In March 2021, a virtual, three-dimensional model of a house sold for more than half a million dollars. That the house didn’t exist—it was designed by Toronto-based artist Krista Kim with software more commonly used to create video games—did not stop the digital render of the Martian-looking, glass-walled villa from reaching the same price as actual brick-and-mortar real estate. In an article published in The New Yorker a few months later, Anna Wiener decoded what had become a defining trend This story is from Kinfolk Issue Forty-Two Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 48 Google Brain An inquiry into digital amnesia. Arts & Culture Issue 47 Thanks, I Hate It How to give feedback to art friends. Arts & Culture Issue 46 Puff Piece On inflatable art. Arts & Culture Issue 44 Hannah Traore The art world's next big thing is a gallerist. Arts & Culture Issue 43 The Sellout On the moral maze of art and money. Arts & Culture Issue 41 Mixed Emoji Is a picture worth a thousand words?
