“NFTs MAKE THE INTANGIBLE TANGIBLE”
NFTs seem to have taken the art world by storm but few know how they work. Are they mere hype or the future? As co-director of the Nature Morte gallery and founder of Terrain.art, Aparajita Jain has emerged as one of the strongest proponents of this blockchain-powered technology
Q. You just wrapped up an NFT group show at Terrain.art. How do you foresee this technology changing the art world? Already, NFTs have become a standard for transactions. It empowers digital artists to make their works scarce, and automatically introduces trust into the ability to transact. It makes ownership clean and clear, and gives people the required proof of ownership in the future. To protect artists and creators from fakes, we need tech itself to find solutions, and to me, NFTs are the solution. It is the singular way in which ownership and provenance can be established for any kind of creative work—tweet, performance, video, GIF and game. Moreover, in their smart contracts, NFTs allow for royalties and encourage younger digital creators to actually sell their works. I think this will be the space where new kinds of creators come into the collected world of art.
Q. So, the safety of transactions, authenticity, trust, provenance—these make an NFT special?
Yes. NFT is a unique key for a creation. If there are additions to something, then multiple NFTs are minted for it. Blockchain allows all this information to be decentralised and democratic. Anyone can access the information and hence, it allows transparency into an otherwise opaque world. Also, for works that are eternally conceptual, they unleash the ability to purchase and buy the work and recreate it at a later time. It gives the intangible tangibility.
Q. Do you feel India is ready for NFT? Was India ready for 3G or TikTok? We are always ready for what’s new and ahead. It needs patience and some explanation, but I feel we are a very intelligent community and with trust, I’m hoping people will embrace newer technologies.
Q. What is your reaction to a persistent worry among sceptics that NFTs are a bubble waiting to burst?
What bursts in life is content or companies or initiatives that lack integrity. Currently, many things are selling on the basis of just being an NFT. Eventually that will wane. But content will always remain sacrosanct and will retain value. ■