Digital art, with its fluidity and adaptability, should be a fertile ground for creative experimentation and global sharing. However, under the dominance of the neoliberal market, it becomes yet another speculative asset, packaged and sold as “exclusive.” The financialization of digital art manipulates its essence to meet the demands of the financial market, creating a scenario where artists, institutions, and the public are pawns in an economic game.
The integration of digital art into financial logic reveals profound paradoxes. On one hand, the ease of reproduction and the dematerialization of digital art could democratize it, allowing broad access and distribution. On the other hand, the neoliberal market reacts by creating artifices like NFTs, which promise exclusivity and rarity in an inherently abundant medium. It’s like bottling ocean waves and selling them as rare collectibles: what should be free and accessible becomes a controlled commodity.
Artists are among the most affected by this dynamic. Reconfigured as entrepreneurs, they create art and must position themselves as brands, aligning their productions with market demands. This transformation goes beyond art; it redefines the very role of the artist, who becomes a financial operator disguised as a creator. Creativity, which should be an act of freedom, is shaped by algorithms and speculative trends, stifling innovation and critique.
Art institutions, such as galleries and museums, face a unique tension. While they strive to preserve their roles as spaces of cultural reflection, they are compelled to adopt financial practices to survive in the market. These institutions often legitimize works not for their cultural impact but for their economic value. Furthermore, financialization fosters dependence on corporate sponsorships, which can dictate artistic trends, stifling critical or experimental initiatives that do not align with commercial interests.
The implications of the financialization of art for the production and circulation of digital art include the transformation of digital art into a speculative financial asset, the creation of artificial exclusivity through NFTs, and the reconfiguration of artists as entrepreneurs who must align their work with market demands. Additionally, art institutions become vehicles for financial valuation, while the public is distanced from cultural experiences and is reduced to consumers of an economic spectacle. This process diminishes the cultural and social significance of art, prioritizing monetary value and limiting its circulation and accessibility.
In this context, digital art, which should transcend market barriers, becomes a reflection of the contradictions of neoliberalism. Financialization not only restricts the circulation of art but also redefines its meaning, reducing its cultural and social complexity to blockchain numbers. Recognizing and critiquing these dynamics is essential to imagining an artistic practice that resists market logic and recovers its transformative potential.
Victor T. Murari
Art History, Education & Artificial Intelligence | PhD | Advancing Educational and Cultural Narratives through AI Integration