Roughly a year after media platform NFT Evening reported how “96 per cent of NFTs are considered dead” and the average lifespan of an NFT “is now 1.14 years, which is 2.5 times shorter than the average lifespan of traditional crypto projects”, prominent auction house Christie’s is reportedly closing its dedicated digital art department. Digital art will bow be part of its 20th-21st century sales.
According to news reports, some of the department’s staff members were let go — including the vice president of digital art Nicole Sales Giles — while the roles of others have been redefined. Digital art sales manager Sebastian Sanchez, for instance, will continue to remain with Christie’s. In a post on social media, Sanchez stated, “Thank you to everyone who reached out with support since the unfortunate news broke of Christie’s closing the digital art dept… I remain at Christie’s as a digital art specialist and am deeply proud of what we’ve built over the past 3 years since I joined. I’m especially grateful to the artists, collectors, and colleagues I’ve had the privilege to work with and the huge milestones we achieved together.”
In a 2022 article, news website The Block had reported how Christie’s sold 87 NFTs for a total of $5.9 million in 2022, down 96 per cent compared to 2021. The 2021 sales included digital artist Beeple aka Michael Joseph Winkelmann’s Everyday: The First 5000 Days, which fetched $69.3 million. Prior to this, Portrait of Le Comte de Belamy, created by AI trained by Obvious, a Paris-based collective, had garnered $432,500 at a 2018 Christie’s auction.
Earlier this year, the auction house had also held ‘Augmented Reality’, its first sale dedicated to AI art, featuring 34 works created with artificial intelligence. Garnering more than $700,000, it was widely debated and several of its critics had called for its cancellation in an open letter.
Last year, another major auction house Sotheby’s had downsized its NFT department.
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