'The Most Expensive GIF of All Time' Is Being Sold for $5,800
This article discusses "Balloon Dog Deflated," a GIF of a deflating metal balloon dog which the artist has put up for sale for $5800. The high price point is meant to be a commentary on pieces like the original "Balloon Dog" which are purchased for inflated price points ($58 million in the case of "Balloon Dog"). Art, like anything else, is in one sense worth what people will pay for it. However, even physical works of art are often sold for far more than their material costs, and could be cheaply copied, begging the question of why digital art is so often free.
On the one hand, "Balloon Dog Deflated" serves to highlighting the decadence of the art world. When collectors pay millions of dollars for a work of art, they are clearly not paying for the object. Even the ideas behind a work of art do not account for the price - there is an element of having something unique and valuable. In that way an image that can be perfectly copied over and over can never fit the bill, and so "Balloon Dog Deflated" calls out collectors for what they are really paying for. On the other hand, "Balloon Dog Deflated" also raises the question of whether digital good are really free. We pay for universal "free" access in advertisements and information, so while $5800 is perhaps too much for an individual work, $0 is unquestionably too little.
Original Balloon Dog:
Balloon Dog Deflated:
