Now where are we with NFTs? Along with a magisterial assembly of historical masterworks and commentaries from and around the NFT space, Alice’s text is enriched and made more entertaining by seeking out various experts to share their complex and contradictory responses to this question.

A while back we were all asking, “What are NFTs?” And then we were saying, “That much?”, when Beeple sold one for, ooh, squillions. Well, $69 million (we had to look that up). And then, only half-jokingly, we were posing the question, “Are NFTs still a thing?” following one of the many sickening lurches of the crypto market. Not that, by some definition, NFTs are really a thing at all, of course, just the right to the info behind some possible thing.

Or at least that’s the L[A] take today on the subject, which may be different tomorrow. If only because we have better digested something from this truly impressive object, On NFTs, edited by Robert Alice, which, among other things, shows there are a multiplicity of possible interpretations of NFTs, and answers to the question of what exactly they are. So there’s still no answer to that. Make up your own mind.

What we do know is that the somewhat mysterious artist Robert Alice (the self-confessed alias of a UK-based artist) has taken Taschen’s love of creating collectible art books to a new level. There are multiple versions of how you can buy this book, along with various editions of artworks. The “baby sumo” version comes in a lovely stainless steel case. And at a handsome price, too. We suspect editions with more accessible prices are to come. Everything about On NFTs is such a long way from the illusory, Emperor’s New Clothes nature of so much that seems to lurk in the NFT and crypto world.