Encrypted Art and NFTs: Thinking of NFTs as Artwork Distribution Mechanisms

These posts are a general overview of the recent iteration of "cryptographic art", including the use of "non-fungible tokens" (NFTs) as a digital distribution.

restricted token

NFTs, or Tokens I Send, can be understood as specialized digital devices that can be saved and sent from one user to another in a cryptocurrency network. Under the umbrella of crypto art, it is usually information, software, or an aesthetic concept. These can be presented to the author in small quantities and come with a signature number and traceable history directly to the artist.

Everything looks like signature inkjet prints made with digital media. For example, consider an artist who sells prints that are part of the artwork they created. The artist chooses a size like this. 1, no. 5, and no. 50, promises not to distribute more, and signs "this product is special". If the work is profitable, others will want to buy it and have it, and eventually the product will eventually be acquired and turned into private and public property.

Yazid Incubation Form by Hic and Nunc (https://hicetnunc.art/yazid)

However, the products have been researched for many years and developed around them not only to publish news or photos, but to sign art distributed by artists less. For example, look at Ansel Adam's signage, which can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars over the competition. On the other hand, images without an artist signature are sold for a small fraction, even if it is the same image. Jack Rusher gives more details about this in his article on the art of cryptography.

lack and abundance

An extension of crypto art, and the goal of the review, is that writers can get the richest commercial products on the internet and access them for free to watch and pull off the entire solution.

Infinite Field Art Block Fragments by Monica Rizzolli (https://artblocks.io/project/159)

We see that the market value of art is historically associated with insufficient advertising. And crypto art introduces another concept that separates signatures (tokens signed by the artist) and graphic objects (images, graphics, animations, ideas). This allows the past to be rare and unchanged, while the former is increasingly broad.

Limited edition token sign and advertising art

Although this is an example of polarization, it is not new, and similar ideas exist when dividing and receiving ideas such as Sol LeWitt's murals. In this case, what is "available" and exchanged (obtained by an author, a museum, a school) can only be a signature of the Certificate of Authenticity. We can look at crypto art in a similar way. Tokens are distributed and traded not as documents, but as proofs of authenticity signed by the artist, each with a conceptual connection to a medium, art or idea.

Murale Sol LeWitt #793B (1996)

One argument is that tokens force "unreliability". It is possible to point out that tokens are not allowed to print, but tokens are just as common and rare, especially if made on an inkjet printer and confirmed signature in pencil. Prints may be tampered with and reproduced in a manner that does not deviate significantly (see MSCHF's Andy Warhol's "Faies" reprint).

In contrast, duplicating a token contract creates a whole new identifier and "hash" (a string of numbers and bytes) that, even if done by an artist, is clearly closed in the blockchain. Special capital and history. Of course, this does not mean that crypto art is against fakes. There are a lot of false positives and they still need to be taken care of. For example, a damaged or poorly designed interface, similar tokens, and a deceptive scam can all cause great frustration.

Other

These assumptions can create questions like: Does your art really need things like insufficiency, signature recognition, and buy-in? The answer is no. Many artists provide unedited posts to the public, create unpopular public layouts, and publish their work online for free for everyone to see. However, the lack of international support through ineffective performing arts, civil society organizations and government funding has forced performers to often seek alternatives, allocating equipment and funds to support their performance as a whole.

These options include Patreon, Etsy, Gumroad, Kickstarter, Shopify, etc. Together, these have helped artists manage their culture, but without the ammunition of money, and for many platforms like Patreon, enough to cover their rents, not to mention cleaning and other living expenses. Additionally, most of these platforms push digital artists towards physical releases that don't necessarily match their skills and preferences. For artists, this is the cost of opening a print shop and selling their work. ?

Maybe we can "only pay for the artists", which means "give them money and feel nothing in return". That's great, but it hasn't been accomplished yet, and most ads don't fund the artist themselves (although ironically they'll probably have to sign it from the artist or trust them in return by something).

This does not mean that we should invest in the public. If there was a change in the process and governments around the world were often paying for artists, we wouldn't need digital companies funding and building businesses. In addition to government reforms, one way to encourage artists is usually through the non-performing arts. This is the goal of cryptographic art. In Art Blocks' first year, artists and writers donated approximately $45 million to various nonprofits. Many of them are nonprofit acts (like Rhizome's largest donation in its 25-year history).

membership and succession

The common denominator is legal and intellectual. As with the purchase of copies, no license or permit is issued after signing the purchase. Unless otherwise noted, laws and licenses are owned by the artist or licensee to distribute this content. Different tokens can be assigned different permissions. Some are valid as CCOs in the public domain, some are free for non-commercial use, and some are binding on copyright holders (licenses that have not been verified). ).

