Presenter: Irina Lyubchenko
Registration Number: 051
Institution: Independent Scholar, Toronto, Canada
Abstract: Authenticity of a work of art has always been a major concern for art dealers, collectors, museums, and art historical scholarship. Historically, authentication involved art experts, such as art historians, scholars, museum curators, and art dealers, to attribute a work of art to a particular artist, culture, or era. Despite common assumptions among the members of the public, attribution is rarely based on scientific tests of works of art and mainly relies on connoisseurship, or “sensitivity of visual perception, historical training, technical awareness, and empirical experience needed by the expert to attribute the object.” This paper looks into the history of connoisseurship and attribution of artworks, focusing on the latest chapter of this development, the non-fungible tokens or NFTs. The latter fully replaced the need for expert advice and “sensitivity of visual perception” and substituted the often-contested author signature for the computed digital signature or token, authenticating a work of art. Crypto-art and crypto-collectibles have flooded digital markets, offering authentic and unique art. Recently, Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days, the first digital artwork fitted with a non-fungible token offered by the major auction house Christie’s, sold for $69,346,250 on March 11, 2021. It is the third most expensive artwork sold by a living artist, following Jeff Koon’s sculpture Rabbit (1986) and David Hockney’s painting Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) (1972). While Jeff Koons and David Hockney are the artists, whose theoretical perspectives are well known and have a secured place in an art historical canon, Beeple’s work and that of other digital NFT artists has not been fully investigated to be positioned in relation to art history, seemingly existing in a theoretical vacuum. The absence of artistic statements that usually accompany artworks contributes to this effect. Is it possible to think of the 21st century NFT-backed digital artists as the avant-gardes, who, like their 20th - century predecessors, confronted and condemned the art historical tradition? This paper claims that the transformation of the attribution process from that which relies on connoisseurship to the one dependent on computation alone may shed light on this question. Using historical and textual analyses, this essay provides a critical response to the recent artworld trends driven by the decentralized networks and currencies existing in fully digital ecosystems.
Bio: Irina Lyubchenko holds a PhD in Communication and Culture, an MFA in Visual Arts, a Bachelor of Technological Education, and an Honors BFA in Photography Studies. Her research investigates intersections between theories of historical avant-garde and digital culture. She is an educator, a researcher, and a practicing artist, who creates and theorizes digital media experiences. Throughout her career as a media artist, Lyubchenko worked with a range of creative tools, analog and digital. Currently, she investigates creative potentials of Virtual Reality and game development, using Unity and Oculus VR system. She is on her way to receive certification in Game Development from George Brown College. Lyubchenko is an avid proponent of experiential learning, which she practices daily in her own work and her classrooms.