UPDATE 4:20 PM EST: In the official PR announcement for the new Mind MGMT comic, Kindt has clarified that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the NFT will be donated to a to-be-determined environmental agency. Here’s the full text of the quote:
“I have no intention of ever publishing MIND MGMT: The Artifact in a traditional way,” said Kindt. “The highest bidder for the auction will determine what happens next. Will they share it online? Will they read it with family and friends? Will it be erased? Does the value of an idea come from the owning of it? Or the sharing of it? That’s up to the one who possesses it. I don’t entirely know what happens next, except that a percentage of the proceeds is going directly to an environmental agency to offset the impact that generating an NFT has on the environment. We’re going to leave this place better than we found it.”
What percentage of the sale will be donated, and how it’s being calculated to ‘offset the impact’ was not further elaborated upon.
Original article follows:
The latest big thing in the art world are NFTs – unique pieces of encrypted digital artwork that exist on a blockchain. Following several high-dollar sales of original pieces of NFT artwork, discussion about the form has been all over social media. Now Matt Kindt has announced that he will create a new, one-of-a-kind Mind MGMT story, that will only be available as an NFT. The comic will be sold at auction via the OpenSea NFT marketplace.
Revealed today via IGN, Kindt’s new Mind MGMT story, titled “The Artifact,” will expand on themes established during the original series run. Kindt has created a short comic as a teaser for the story, which, as Kindt explains within the comic itself, explores the relative nature of value in society:
In a statement accompanying the announcement comic, Kindt makes clear that he will not be releasing this new Mind MGMT story “in a traditional way,” and that once the winning bidder purchases the NFT they can do whatever they want with it (though the auction clarifies that Kindt owns the rights to the story and characters, and that if the buy does decide to share “The Artifact” with people, they can’t make a profit off of it).
Kindt taking Mind MGMT into the NFT space is something of a no-brainer, and perfectly in-line with his previous work on the series. Still, as someone who is a fan of Kindt’s work, I have to admit I’m a little disappointed in this, not because it’s a story I likely won’t get the opportunity to read, but because of the well-documented environmental impact of the creation of the cryptocurrencies used to buy and sell them. Kindt says the new comic will explore the idea of NFTs, but is that worth the unintended — and widely-acknowledged — side effects that go along with the comic’s sale?
Aside from the carbon emissions associated with cryptocurrency mining, there are also big questions about the stability of the NFT market’s infrastructure as more and more people jump on the bandwagon, and what happens if and when the servers hosting specific NFTs shut down. Could the token for “The Artifact” ultimately end up being worthless?
The auction for Mind MGMT: “The Artifact” is live now, and will run until the end of this month.
Cool. One more person to drop from my list. Creators are going to feel really stupid for jumping on this badwagon.
This is so hilariously bad. “Money is just a societal contruct that means nothing. So be a rebel and buy into MY societal construct that I personally profit from. Everybody wins!” What a grift. Even if that’s critiqued in the actual story, it’s such a joke that Kindt is still doing all this himself with the actual NFT.
People far smarter than me have explained the problems with NFT, and the fact that you’re not even buying a piece of art, you’re buying the blockchain with a piece of easily replicable digital media. Between that, the financial risk and the environmental costs, I really don’t see how it can be seen as defendable.
Its right up there with John Cleese’s selling a bridge NFT piss take in terms of tone deaf.
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