Tom 29 Nr 1 (2025): The Discreet Charm of NFTs

The current issue of Prace Kulturoznawcze concerns the various interrelations of art—especially, but not exclusively works that are created and distributed digitally—and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and more broadly, the blockchain phenomenon and its cultural fallout. Although the NFT craze was rather short-lived, it left a lasting impression on the artworld. Accordingly, the presented articles and essays portray it as a complex rather multi-faceted issue and view it from different angles—NFTs can be a novel way of certifying the uniqueness of a given digital work and ensuring its ownership in a legally binding way, but certain artist also use it as a medium or topic of their output. Some authors see blockchain’s introduction to the artworld as a means of busting open its jealously ‘kept’ gates, others still view it a parasitic growth on the resulting from a subcultural fad in the tech industry. Non-fungible tokens and digital contracts also re-open the discussion on the ontology of the work of art.