Damien Hirst set to open an NFT display at Newport Street Gallery

DAMIEN HIRST and HENI have announced their collaboration to unveil the British artist’s first NFT exhibition at Newport Street Gallery, in which paintings will be burned down live.

As we eagerly await this unique presentation of paintings from his first NFT collection, The Currency – opening 9 September 2022 – Hirst reveals that the series will include 10,000 NFTs which correspond with 10,000 unique physical artworks created by himself.

Damien Hirst with The Currency artworks, 2021. Photographed by Prudence Cuming

Collectors of his work were given the option to either hold onto the original paintings, or to swap them for these new digital creations. They had one year to give Hirst an answer, which will conclude on 27 July 2022, and with whatever answer they provide, the latter will be destroyed.

The destruction of these works will be held in The Currency exhibition at specific times each day. These will be announced and published prior to the occasion, as will a following publication to serve with the showcase, entitled The Currency Chronicles. This will include community experiences of the initial stage in the project.

All physical pieces were created by hand in 2016 using enamel paint on handmade paper. Every artwork is numbered, titled, stamped, and signed by Hirst on the back. Further authenticity features include a watermark, a microdot and a hologram that contains a portrait of the artist. On each work of art, no colour is repeated twice, and the titles were created through the application of machine learning to some of the artist’s favourite song lyrics.

Damien Hirst views The Currency as a work of art in which people participate by buying, holding, selling, and exchanging the artworks.

by Alicia Tomkinson

Newport Street Gallery, Newport Street, London, SE11 6AJ