Ep. 4: Noah Davis

Probably Nothing

In Episode 4 of Probably Nothing TZ (@TZhongg) and Alexis Ohanian (@alexisohanian) chat with Noah Davis (@NonFungibleNoah) of Christie's. Noah is the former Head of Online Sales for contemporary art at Christie's, but is now primarily focused on NFTs and crypto related digital art projects. Noah discusses how he first got into NFTs, and how he was able to convince a 200+ year old company to begin auctioning NFTs this year. TZ, Alexis, and him also discuss a bit of art history, how NFTs align incentives between artists and curators/collectors, and the future of smart contracts in the art world. This wide ranging discussion shows how NFTs are starting to bridge both the fine art world and the crypto community.

Links Mentioned in this Episode

• Beeple's first Christie's auction
• MakersPlace NFT
• NFT Now
• Christie's x OpenSea

Timestamps

00:30: Noah Davis intro

01:20: How did Noah convince Christie's to get into NFTs?

02:30: How did Noah first get into NFTs and what helped him understand them?

04:20: What is the future of NFTs in the art world?

06:50: Art Basel NFT prediction?

11:30: What was the internal process on convincing Christie's to do a project with OpenSea?

14:08: wen christie's dao?

16:12: What was the process like of promoting Beeple's sale on Discord?

19:40: What is "absurdist post-war French theater" and why did he study it in school?

24:00: Secondary sales in a world of smart contracts

28:40: Future hope for artist and smart contracts

29:50: Working with artists compared to working with collectors

32:48: Noah's experience in the NFT space

33:34: If you were stranded on an island which NFT would you take from your collection? What about anyone's NFT collection?

Mentions

• Beeple - @beeple
• Tom Sachs - @tom_sachs
• Damian Hurst - @hirst_official
• MakesPlace - @makersplaceco
• NFT now - @nftnow
• collector 33 - @33NFT
• Justin Aversano - @justinaversano
• Superrare - @SuperRare
• Joshua Davis - @JoshuaDavis
• fewocious - @fewocious
• Punk 4301

Show Notes

Who is Noah Davis?

• Specialist at Christie's in the contemporary arts department with a focus in NFTs.
• He started working on NFTs in March with his intro to NFTs during the first Beeple @beeple sale.

Getting into NFTs and bringing them to Christie's

How did Noah first get into NFTs?

• "NFTs really found me."
• Before he was head of NFTs at Christie’s, he was the head of online sales for contemporary art.
• He was in the office last January to see an IRL piece of art for an auction.
  • His colleague, Megan Doyle, brought an NFT opportunity to his attention. She had been contacted by MakersPlace for a possible NFT consignment, and asked Noah if he would be open to putting an NFT in his sale.
• Noah barely knew about NFTs.
  • All he really knew was that Beeple sold his NFT at Nifty Gateway for $6 million, and that NFTs are a new asset class running on a blockchain foundation.
• What drew Noah into NFTs, beyond the art, was the promise of decentralization and the things that blockchain can do.
  • "We are heading towards a future that will have a foundation in blockchain. You can either end up with the state run dystopian future or you can build one yourself."
  • Noah wants to see a future where there is a decentralized metaverse that is owned by the people for the people. If he can help do that within Christie's, a 200+ year old company, that could be really significant.

Bringing NFTs to Christie’s

• In the first conversation Noah had with Christie's they mainly talked about cryptocurrency.
  • Noah knew that some of their top clients were into crypto. He believed that NFTs were the perfect opportunity to jump into the space.
  • The fact that it was ephemeral wasn't daunting to them.
    • Christie's has sold dinosaur bones. If they can create some kind of excitement around an auction, Christie's will find a way to make it work.
• "I am really grateful towards Christie's for lending me such a long leash."
• NFTs have been reliably profitable for Christie's.
• They are now approaching $120,000,000 in total volume for the year. It's going to be 5% of their turnover.
• For the first Beeple sale more than 90% of applicants were not previously known to Christie’s.
  • Although this was more the NFT community and Beeple's community, Noah will continue to set the stage for artist to showcase their work.

How did Noah's college degree in English with a focus on Absurdist post war french theater play a roll in Noah's love for NFTs?

• The absurdity of selling an asset that doesn't physically exist was extremely attractive to him.
  • "I think a lot about the theater of the absurd in the context of NFTs. What really drew me in was how counterintuitive NFTs are to the standards of the 21st century contemporary art world."
  • Noah never felt like he completely fit in. He was sort of put off by the pretentious vibes in contemporary art, and how people tend to take themselves too seriously.
• Eugene Ionesco's play, The Bald Soprano, plays a huge role in understanding Absurdism.
  • The story behind the play is that one day while Ionesco was learning French and English, he was reading the textbooks and thought it was absurd that they were trying to teach him family dynamics.
  • This then lead him to believe that the foundation of language is super shaky and unreliable.
• In the play, The Bald Soprano, nothing makes sense.
  • It is indebted to people that question the moral and aesthetic values, at the time, by way of absurdity.
• "Ionesco would love NFTs."

NFTs and Art

What is the future of NFTs in the traditional art world?

• In the traditional art world, you will see a lot more adoption from contemporary artist who dabble on digital media.
  • The more mega blue chip galleries that jump in...