Wallet vs. wall: A collector’s guide to digital art

Please note: Barclays Private Bank does not endorse any of the companies or individuals referenced in this article.

From Impressionism to Dada to the Young British Artists, art movements have historically courted controversy by uprooting our preconceptions of what art can be. Like these radical predecessors, digital art represents a movement that strikes at the heart of contemporary culture and is becoming a driving force in today’s art world. 

Harnessing the latest technology, digital art is a dynamic medium that reacts and adapts to changing social, cultural and technological contexts. While remaining relatively niche, the medium is starting to command increasing sums on the primary and secondary markets. So, is it a form that more art collectors should consider?

Rather than creating physical paintings hanging on a wall, digital artists are opening new doors of expression, creating virtual works that can be stored within a digital wallet as one-of-a-kind assets such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

New perspectives on a familiar world

Data-driven art may not sound particularly creative, but a quick exploration of the artists at the forefront of this movement – such as Refik Anadol and Tin&Ed – shows that such initial scepticism is seriously misplaced. 

Anadol transforms data into mesmerising and rhythmic visual experiences, such as the trance-like ‘Machine Hallucinations – Sphere’, currently on show in Las Vegas¹. His body of work offers its audience new perspectives on a familiar world, allowing opportunities to meditate on our increasingly intertwined relationship with everyday technology and newer elements of artificial intelligence (AI)². Meanwhile, Australian duo Tin&Ed create playful and immersive installations that blur the boundary between the physical and digital worlds, and challenge the role of technology in the domestic worlds³. 

Their recent work, ‘Kaleidoscopic Home’, comes in the form of a downloadable app that transforms its users’ surroundings into what the pair describe as ‘an extraordinary playground filled with an ever-changing array of surprising sculptural forms’⁴. By manipulating normality, they invite us to experience the world with a renewed sense of wonder.

Part of the zeitgeist

What makes AI particularly exciting is that the more artists use this technology, the more these programs will learn and evolve. In this way, digital art is becoming part of the zeitgeist, and its output will become a lucrative realm for art connoisseurs worldwide. But as its prevalence increases, so does the need for collectors to understand the nuances and potential of digital art. 

The world began to take notice of the burgeoning digital art market in 2021 when Beeple’s work ‘Everydays: The First 5000 Days’ sold at Christie’s for almost $70 million⁵. The sector has continued to spiral. Valued at $4 billion in 2023, the digital art market is expected to reach $12.1 billion by 2030⁶.

As an investment, art has traditionally come with a long set of risks. Not only can it be tricky to authenticate, the transportation process and storage of wall-based art and sculpture can also be complex and expensive. Moreover, art is not a particularly liquid investment – in other words, it is often not easy to buy and sell quickly. 

Secure, portable and instantaneous to trade

Digital art mitigates many of these risks. As it can be stored securely in the cloud, on a hard drive or memory stick, these pieces are secure, portable and instantaneous to trade. Likewise, digital provenance tracking marks a serious change when compared to traditional mediums. 

Using blockchain technology, the authenticity, provenance and exhibition record of every work can be securely stored, updated and shared⁷. This makes the selling process a far cry from the difficulties surrounding high-profile works, such as the much-disputed ‘Salvator Mundi’, whose attribution to Leonardo Da Vinci remains a matter of debate.  

That’s not to say digital art is without risk. As a new art form, valuations are more speculative and subject to fluctuation – the NFT market being the most obvious example. However, despite a significant slowdown from its initial boom in 2021, the NFT market still has its merits. Digital goods investor and influencer Mark Cuban, comments that the market is “a lot more deliberate and collector driven […] people are less focused on immediate appreciation and more on enjoying the art itself”⁸.

Curate, display and share 

In recognition of its cultural significance, many museums and institutions are now actively collecting digital art, and these exhibits successfully showcase how digital art can be integrated into pre-existing collections. But for all its positives, digital art still causes confusion among collectors, particularly over how it can be curated and displayed. Unlike traditional art, digital art often doesn’t come in the form of a physical object and leans instead towards the immersive and experiential. 

Work by Danish digital artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen is currently on show at London’s Serpentine Gallery. Steensen’s ‘The Deep Listener​​’ takes its audience on an audio-visual expedition through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, complementing (and enhancing) the audience’s knowledge of the physical reality of these well-known areas⁹.

As a virtual art form, digital art has also found a natural home within the metaverse. The mainstream adoption of the metaverse¹⁰ by prestigious auction houses Christie’s¹¹ and Sotheby's underscores its growing influence. And virtual art galleries and exhibitions are becoming increasingly commercial. The sale of high-profile digital assets, such as Krista Kim’s ‘Mars House’, which sold at Sotheby’s in 2020 for over half a million pounds, is an indication of the metaverse's growing prominence within the art world.

Digital art and philanthropy

Art-loving philanthropists have also taken the opportunity to support the creation of digital art. Berlin-based computer scientist and collector Ivo Wessel founded VIDEOART AT MIDNIGHT in 2008, an artists’ cinema project based in Berlin that focuses on promoting early-career digital artists¹². 

Wessel sits alongside a growing number of high-net-worth individuals tying philanthropy into their collecting practice. Californian couple Pamela and Richard Kramlich have been collecting media art for over 35 years, and now own one of the most important collections worldwide. The couple founded a trust in 1997 to focus on the conservation of digital media. They also run an educational programme and donate works to public collections around the world.

Robust storage solutions

Collecting digital art is not just about acquiring new and increasingly commercial pieces; it is about participating in a vibrant and evolving movement. From the immersive qualities of augmented reality to AI’s algorithmic creativity, and the expansive possibilities of the metaverse, digital art offers a wealth of opportunities for collectors. And for those willing to explore it, the rewards can be plentiful (albeit not without risk). 

But building a digital art collection involves more than just acquiring and displaying it. Preserving digital art requires careful consideration of storage solutions and technological adaptability to ensure artworks stay intact and accessible. 

Collectors should ensure their digital artworks' ongoing accessibility by using storage solutions such as open file formats that can adapt to rapidly changing technologies. Forgot to back something up? We’ve all experienced that stomach-dropping feeling, though perhaps not when it's a multi-million-pound digital artwork. These pieces should be stored in multiple locations to prevent loss due to hardware failure. A robust backup system includes regular backups, and off-site or cloud storage¹³. To support collectors, metadata management can easily be outsourced and is provided by an increasing number of reliable companies¹⁴. 

The forefront of digital innovation

By embracing the switch from wall to wallet, collectors can become engaged with the forefront of artistic innovation. They can also enrich their collections with works that reflect the pulse of modern society and have the potential to increase in cultural and commercial value. 

For art connoisseurs, the choice doesn’t have to be binary, digital art merely adds to the pantheon of artistic works to be explored, enjoyed and collected. But its growing presence, proliferation and importance show it certainly shouldn’t be disregarded.