Purchasing a token does not make you the "owner" of any particular piece of information that the token may represent or point to. As mentioned, this information is widely accessible on the website and anyone can "right click to save" the information. In fact, most tokens that point to information use a system called IPFS. The overall goal here is to reduce reliance on the failure principle by storing data and distributing it to as many computers as possible.

fxhash pit gpitombo of the Bougainvillea generative artwork (https://fxhash.xyz/gentk/slug/bougainvillea-29)

But sometimes the membership can be increased by the "post owner". This is only true if we first recognize that concept art, like LeWitt's work, may exist, and that these tokens represent some level of artistic content, including digital signage and equipment. It's debatable. Some readers, artists and authors may not accept the idea that art can or should be. The fact that the hottest crypto art market is full of enough monkeys, bears, penguins, and just about every other animal (usually no real artist) doesn't help the case.

At the very least, merchants are generally thought to have tokens themselves, and some will only consider tokens as data in decentralized data (e.g. domain name owners with real tokens (the right to 'exchange and sell their digital assets.) Some NFTs are domain names used specifically in this blockchain process.

new distribution mechanism

All of this requires a new process for artists to share artwork and for the public to receive and register. I generally refer to digital media such as animation, generative art, photography, illustration, graphic design, and I don't think these digital tokens are appropriate for endorsement, distribution and export of works of art such as paintings or sculptures. .

Pixel art GIF still de giomarani par Here and Now (https://hicetnunc.art/giomarani)

In fact, the mechanism of crypto art is very different from other online distribution platforms, which have many advantages and disadvantages. Hic and Nunc, an ecosystem built on top of the energy-efficient Tezos blockchain, allows players to "delay" their public data operations for a small fee (e.g. 0.06 XTZ, roughly around $0.24 at the moment). of the editorial staff). Large account fixed version. Artists can track tokens by signing transactions using their cryptocurrency wallet's private key. Then, for each sale, the platform pays 1% for the service.

Players can set an equal value between 5 and 25% of their tokens, allowing them to pay a flat fee every time the tokens change (can be metered) on the second platform. In some cases, the debt may be distributed among several beneficiaries (for example, royalty on non-profit organizations or OSS schemes).

? It's also worth pointing out that the main sales of Tezos are in the 1-50XTZ range, and prices are generally no different than buying copies of your favorite artists. Consumer services seem to focus on high prices and high sales which can affect market thinking.

The price of Tezos varies widely between templates and templates in the art and design industries, where venues typically cut 40-60% of each sale, while artists share a lot not benefit from all side business. It also goes far beyond the cost of releases such as Bandcamp (14-21% commission), prompting some artists to experiment with Hic and Nunc as an alternative to music distribution.

Experimental music streaming platform based on Hic and Nunc (hen.radio)

In some cases, local artists can cross-platform and cross-service, create smart contracts, and distribute them directly to interested collectors in a peer-to-peer fashion. For example, Rhea Myers, Mitchell F. Chan, Sarah Friends, Deafbeef, Andrew Benson, and other artists (some have been researching blockchain-based art for years).

without limits

An important feature of crypto art is that it has no borders, with clear disclaimers that those involved in crypto integration are always subject to the rules and regulations of their country (e.g. payment of tax on cryptocurrency income).

The decentralized and international nature of Hic et Nunc and similar platforms will allow artists and composers to profitably exchange art and share shared content in the Benefits are not supported by some of the decisions on a shared list. the world. It is important. All artists value their role in the international sharing business, not just in their local and international interests. Measuring artist fragmentation by country is difficult and varies from platform to platform, but some illegal research from Hic and Nunc may shed some light.

Unfortunately, this does not mean global justice. Sales continue to widen the gap with access to materials and education, the impact of speech and technology, advertising, discrimination and sales products focused on web interfaces. Galleries, curators, bookstores and other retailers have had great success in resolving some of these issues and open collisions (pop twig, alterHEN, JPG).

Platforms like Feral File take a different approach to fully open industry, giving viewers access to every presentation and presentation from different artists and graphics, rather than expressing the sentiments of the crowd.

GRAPH - Organized by Casey Reas, co-founder of Working (https://feralfile.com/)

Decentralization and non-authorization

In particular, most crypto art is created by two other unique blockchain components. These networks are decentralized and unauthorized. This means that no participant manages the file sharing and each user pays a fee to save changes. It's a double-edged sword.

On the other hand, it can eliminate the trust of middle and middle class services (PayPal, Instagram, auction houses) and give users greater ownership of the assets they share and save. It turned out to work when Hic and Nunc itself was shut down by the angry owner/developer, but the ecosystem, assets, and many forks still didn't work. This is possible because decentralized media and blockchain information does not belong to the owner in the first place, but rather the burden of ownership and oversight by the user community (read more here).

hicetnunc.xyz, registered by the owner but still thriving on a fork like hicetnunc.art

The benefits of decentralization can be seen in many competitive marketplaces in the same chain, such as Objkt.com, Versum.xyz, Fxhash.xyz, and others on Tezos, all operating on the same list. coins. This allows users to buy tokens from one company and sell them elsewhere if needed, and to trade tokens peer-to-peer from one user to another.

