Would You Pay $70 Million For This Digital File?
The Australian Women's Weekly|June 2021
Is it the new pop art? Or is it the hoax of the century? Welcome to the mysterious, multimillion-dollar digital art world.
William Langley
Would You Pay $70 Million For This Digital File?

From the time early humans began daubing pictures of woolly mammoths on cave walls, art has remained a relatively simple business: someone creates it, someone buys it and the rest of us get to see it in galleries or museums. For decades, there have been long queues for Leonardo’s Mona Lisa in Paris and Michelangelo’s David in Florence because the best way to truly appreciate these works is to turn up in person.

Not anymore. A revolution is sweeping the art world, up-ending centuries of cosy coexistence between dealers and collectors. In March this year, Christie’s – the venerable, 255-year-old London auction house – achieved the third-highest price ever paid for a work by a living artist. The winning bid of almost US$70 million was for a digital collage called Everydays: The First 5000 Days. The artist was a 39-year-old graphic designer known as Beeple. Contacted at his modest suburban home in the US state of South Carolina, Beeple’s reaction was: “This is too goddamn awesome, man.”

Welcome to the world of crypto art. For $70 million, you could own a topnotch work by Picasso or Monet, and when the auctioneer’s hammer comes down, have your prize packaged up and delivered to your mansion, yacht or ski lodge, where you can gloat over it being entirely unique and all yours. But anyone can see Beeple’s work exactly as the buyer sees it. It exists only as a sequence of digital files, viewable on a screen, and infinitely replicable. So, why would a buyer spend so much money on something the rest of us can have for free?

The world’s first billionaire artist

This story is from the June 2021 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the June 2021 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLYView All
Hitting a nerve
The Australian Women's Weekly

Hitting a nerve

Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.

time-read
5 mins  |
July 2024
Take me to the river
The Australian Women's Weekly

Take me to the river

With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.

time-read
4 mins  |
July 2024
The last act
The Australian Women's Weekly

The last act

When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?

time-read
8 mins  |
July 2024
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
The Australian Women's Weekly

MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN

When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.

time-read
8 mins  |
July 2024
The wines and lines mums
The Australian Women's Weekly

The wines and lines mums

Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.

time-read
10 mins  |
July 2024
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
The Australian Women's Weekly

Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?

Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.

time-read
10+ mins  |
July 2024
Growing happiness
The Australian Women's Weekly

Growing happiness

Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy

time-read
8 mins  |
July 2024
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
The Australian Women's Weekly

"Thank God we make each other laugh"

A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:

time-read
7 mins  |
July 2024
Winter baking with apples and pears
The Australian Women's Weekly

Winter baking with apples and pears

Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.

time-read
10+ mins  |
July 2024
Budget dinner winners
The Australian Women's Weekly

Budget dinner winners

Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.

time-read
5 mins  |
July 2024