Thread by @dbc___

There have been some debates over whether Ryder Ripps is stealing copyright (he's not) and whether, as an artist or a collector, we should support him (we should).

I want to talk about why.

https://twitter.com/dbc___/status/1530342819944370176

from my article. here is an original #BAYC

And the metadata next to it.

1. the NFT was created to be gamed; it has a system of hegemonic data built into the way the contract interacts with the platform and the auction dynamics

does fine art do this? well, yes, in a way...

In fine art, a lost work of art or a painting that hasn't seen many eyeballs is considered rare.

It's not considered rare by attributes, because people don't look for traits when they bid for fine art. They bid for things like source / provenance and history.

Ryder Ripps removes the traits in his metadata and his contract, leaving only Provenance, in the NFT's description on the auction and exchange platform

why is this important?

It's important, and hugely valuable because this action alone is enough to ask you to pause.
What are we really looking at when we look at artists' works on OpenSea or other platforms? What are #NFT objects?

They are supposed to be art.

But often

they are just as lacking metadata individuality as our own avatars on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Even in Web3, OpenSea, for example, is still deploying a web2 identity marker mentality.

Here's my own badly drawn work on OpenSea.
Look at the contract for it... tainted.

If as an artist, you put stuff on OpenSea or any other platform that is just a cut and paste, or a right click, save and upload of your work, you are giving provenance to OpenSea.
You are making OpenSea the biggest claim to being your biggest collector. It's their contract.

Back to #rrbayc and actually things like #phunks and early NFT contracts that are pixel art and kind of grungy looking. it's intentional.

it's meant to be art by forcing us to look at our constant belief that art has to be beautiful. our blindness is our own doing.

Something is not art because it's beautiful and because you put time into it.

It becomes art when you give it to an audience and it forces them to see something they ignore. That's the movement that keeps flicking on and off in #Web3
tiny sparks are starting.

Ryder Ripps turned #bayc into fine art because he uses a performance and an active critique to dismantle the attributes and racist undertones found in BAYC and instead force us to study up on it.

For something to be art, we have to discover "what the fuck just happened?"

So, what the fuck happened when BAYC got popular? I have my own answers, and I still have my questions. Which is why I think collecting #rrbayc is an important step for art collecting in Web3

The Renaissance is here, but it's not evenly distributed yet.