However, on the other side of the double-edged sword, zero action can lead to spam interference, illegal content, "plagiarism", phishing, identity theft and more. Public companies such as Hic and Nunc and OpenSea often require de-indexing and removal of content that violates their policies. It's like Google removing your site from search. Your location is still there, but it's not easy to find. The collaboration and analysis of these platforms is a huge challenge that is at the forefront of the fight against bullying, and it makes many users want to be organized or create articles.

Not all strings are the same.

So far in this interview, I have mentioned the Tezos blockchain because of its beautiful design and multistage features. Since the chains are so strong (like any other network activity like using Twitter or blogging) and the exchange rate is very low (a few dollars, sometimes a few cents), students speak highly of the potential future. of cryptographic art.

I don't think Tezos is a good blockchain, but both are worth considering as an alternative to crypto art, while Ethereum solves strength and scalability issues from proof of stake, sharding and aggregation without conscience. It is difficult to determine which channel is best for the artist. For example, Ethereum's costs are currently relatively high, but it supports many robust algorithmic tests that can be used to reduce costs in the short term, and Ethereum's ecosystem and infrastructure are generally higher. . More advanced construction than other chains (like using some in Tezos or harder).

Personally, I have used and researched various blockchains as they all have particular applications, research areas, and strengths and weaknesses (e.g. Mina is in early development and support for zero-knowledge proofs is not very complete and uses events due to supervision).

Not all tokens are the same.

It should also be understood that not all tokens are created by the same rules and smart contracts. Some of them use IPFS to curate their news, while others, like Art Blocks, can mark their entire news as software on the blockchain. Artist Deafbeef is an example of an artist who uses direct media to access media and smart contracts such as Entropy, an artwork that is "downgraded" each time the token is sent to the new owner.

other shoes

It is also worth mentioning some of the general criticisms of these systems. Because these systems are never perfect and can cause all kinds of problems for artists.

Energy: Ethereum is now associated with high energy consumption, making it ideal for small, low-power connections such as Tezos (where energy consumption is low). This could change in 2022 as Ethereum transitions to proof-of-stake (PoS), which will reduce power consumption by 99.95%.

Cost: Ethereum costs can be higher, sometimes costing hundreds of dollars to create art. This likes to drive the performance of other cords and cords such as Tezos and Polygon (at a fraction of the $1 cost). The scalability of future versions of Ethereum can be improved, but it will take years to improve and mature.

Risks: There is a danger for artists and writers. The jobs offered will not be sold, the tokens will be reduced, and there is a security risk related to the control of your personal key (for example you will lose all your money tokens if you show your key online by mistake).

Pros: Malfunctioning of some platforms can lead to misunderstanding of the site, as most of the content released in the industry like OpenSea is bad or totally spam, pornography and theft. Great avatars, avatars, and digital collections are often thrown into big crypto-mixed jars, and sales preferences attract key content.

Speculation: High prices in many of these industries are often driven by speculation, sometimes leading to FOMO buys, the robotics industry, domestic industry, and pumps and scraps. Given the size of unauthorized connections, it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate these scams from others.

Volatility: Tokens can be traded daily to increase or decrease in value. Users are often encouraged to withdraw rewards, keep stablecoins, and not keep an item they had no intention of losing.

To look forward

The space and the technology will continue to grow, improve and improve as the knowledge of the crypto industry will not appear until the beginning of 2021. It will require more efforts such as a better monitoring of people, reviews, presentations, technology development, management and new business models.

As these efforts have intensified with the massive expansion of their careers in independent theaters such as Digital (Miami, 2021) and Right Click Save (Singapore, 2021), many artists, etc., agencies and supervisors are also carefully inspecting water and availability. . Such as MOMA, OÖ Kunst, ZKM and Pace Gallery.

Digital (2021), pop-up crypto and creative art exhibits and events during Miami Art Week

There is still a long way to go, and many of the token contracts and technological processes currently underway in crypto art are crucial. I'm particularly pleased with new opportunities for collaboration and contract revenue sharing, such as the full sale of Pieces of Me (2021) via Transformation.

These posts are a fair discussion of crypto art, designed to highlight the diverse interests and communities that have arisen and placed in a broadly centered context. There are many additional discussion topics for this process, such as records, administrative procedures, approval procedures, anonymity, and many more that are worth discussing, discussing, and evaluating, but I I will save for later in the article.