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It wasn't a flash in the pan, it was a real fire.

In the flames,

(Bristol, 1965) burned 4,851 physical works, at the request of those who only wanted to keep their corresponding

(NFTs).

Others, more prudent, kept the remaining 5,149 original works.

In September 2008,

.

In 2016, he created these 10,000 unique dot paintings from The Currency series, then associated with the corresponding NFTs.

There is a connection between these two actions and his vision of art and its market.

“They are like two installations, different but similar.

And, at the same time, they are like interesting experiments, in which people participate, they are part of the process.

."

"Not everyone loves art," Hirst continues.

«In 2008, when I did that auction, the bankers were interested and looked at my work in a different way, it is good to always have new audiences.

Of course,

.

In 2008 no artist imagined doing what I did;

I like to break the rules, in the case of

, burning works is like creating rules ».

Is the NFT more important to you than a painting? Oh, I have no idea.

What I like is the polarization.

There are a lot of people who love NFTs and hate physical works, and vice versa.

Anything that annoys people I love.

And I don't think this decision to keep a physical work or an NFT is an internal struggle, just a matter of money.

If the value of a physical work is 100,000 pounds and that of the NFT is 10,000, it is easy to love the first one, but if you have the work hanging and you know that the digital one is worth a million pounds, you think that you have made a mistake.

So my experiment is based on how value corrupts choice.

If both were worth the same, it would be easy to choose. Faced with the certainly hypnotic flame, what was your state of mind? Only when I put the first of the 4,851 works on the fire did I have a strange feeling.

Art should not burn.

But even before selling them he already knew that he would incinerate them.

That was part of the process.

Once the choice is made, I'm a slave to market forces, so I only burned the ones people didn't choose to keep, it was all prearranged.

If everyone had chosen to keep the physical work I would not have burned any.

But for everyone who had chosen NFT I had to burn the physical original.

Fire is wonderful, and when you do it you don't think you're burning wood, it's just a beautiful fire.

The exciting thing is that you can't have it both ways.

Forcing people to choose is exciting.

I firmly believe that NFT is art.

There has always been a struggle between those who prefer figurative to conceptual art, and vice versa.

I had no idea the score was almost 50-50.

I belong to traditional art and I think in physical terms, digital is new to me, while many other people don't want to know anything about physical art, so there are two worlds colliding.

In the future, perhaps these two dimensions will be paired.

But if someone asked me: do you want this or that?, I would say: both. His career can be reviewed for decades: in 1992 Young British Artists was founded;

in 2002 he had numerous exhibitions;

in 2012, the solo exhibition of him at the Tate Modern in London;

in 2022, the massive burning of works.

What are your goals between now and 2032?After making

But if someone asked me: do you want this or that?, I would say: both. His career can be reviewed for decades: in 1992 Young British Artists was founded;

in 2002 he had numerous exhibitions;

in 2012, the solo exhibition of him at the Tate Modern in London;

in 2022, the massive burning of works.

What are your goals between now and 2032?After making

But if someone asked me: do you want this or that?, I would say: both. His career can be reviewed for decades: in 1992 Young British Artists was founded;

in 2002 he had numerous exhibitions;

in 2012, the solo exhibition of him at the Tate Modern in London;

in 2022, the massive burning of works.

What are your goals between now and 2032?After making

, which lasted ten years, I stopped doing ten-year projects.

Now I want to simplify my life so that my children don't inherit chaos, like junkyards.

Of course, it is difficult to contemplate one's own death.

There's a show on TV called

, about people who hoard stuff and are sick and need help getting rid of it, and I feel like one of them.

I need to clean...

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Forcing people to choose is exciting

Damien Hirst

His first butterfly appeared on the cover of 'Frieze' in 1991. Since then, these wings have been the symbol of his success.

She has now created a stained glass ceiling with this motif for Claridge's Hotel in London.

In the Middle Ages these stained glass windows were used to tell stories from the Bible, from the saints.

I like leaded glass because it dates back hundreds of years, the magic is in the light that passes through it: everything stands out new and fresh.

You can't get rid of the narrative because it's really so beautiful.

You will not get bored with these decorative crystals, they change all the time in the sun, and even in this light they are wonderful.

God does not exist, but the Church must make believe that he exists, so she must use technology, gold, stained glass, paintings, sculptures, fabrics,

all to convince you that the world is not a dark place. His Toddington mansion has 300 rooms, but how many do he live in?

I don't live there.

Nor are they 300 rooms, they were when it was a school and it was divided into many classrooms.

I restored it, but if I made it habitable, there would be 10 rooms.

I'm thinking of doing a study there.

And, having land, I would also like to make it a place to display my sculptures. What is this tool you have here? Now I do Iyengar yoga three times a week for an hour and a half.

He changed my life, he keeps me with optimal mobility.

The world tries to kill you and you have to stay alive!

And this is a good means in this fight.

Friends who I used to drink with and whom I told that I do yoga looked at me and exclaimed: "What happened to you?"

In 1991 I said in an interview that I didn't trust people who didn't smoke.

And now that I don't smoke anymore, I don't trust people who smoke, I've changed my mind!

The world tries to kill you and you have to stay alive!

Damien Hirst

Let's talk about Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher, two important figures.

What is your idea of ​​both? Perhaps they are now in the same place, in heaven or in hell.

In the afterlife, if they're lucky.

The queen has always been there, since I was born, so she has always been present throughout my life, the picture of her on the coins... What did she represent?

Of course, she was a very strong and powerful woman.

In 2014 I did a

with his effigy.

But the class system in this country is complete garbage... The worst thing about this nation is that it has created divisions, making things worse.

The upper classes level the lower ones, but they vote for them.

And each one plays the role of him. But you belong to the wealthy class, so you are in the best position... Maybe, now.

But don't believe it, I'm in limbo.

If you come from a lower class you will never join the upper classes.

They pretend, but then they reject you.

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