Two days before Diogenes-Barrel's The Message auction on OpenSea ends on January 1, 2022. Regarding how actively the crypto community is spreading The Message, the picture of poop can easily surge in price to hundreds of millions.
As of December 29, four bids had been placed on The Message NFT collection for 0.105 ETH or $190 at spot rates on OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace. The first bid of 0.05 ETH was placed before another bid, doubling the initial offer was set. Later, two bids of 0.105 ETH were then placed, according to details from OpenSea. Interested buyers can join in the protest as there won’t be second chances.
Diogenes-Barrel's preview of the current state of digital art resonates with other critics, explaining why the picture of his poop has been shared widely on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) and across social media channels. He maintains that the image of his poop holds more value than all pixelated, boring art currently being auctioned in various marketplaces. His decision to upload "The Message", a 640×480 pixels photo he took in 2004 using a NOKIA 3660 (navy blue) in a public toilet of a bus station in Rybinsk, Russia, on OpenSea, was in protest.
"I lay down a challenge to all PFP avatar collections by auctioning a photo of my poop, which I took in 2004, in a public toilet of a bus station in Rybinsk. The picture is taken on a Nokia (NYSE:NOK) 3660 (navy blue); the photo's resolution is 640×480 pixels. I am sure that this photo contains more art and value than all artificially generated NFT avatar collections combined."
The Message is a challenge to spur truly gifted artists to step out of their comfort zone. Crucially, the collection's creator asserts that talented artists should differentiate themselves from marketers who are now minting thousands of boring auto-generated avatars that offer so little artistic value. Creativity has been significantly subdued by hiring freelancer mercenaries to generate, by a click of a button, thousands of quick artwork with predetermined scarcity.
Diogenes-Barrel believes that artists should be independent, inspired, and not profit-driven by choosing the least path of resistance like what most marketers are currently doing. These qualities allow them to create masterpieces that can stir debate and even draw criticism. In his view, real art comes naturally and accidentally. Because of this, art need not please anyone's eyes and ears.The NFT community believes that new artistic paths should be forged for sustainability. Otherwise, viral marketing of bland NFT pieces would crash the industry in the long haul. In a recent interview, Vitalik Buterin said NFTs should integrate real-world utility to survive a bear cycle.