Damien Hirst – The Currency: Artist starts setting fire to thousands of his spot paintings
Damien Hirst has started burning millions of pounds worth of his art as part of a project testing the value of physical paintings versus digital works – and told Sky News: “Who’s to judge what’s right and wrong and what’s real and not?”
The British artist, who rose to fame in the 1990s – winning the Turner Prize with an installation of a bisected cow and calf in formaldehyde – is setting fire to works created for The Currency, a project launched in July 2021.
With the collection of 10,000 pieces featuring his famous spot prints, collectors were given a choice: take a physical Hirst original (quite a bargain at $2,000) or opt for an NFT digital version.
Given a year to decide, buyers had to make their minds up in July this year. The result? Some 5,149 physical pieces will remain intact, their virtual doppelgangers deleted – while 4,851 NFTs will live on in the digital sphere, their painting equivalents going up in smoke.
Hirst has now started the fire for the unchosen physical pieces, with burning set to continue at his Newport Street Gallery near Vauxhall, south London, over the next few weeks.
He told Sky News he doesn’t see his project as burning his art, rather transforming it – but admitted that with his background firmly in the physical art world, he did need to get to grips with the digital one.
“I’m kind of rooted in the physical world, so I find the digital world more challenging,” he said. “I think this has to be part of the process. To create truly digital artworks is to destroy the physical artwork.”
On the first day of the burning, the smell of torched paper lingers throughout the gallery. All 10,000 paintings are represented here, with the 5,149 works whose owners opted for the physical greyed out.
At the moment, the majority of the other 4,851 are still in place, ready to be burnt, while blank rectangles occupy the spaces of those torched so far. By the end of the month, these will represent almost half.
Why opt for a digital artwork rather than a physical painting to display on your wall?
Kyle Johns, 28, from Cwmbran in south Wales, said he originally thought it was an obvious choice – but as the year went on, he changed his mind.
“I came into it, I was always art. I was going to have art on the wall. But it changed. We were in the community and it was nice. We were all in an [online] group and it’s just been brilliant.
“Over the year, the NFT became appealing. It’s hard to explain. If I try and tell my mum I’ve got a picture of a picture that’s going to be burnt, it doesn’t make sense. But when you think of it as the future, it is an art form, it’s digital – and we all have a phone.
“I’m not taking my wall [out] with me, I’m taking my phone and my NFT collection.”
Hirst says he views The Currency as a work of art in which people participate by buying, holding, selling and exchanging the works. The community, the burning, is all part of the art, part of the experiment.
Many who chose NFTs and resold early on have done well. In September 2021, the buyer of number 2,604, titled Revocation, sold it for $172,239 (£154,313). This was the NFT version. According to Hirst’s book on the project, The Currency has so far generated $89m (£78.9m) in sales.
Mr Johns, whose physical piece will burn later in October, says he may look to sell at some point, but for now he is enjoying the experience.
His joining The Currency led to a charity fundraising event supported by the artist – and he now even has a tattoo of another of Hirst’s famous artworks, the formaldehyde shark.
“For now, it’s about the community,” he said. “I think [the NFTs] are trading at about $7,000 (£6,281) now. We’ll see what happens.”
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Zaheer Raffeeq, 28, who lives in London, opted to keep a physical Hirst painting – deciding three days before the deadline.
”NFTs are too new for me, whereas having something I can hold – I prefer that,” he said. “I thought it was taking too much of a risk to take the NFT.
“I see why people picked the NFT, because it’s also cool to say that Damien Hirst burnt my piece of art… I think I made the right choice.”
Is he worried he might miss out on a lot of money should the value of the NFTs rise more than the physical pieces?
“I think I would have thought the same thing if I’d had the NFT,” he said.
Once the burning is complete, who knows what will happen to the value of either of the sets, physical or digital? NFTs certainly have their critics – but Hirst says it is not for anyone to judge what others appreciate as art.
“With NFTs, we’re making art for people who haven’t been born yet,” he said. “Who’s to judge what’s right and wrong and what’s real and not?
“The people who aren’t born yet are going to decide what’s going to be remembered and what’s not. We’re just here to try and record today for the people of the future.”
Entertainment
‘Epstein is rolling in his grave laughing’: Artist reveals why he photographed convicted paedophile – and Donald Trump
Andres Serrano says he doesn’t set out to be a controversial artist – but he’s certainly proved to be one during his career.
The 75-year-old New Yorker first found fame (or infamy in the eyes of his critics) with one of the most notorious works of art in history – his 1987 photograph titled Piss Christ.
The depiction of a crucifix submerged in urine led to protests denouncing the image as blasphemous – and it was vandalised while on display in a French art museum in 2011.
“I don’t do work to be controversial,” he tells Sky News. “I do work that I feel like I need to do.
“For some reason, I’ve touched on many cultural things that have become cultural flashpoints.”
Andres Serrano spoke to Sky News
Now, two of Serrano’s most high-profile and controversial subjects for his artwork are dominating headlines around the world.
Serrano photographed Jeffrey Epstein for a portrait in 2019, four months before the paedophile financier was found dead in a prison cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. It is one of the last known images of Epstein, whose death was ruled to be suicide.
Years earlier, Serrano took a portrait photo of Donald Trump in 2004 – the same year the property tycoon began starring on The Apprentice TV series.
As Trump faces scrutiny over his past links to Epstein, and pressure to release all files in the sex offender’s case, Serrano offers a rare insight into the two men.
Photographing Epstein
Serrano’s portrait of Epstein was “23 years in the making”, he says, after he agreed to do it in exchange for a sculpture the wealthy collector owned that the artist had wanted since the mid-1990s.
Pic: Andres Serrano
At the time, Epstein was already a convicted sex offender who had served time in jail after pleading guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Despite this, Serrano says he didn’t have reservations about taking the photo because he “wanted the statue” that Epstein owned.
Serrano believed the 16th century statue of the Virgin Mary should be paired with one he owned of St John.
“Jeffrey Epstein is rolling in his grave laughing about how he is still talked about,” the artist says.
“He wasn’t an interesting guy. Except for being a paedophile, there was nothing about him that should have made him so interesting to so many people.”
Epstein ‘collected people’
Serrano – who was first introduced to Epstein in the mid-90s – says he and his wife had “a few meetings” with him and considered him to be a “strange guy”.
He says he has “shocked” when he learnt Epstein had been “exposed and indicted as a paedophile”.
“We never saw that side of Epstein,” he says.
“To me, he looked like a guy who didn’t have a job and was always on a vacation having fun.
“I never asked him about where his money came from. I knew he was very rich. I also knew he knew a lot of people.
“Jeffrey Epstein did not collect art but he collected people. He made it his business to know everybody, anybody who was a celebrity, famous, rich – anyone with a reputation.”
Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: NBC
Serrano says he doesn’t “judge” the subjects of his photography, who have also included members of the Ku Klux Klan, and he was “happy” with the outcome of the Epstein portrait.
But how does he think Epstein’s victims feel seeing the image?
“I don’t see how one thing has to do with the other,” he replies.
“Does that mean the victims would feel better looking at the portrait of him in the mugshot, which is a horrible picture?”
Jeffrey Epstein in 2017. File pic: New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP
He adds: “Their take on Jeffrey Epstein is very different from everyone else’s. So they see something that we can’t even imagine what they see.”
Photographing Trump
While Serrano believes Epstein was uninteresting, his opinion of Trump couldn’t be more different.
Pic: Andres Serrano
He describes the US president as “fascinating” – so much so that he collected more than 1,000 items linked to him for an art installation called The Game: All Things Trump.
The objects, products and items of merchandise had been created for Trump’s businesses and brands, including Trump Vodka, Trump University and even Trump Steaks.
An 11ft-tall sign spelling the word “Ego” from the Trump Taj Mahal resort in Atlantic City also featured in the display, along with Serrano’s own portrait of Trump.
An 11ft-tall sign spelling the word ‘Ego’ from the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. Pic: Andres Serrano
He calls the photograph “one of the best portraits I’ve ever seen of Donald Trump”, and reveals he had a particular way of working with him – staying quiet.
“I didn’t give him any reason to upset him,” Serrano says.
“He sizes you up very quickly. (I didn’t want to say) anything that would turn him off or that would bore him or that would make him in any way want to leave.”
‘Quiet’ Trump ‘tried to figure me out’
Serrano says he spent about half an hour with Trump, who he describes as being “quiet” throughout the process of having his portrait photo taken.
“I often like to leave people to their own thoughts when I’m taking a portrait,” the artist says.
“I like to make the kind of portraits where it feels like I’m not even there. It’s just you, the viewer and the sitter.
“I think he was just trying to figure me out. And so since we didn’t talk, you know it was just a silent conversation between us.”
