Contemporary and digital art
How much did a work made by a robot and artificial intelligence cost?
A portrait of Alan Turing by the humanoid robot Ai-Da was auctioned in 2024 for more than a million dollars. A work by Refik Anadol dedicated to one of Lionel Messi's goals raised 1.87 million dollars at a charity auction. Art made with AI is no longer a curiosity, then, but a fully fledged part of the market.
When was AI art first sold at auction?
The breakthrough came as early as 2018, when Christie's auctioned the portrait Edmond de Belamy by the collective Obvious for more than 400 thousand dollars. It was the first time a work generated by artificial intelligence passed through a major auction house. The debate over whether a machine can be an author has only grown louder since.
What was Damien Hirst's The Currency project?
Hirst made 10,000 painted sheets covered in dots, and their owners had to decide: either keep the physical work, or take its NFT (a digital certificate of ownership). Whoever chose the NFT had their physical sheet burned. It was one of the most powerful experiments in what it is we actually value in a work.
Has the Czech market taken to NFTs and digital art?
Essentially no. While the rest of the world went through a boom in NFTs and new media, the Czech market is still dominated by classic painting. It is a conservative scene, which has its upsides and its downsides.