The End of Art (Once Again)

Abstract

The coda considers the contemporary case of so-called NFTs or non-fungible tokens as a phenomenon in which many of the concerns addressed in this book meet. Returning to the art vandal Banksy, who made appearances earlier on in the book, and picking up the discussions about cult value and exhibition value in the work of Walter Benjamin from earlier chapters, the coda develops the notion of crypto value. Rather than introducing a post-exceptionalist politics, the coda argues that crypto value reinforces the fascistic tendencies of the value discourse in art and suggests that the future for a post-exceptionalist aesthetics and politics lies elsewhere.