does it matter over timescales longer than your own life?
Hirst has created a performative living art installation where daily market analysis flashes subjective valuations on the state of the art markets (digital and physical) and on society’s objective view of what to value more. It’s too early to say which side of the screen has won. Or perhaps it already has. The Currency index is dead, long live The Currency index.
Digital Artwork
Damien Hirst (b. 1965)
493. My Daughter (2021)
from the collection of MetasNomadic
PNG file, NFT, physical burned
911. Let you become satisfied (2021)
from the collection of MetasNomadic
PNG file, not an NFT, token 911 was burned
2138. My eyes turn red (2021)
from the collection of KoroMonjya
PNG file, NFT, physical burned
3652. Lay down on top of the mountain (2021)
from the collection of Mr.Salty
PNG file, NFT, physical burned
8842. Peace and a ride away (2021)
from the collection of Sonofthecoin
PNG file, NFT, physical burned
Physical Artwork
Damien Hirst (b. 1965)
911. Let you become satisfied (2016)
from the collection of MetasNomadic
signed, titled and dated 2016 on the reverse with the artist’s blindstamp, microdot, watermark and hologram. One-shot enamel paint on handmade paper, accompanied by an official HENI frame
21.3 by 29.8 cm. 8⅜ by 11¾ in.
framed: 31.2 by 41.2 cm. 12¼ by 16¼ in.
Mint condition
External Links
Website : https://heni.com/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/HENI
Opensea : https://opensea.io/collection/thecurrency
Interview 1 : Damien Hirst and Mark Carney
Interview 2 : Damien Hirst and Stephen Fry
The Heni gallery provides monthly analytics on digital sales (here) with hammer prices found at Sotheby’s (here), Phillips, Christie’s, Bonhams, and the Tate Ward.