Just a year after the creation of the Bitcoin network in 2015, French-American artist Sarah Meyo created her BitchCoin project, for which she developed her own cryptocurrency with the idea that collectors should invest directly in artists rather than in works of art. The inspiration came, Meyohas says, from the invention of Bitcoin, which she describes as a “creative act.”

She adds, “Bitcoin has the most inspiring origin story. An anonymous person creating a value system that can be separated from all institutions. It was not created by a corporation within the confines of a legal system. Created before the advent of Ethereum, BitchCoin is considered the very first token created by an artist on a blockchain network, an early precursor to NFTs.

This week, Bitcoin took a hit, dropping 25%, its lowest value in 18 months. The immediate trigger appears to be a sell-off by investors. Of falling prices, Meyohas acknowledges the “market pullback”, but notes that it is “important to separate market concerns from technology rails, even though of course they enabled this market to be created in the first place”. . The ripple effect for the NFT market is inevitable. As Mayohas puts it: “We are entering a recession and there is a flight to safety. It should come as no surprise that easily tradable JPEGs are not “safe” assets.

At Art Basel, Meyohas exhibits a hologram sculpture of her interference series, which his gallery Marianne Boesky sold to a private American collector for $295,000. Although analog, the piece relates to her digital work “in that it’s the analog version of augmented reality,” she says. “It is a recording and recreation of light waves. With all our talk about a metaverse, interference create an augmented reality unlike any screen technology. Meyohas adds: “The interference the series can only truly be experienced in person. They need the optics of your eyeballs when you stand in front of them.