Legendary film maker David Cronenberg has created a 1-minute film in which he kisses a dead version of himself, and minted that film as an NFT. Currently there’s an auction happening on SuperRare. The auction for ‘The Death of David Cronenberg’ will end on Wednesday, and currently the highest bid comes from the Italian art duo Hackatao.
David Cronenberg is a movie director who has a talent for disturbing movies. His movies often tie into themes like transformation, technology and infection. Think about Videodrome, The Fly, and eXistenZ. This NFT video is short, only 60 seconds. However, we can safely say that the video is a bit disturbing.
Cronenberg used a dead replica of himself, and put it into a bed. According to the interview he did with SuperRare he visited his dead body multiple times for a couple of days. This short film stands for Cronenberg embracing is own death, after losing his wife 7 years ago.
This particular NFT stands out for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s a movie. Second of all, it’s a movie done by David Cronenberg, one of the most talented movie directors of our time. Fun fact, the dead body was actually a gift from the special effect team of Black Spot FX. They gave it to Cronenberg during the fourth season of the Slasher series.
We don’t cover NFT art that much here on Play to Earn, but we make exceptions. Sometimes NFT release transcend what we’re doing here, and they become part of a bigger movement. Think about our coverage of Beeple, CryptoPunks or celebrities aping in. We know this is not about gaming, but David Cronenberg making an NFT movie about kissing is own death self… that’s something worth talking about.
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What is crypto or NFT art?
Digital art has been around for decades. However, without the existence of blockchain technology it was impossible to verify authenticity and rarity. Now digital art is connected to a token on the blockchain, a non-fungible token or NFT. That way buyers can see how many copies of a certain artwork there are, and whether the product is original. Digital art on the blockchain used to be referred to as crypto art, but NFT art as a name has become increasingly popular.
The concept of seeing a digital image as art, is one thing. However, for many people it will be a challenge to consider digital images valuable. Consider this: The Mona Lisa is worth many millions of dollars. If I would paint the Mona Lisa in an exact copy, it would be worth only 50 dollars. Because we all know where the original version is. Being able to verify the authenticity and rarity of a piece of art is crucial. This applies to NFT art on the blockchain as well.
Some people don’t care about the Mona Lisa. It’s just a painting. They are happy to download an image from Google Images, print it on canvas and hang it in their living room. Others want the real deal. The same rules go up for digital art. Many people will be happy having a digital image they like, screenshotted on their phone. Others will value having an original artwork, minted by the actual creator, verifiable through blockchain technology.