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All we know about Trump and Epstein’s ‘friendship’
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The artist won’t answer directly when asked if he is a Trump supporter but calls him “the epitome of the American dream”.
“I don’t think the art world has ever taken Donald Trump seriously except as a subject for ridicule,” he says.
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‘It’s a Democrat hoax’ – Trump on Epstein files
“My perception and my intent with Donald Trump was far from that, because I think that’s a very simplistic way of doing things.
“My view of him is that he’s a really smart guy.
“Whatever you think about him, you can’t argue with the fact that he often gets his way and I think that’s because Donald Trump is persistent. He doesn’t let go. He’s like a pitbull who doesn’t let go.”
‘Epstein story will be buried’
Serrano also took a portrait photograph of Trump’s former presidential election rival Kamala Harris for The New Yorker magazine but says the circumstances were very different.
“When I do portrait for a magazine… I’m happy to do for them but there’s no skin in the game for me,” he says.
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Despite the pressure facing Trump to make public all files related to the Epstein case, Serrano believes “the story will die at some point”.
“It’s kind of like the Kennedy assassination. People have been obsessed with conspiracy theories, theories about John F Kennedy’s assassination for years,” he says.
“It’s a story that comes and goes, but I think this story will go.
“At some point, maybe some point soon, the Jeffrey Epstein story will be buried, along with Jeffrey Epstein.”
Actor Henry Cavill has suffered an injury during training ahead of filming for the remake of the Highlander film.
The British actor, best known for TV series The Witcher, playing Superman in Man Of Steel, and more recently Sherlock Holmes in the Enola Holmes film series, was hurt just days before the film was due to start production.
Filming for the reboot of the 1980s classic will now begin in 2026, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The cast includes Gladiator actor Russell Crowe, who worked with Cavill on Man Of Steel, as well as former Doctor Who star Karen Gillan, and Dave Bautista – known for roles in Dune and as Drax in the Guardians Of The Galaxy trilogy.
Cavill, 42, was injured during pre-production of the Amazon MGM Studios’ United Artists (UA) film.
Highlander, which is being directed by Chad Stahelski, is based on the original 1986 film of the same name.
The film starred Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery and is about an ancient battle between immortal warriors.
The fantasy-action film was followed up with several sequels, including Highlander II: The Quickening (1991), Highlander III: The Sorcerer (1994), and Highlander: Endgame (2000).
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An alternate sequel to the original film was also produced as a TV spin-off series in 1992.
Speaking at CinemaCon in Las Vegas in April, Cavill told The Hollywood Reporter he was a “lover of the original movies, for better or worse” and was currently in training to play the immortal Scottish hero.
He added: “If you think you’ve seen me do sword work before, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
There has been no word on what type of injury Cavill suffered or how it occurred.
Ireland will not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest next year if Israel is allowed to take part, RTE has announced.
The Irish broadcaster said in a statement that a number of European Broadcasting Union (EBU) members raised concerns over the participation of Israel in the competition at the union’s general assembly in July.
RTE added that its “position” is that Ireland will not take part in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest if the participation of Israel goes ahead.
The broadcaster will make its “final decision regarding Ireland’s participation” once the EBU decides whether Israel will take part, the statement continues.
It adds: “RTE wishes to thank the EBU for the extensive consultation process that was initiated on foot of that meeting, and the extension of the option to withdraw from participation without penalty to December.”
The statement added: “RTE feels that Ireland’s participation would be unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza.
“RTE is also deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza, and the denial of access to international journalists to the territory, and the plight of the remaining hostages.”
Ireland has won Eurovision seven times, the joint most of any country along with Sweden. Its last win was in 1996.
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Eurovision Song Contest director Martin Green said: “We understand the concerns and deeply held views around the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. We are still consulting with all EBU Members to gather views on how we manage participation and geopolitical tensions around the Eurovision Song Contest.
“Broadcasters have until mid-December to confirm if they wish to take part in next year’s event in Vienna. It is up to each member to decide if they want to take part in the contest and we would respect any decision broadcasters make.”
The 70th anniversary edition of the contest is due to take place in Vienna, Austria, in May after Austrian entry JJ won with his song Wasted Love in Basel, Switzerland, earlier this year.
Ireland was represented by Emmy in Basel, with the song Laika Party, while Israel was represented by Yuval Raphael, with her song New Day Will Rise.
There has been growing controversy about Israel’s participation in Eurovision with protests in host cities in the last two years.
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