Art in smoke: Why is artist Damien Hirst going to burn his artwork?

British artist Damien Hirst is planning to burn thousands of his paintings starting from September. Not to be confused as an act of protest, the upcoming fiery act is a part of his year-long NFT project, titled “The Currency”.

According to The Guardian, Hirst, who was the UK’s richest artist in 2020 with a net worth of more than £315m, will destroy the artworks at his London gallery.

What is the project all about?

As per the report, Hirst created 10,000 unique dot paintings in 2016, each with its own title, that were later linked to corresponding NFTs in 2021 and sold for $2,000 each.

According to Euronews, the 10,000 dot paintings are all unique and have multiple anti-counterfeiting techniques from watermarks to holographic images of Hirst.

Art buyers were given the option of keeping the NFTs or trading them in for the physical artwork. However, it was ruled that a collector cannot keep both.

“This exchange is a one-way process, so choose carefully,” buyers were told.

A CNN report said that the NFT marketplace that handled the initial sale, Heni, said that its value has sharply dropped since the project began and as cryptocurrencies have plummeted.

As per Heni’s first report, there were 2,036 sales of "The Currency" totaling $47.9 million between 30 July and 31 August, 2021. Meanwhile, in June this year, just 170 sales took place, bringing in a total of $1.4 million.

The resale of physical works appears to be faring better. In January, one of the original paintings sold at Phillips auction house in London for £18,900 ($23,000).

As per Heni’s website, 5,149 people have decided to exchange their NFTs for the physical artwork, which means 4,851 paintings will be torched.

The remaining physical artworks, oil on paper, that are not exchanged will go up in flames on a daily basis starting from 9 September, culminating in a closing event during Frieze Week in October when the remaining paintings will be torched.

What is the idea behind the project?

The experimental art project "touches on the idea of art as a currency and a store of wealth,” Hirst told The Art Newspaper in March.

"This project explores the boundaries of art and currency -- when art changes and becomes a currency, and when currency becomes art. It's not a coincidence that governments use art on coins and notes. They do this to help us believe in money. Without art, it's hard for us to believe in anything,” he added.

With inputs from agencies

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