Jumping in on the action

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The NFT by Duoyunxuan features the wood print recreation of a 12-piece Chinese painting by Ren Bonian (1840-1895) depicting the gathering of 46 immortals in a heavenly palace (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

From China’s first symphony recording to 2,000-year-old bronze objects, art works of all types are being turned into non-fungible tokens (NFT) by cultural institutions in Shanghai looking to engage audiences and promote their cultural assets.

NFT digital collectibles that use block-chain technology to permanently attach unique digital signatures to art works have been gaining popularity around the world since 2021. For example, Christie’s held its first NFT auction in February last year when Everydays: the First 5,000 Days, a collage of digital images created by US artist Beeple, fetched a whopping $69.34 million (£62.08 million).

In the first quarter of this year, NFTs worth $16.48 billion (£14.73 million) were traded around the world, according to Nonfungible.com, a leading NFT data resource.

Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (SSO) was among the first State-owned cultural institutions in China to release its own NFTs, having done so in March.

The reception was overwhelming. Ten thousand copies of China’s first symphony recording, each priced at 19.9 yuan (£2.50), sold out within a minute.

The audio file contains the 1929 recording of the Shanghai Municipal Orchestra’s performance of Spanish composer Manuel de Falla’s (1876-1946) ballet music El Amor Brujo, which featured conductor Mario Paci (1878-1946) and violinist Arrigo Foa (1900-1981).

“It was gone so quickly that the staff failed to buy any,” said Lu Jing, who is responsible for merchandise development at the SSO.

Shanghai Symphony Orchestra releases its first NFT featuring China’s first symphony recording (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

With a history of 142 years, the SSO is the first symphony orchestra in China. Originally called the Shanghai Public Band, the organisation was renamed the Shanghai Municipal Orchestra in 1922. Under the baton of the Italian conductor Paci, the orchestra promoted Western music and trained young Chinese talent, and was the first to introduce Chinese orchestral music to audiences.

According to Lu, the SSO’s NFT undertaking is a way to introduce its stories to new audiences.

“We felt that our NFT had to be something unique. It could not just be a contemporary music album that people can find on Apple Music or other music apps. That would be no different from releasing another digital album,” said Lu.

“We then read about the recording of El Amor Brujo and realised that we had a programme list of the concert in our museum collection.”

The recording was made by the German music label Odeon, which had sent audio engineers to have the performance recorded before producing the vinyl back in Germany, as the technology was not available in China at that time. According to a music historian in Germany, this was likely the first complete recording of El Amor Brujo in the world.

On April 18, art institution Duoyunxuan followed suit and released an NFT comprising traditional wood prints from a famous screen painting by a Chinese artist. The 24,000 copies that were made available similarly sold out within a minute.

Founded in 1900, Duoyunxuan has functions that include auction, reproduction and publication of artwork in China, and is especially known for its collection of water-ink paintings. The institution has also developed and refined traditional Chinese wood print techniques, which were used to make high-quality replications of Chinese ink paintings before modern printing machinery was available in China. Duoyunxuan’s wood print handicraft has been recognised as an intangible cultural heritage of China.

The NFT by Duoyunxuan features the 12-piece Chinese painting by Ren Bonian (1840-1895) which depicts the gathering of 46 immortals in a heavenly palace. In reality, the screens form a larger artwork measuring about 81.4in in height and 281in in width.

The screens were exhibited at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, as well as the second edition of the China International Import Expo in 2019.

“Several generations of our finest craftsmen dedicated their entire careers to this work, and it is recognised as the most important wood-print masterpiece by Duoyunxuan,” said Chen Jiayong, an executive with Duoyunxuan.

“We believe that this is an appropriate choice for our first NFT release,” he added. “We are also keeping close watch on contemporary artists that are working with digital media and looking to find potential collaborators for new digital projects.”