Creating value with digital art

A new wave of creativity is taking the art world by virtual storm.
一次虚拟领域的创新正在席卷艺术世界。

In November, “NFT” was chosen as 2021’s “Word of the Year” by Collins Dictionary.
2021年11月，柯林斯词典将“NFT”评选为2021年度词汇。

NFT is the abbreviation of Non-Fungible Token. According to the BBC, it is a “one-of-a-kind” asset in the digital world that can be bought and sold like any other piece of property but has no tangible form”. Now, NFTs are becoming popular in the art world.
NFT是非同质化代币的缩写。据BBC报道，NFT是数字世界中“独一无二”的资产，可以像其他任何资产一样买卖，但这种资产是无形的。现在，艺术界越来越流行使用NFT。

Unlike the traditional artworks that are made by hand and have their own special technique, digital arts can be duplicated and easily obtained for free. But NFTs could provide a digital certificate, showing ownership of a unique virtual or physical asset that someone has produced.
数字艺术不像传统的艺术品那样靠手工制作，而是有自身的独特技术。数字艺术可以复制，而且很容易免费获取。但NFT可以提供一种数字证书，证明拥有人对所创造的独特虚拟或有形资产的所有权。

“In the digital world, you wouldn’t know if something is a copy of something else primarily because the copy is almost perfect. The NFT was the first to prove [who owns] this property,” Pindar Wong, chairman of internet financial infrastructure consultancy VeriFi (Hong Kong), told China Daily.
互联网金融基础建设咨询公司VeriFi（香港）的董事长黃平达在接受《中国日报》采访时表示：“在数字世界里，你不会知道一件东西是不是另一件东西的副本，主要因为副本近乎于完美。NFT是对资产所有权的第一凭证。”

Along with protecting ownership, NFTs allow the creator to get a royalty payment each time the work is sold. As The Guardian noted, the artwork itself still belongs to the creator, but the buyers can get limited rights to display the digital artwork.
NFT除了保护所有权，还让创作者在每次卖出作品时赚得版税。正如《卫报》所指出的，艺术品本身仍然属于创作者，但买家可以获得有限的权利，展示数字艺术品。

So whenever the NFTs are sold, each transaction can only be made with a corresponding transfer to the creator.
因此，NFT无论何时卖出，每次交易都只能向创作者进行相应的转让。

“NFTs can ensure that creators, including artists or music composers, can have a portion of the revenue from every subsequent transfer, which could encourage their creations,” Sylvia Wang, a consultant at business-to-business platform ArtBiz Asia, based in Macao, told China Daily.
位于澳门的企业电子商务平台亚洲艺术娱乐公司顾问西尔维娅·王在接受《中国日报》采访时表示:“NFT能够确保包括艺术家或作曲家在内的创作者们，在此后的每次转让中都能获得部分收入，这将鼓励他们的创作。”

That’s why many analysts believe that “NFTs are a revolution for the art industry”, noted China Daily.
《中国日报》报道指出，这就是为什么许多分析人士认为“NFT是一场艺术行业的革命”。

According to the latest report by Reuters, in the first half of 2021, the sales of NFT digital artworks reached $2.5 billion (about 16 billion yuan), an increase from just $13.7 million for the same period in 2020.
据路透社的最新报道，2021年上半年，NFT数字艺术品的销售额由2020年同期的1370万美元，增长至25亿美元(约合160亿元人民币)。

US artist Mike Winkelmann said that with the help of NFT technology, the art field itself has entered uncharted territory. “I do see this as the next chapter of art history,” Winkelmann told The Verge.
美国艺术家迈克·温克尔曼称，在NFT技术的帮助下，艺术界本身已经进入了一个未知的领域。温克尔曼在接受美国科技新闻网站The Verge采访时表示：“我确实认为NFT是艺术史上的下一章。”

For example, Winkelmann created a digital work of art – Everydays: The First 5000 Days, which is a collage of 5,000 images the artist captured. In March, it was sold for a record $69 million.
例如，温克尔曼创作了一件数字艺术品——《日常：第一个5000天》，该作品由该艺术家创作的5000张画拼贴而成。今年3月，这幅拼贴画以破纪录的6900（多）万美元售出。

以上文章内容选自《21世纪学生英文报高中版》，详情请见《21世纪学生英文报高中版》高二853期