Last Thursday, an artist went viral on social media after setting his own artwork aflame, on which someone had made a bid of over $110,000.
The pseudonymous artist “Zalkian”, which for now remains anonymous behind a full-face mask, has developed a unique system to offer his art. Instead of selling his artworks normally via galleries, he holds real-time auctions on his website where ambitious bidders have 24 hours to fight for the artwork.
After the 24-hour mark, the winning bid is decided, and the piece is sold. But wait a second!
During the 24 hours that the livestream auction is going on, viewers have the ability to participate by pressing a button on the website, which vividly reads “BURN”.
If the button is pressed more times by people than the amount of the “winning” bid, then the artist is forced to burn the piece live on stream for everyone to see.
This twist keeps everyone at the edge of their seat during the whole duration of the auction, as the number of button “clicks” is only revealed after the bidding period ends. And since each viewer can press the button multiple times, nobody really knows what’s going to happen until the last second.
This unique stunt pitches not only collectors against each other, but also the collectors against the people who are watching the auction live, making everyone waiting until the very end to witness the final outcome.
If the people overpower the winning bidder and the piece is burned, then the artist issues limited signed prints of the artwork instead, for the next 24 hours. This transfers the value from the single artwork to the whole series of prints. 24 hours later, the edition is forever closed.
Regarding Zalkian’s true identity, speculations give and take. The artist has not reciprocated any attempt for comment so far, and that will definitely remain the case for a long time.
However, some conclusions may be drawn from other sources of information. According to a verified member of Damien Hirst’s own team, one of the two bidders who were fighting for the piece until the end was none other than Damien Hirst himself, through a close friend of his so as to not reveal his identity as a bidder.
If that rumor is true, this further substantiates the fact that Zalkian is not some random guy who appeared out of nowhere, but rather an already established artist with connections to the art market, playing behind the scenes with a new pet project.
The auctions occur randomly every few months, and Zalkian only notifies people 48 hours before it starts. If you want to be in the loop regarding the next inferno livestream, you can subscribe to the artist’s newsletter on his website.
