The [Dissipative] Joy of Accounting: Desiring, Imagining, and Talking about NFTs While the Planet Burns

Promoters of art-oriented non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and online NFT auction houses like Foundation, OpenSea, SuperRare claim to be “revolutionizing” “democratizing” the worlds art collecting by deploying blockchain technology track sales purchases thereby eliminating threats transactional opacity fraud that have long plagued markets. This article complicates such claims arguing with NFTs, usual clamoring for authenticity in becomes so abstract only code remains, as aesthetic object effectively indistinct from account its provenance transaction history. An NFT, a financial derivative, has no necessary or representational relationship any actual underlying object. The artwork associated token is, rather, prised apart existence property finds use not being seen felt, but truth copyability. Looking beyond NFTs themselves, this interrogates discourses promulgating trend. Comment threads Reddit Discord groups, example, do much channel libidinal energy elicited an artwork, while digital itself generates acquisitive enthusiasm wholly sensation seeing hearing work. Despite fronting radical social change, ultimately reinforce traditional forms ownership, exhibit reactionary cultural values, anticipate increasingly authoritarian modes control. Taking wider view, I consider ours age post-information, wherein, contrary Bateson’s classic definition information terms doubled difference, we find data-based artifacts (following cryptocurrency) productive widespread political indifference, perpetuation sameness, augmentation narcissistic ego. In case: data afterlife art.