*From press release following;

The curious term ‘digital antiques’ came to mind when, looking at recent trends in the NFT art market from the side, I thought that 100 years from now, we may be loving image data as if it were an antique. Traditionally, antiques and digital art have been positioned at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of whether they can be physically owned. However, in recent years, with the development of blockchain technology, ‘Non-Fungible Token (NFT)’, which gives digital data, which can be easily copied, a unique asset value, has been implemented in society, and digital art can now clearly prove ‘when and by whom’ it was owned. digital art can now be clearly proven as to ‘when and by whom’ it has been owned.

This may mean that digital art can be placed on the same footing as ‘antiques’, whose value has been formed by being passed down from generation to generation by enthusiasts. If this is the case, then even the countless image data produced every day may become the antiques of the future. However, compared to tea utensils, which were praised as being worth a fortune in the days of Sen no Rikyu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, will ‘image data’ really have the same value? Will the market for NFT art, which appears to be temporarily inflated by the currents of the times, really be passed on to the future as a truly valuable object?
This exhibition examines where ‘value’ and ‘ownership’ are really headed in the future. Looking back at the history of how the value of things has changed over the years, the exhibition considers the present day, when NFT has made it possible to ‘guarantee the rarity’ and ‘clarify ownership’ of digital data, as the boundary of the times. The question this exhibition asks is “What is value?” The exhibition asks the question, “What is value?

Exhibition overview.
Digital Antiques Exhibition – Thinking about value and ownership in the future
Exhibition period: 29 Oct (Sat) – 13 Nov (Sun), 2022.
Opening hours: 11:00 – 20:00
Venue: BE AT STUDIO HARAJUKU (Laforet Harajuku 6F)
Admission: free
Organiser: BE AT TOKYO
Planning and production: Keisuke Arikuni (BE AT TOKYO/FLOWPLATEAUX)
Planning and editing: Yu Sakurai (TISSUE Inc.),
Yuna Tsukada (Whole Universe Inc.)
Supervision: Takashi Kurada (philosopher), Akihiro Kato (artist and engineer)
Cooperation: Shinichiro Yoshida (Early Modern Azabu Research Institute), Yumeai Sugawara, Kichijoji PukuPuku
Spatial design: Shinya Akabane
Art director: Yurie Hata
Special webpage: https://be-at-tokyo.com/projects/beatstudio/10744/

Exhibited works
＜NFT＞
exonemo 《Metaverse Petshop》
Akihiro Kato, 《Wan Nyan Wars》
HUMAN AWESOME ERROR 《Crafts for Common People》
Masaki Fujihata, 《Brave New Commons》
Shunsuke Takao, 《Generativemasks》