The interactive publication ‘Proof of Culture’ is dedicated to the discourse surrounding NFTs in the art world. It brings together 14 voices from the fields of art and blockchain and categorises them. At this point, NFTs serve as an example of the heated discussions on the assessment of so-called ‘emerging technologies’: New technologies that promise to significantly improve existing processes.
Between Art and Speculation
Digital art and internet culture for a long time depended on the fact that content can be copied and reproduced. A participant in our publication ‘Proof of Culture’, which we were invited to produce on behalf of TA-SWISS as part of the “Culture and Digitalization” project, described this as a “mix and match” mentality.
But there is also a problem with this mentality: if an artist wants to sell digital art, she has to make it tradable, i.e. be able to pass on the original. For a long time, digital art was therefore sold as a print or stored on a flash drive.
Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs for short, promised to solve this problem and bring change to digital art by making digital works unique and tradable.
The topic of NFTs brings together actors from a wide variety of backgrounds: Internet culture and digital art meet the traditional art world, which in turn meets blockchain and crypto. The discussions surrounding the assessment of the risks and opportunities of the technology are therefore symbolically charged: for some, NFTs are a disruptive future technology that will democratize the art market, for others an opaque investment vehicle for crypto investors.
We explored this area of tension in our publication. We use an immersive, non-linear and multimedia form for the presentation.
The topics of the publication can be discovered in the interactive pixel room.
A critical Analysis of the Discourse
For the publication ‘Proof of Culture’, we spoke to 14 people from the art and blockchain scene to outline the discourse on the potential and dangers of NFTs. Our research question was: How do NFTs change the relationships between work, artists and recipients?
To investigate this question, we used qualitative methods and an explorative approach. First, we conducted a critical discourse analysis based on a literature review. The aim of a discourse analysis is to “analyze both obscure and transparent structural relations of dominance, discrimination, power and control as they manifest themselves in language” (Blommaert and Bulcaen. 2000).
We work with semi-structured interviews, focus groups and focus discussions and in-vivo coding for the analysis. In this coding process, which is based on grounded theory, the statements themselves are regarded as codes and the conversations are restructured according to the relevance of the individual topics. The statements on which the participants agreed were included in the publication as background information, while seven topic areas were derived from the controversial topics.
Approaching a topic opens the content page.
The Publication as an Online Adventure
Digital publications open up new possibilities compared to printed publications. In order to depict a discourse and link different strands of discussion and areas of tension, it makes sense to work with a 2-dimensional space. For the publication of ‘Proof of Culture’, we chose WorkAdventure, a platform that is compliant with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The gamification of the content is exciting from a mediation perspective as well as conceptually. On the one hand, we are becoming more and more accustomed to consuming content interactively. The approach of presenting an entire study in this form instead of as continuous text is an experimental form of science communication and an attempt to reach other target groups.
The interactive format of the publication reduces fear of contact - in this way, even my mother would engage with NFTs.
Culture professional, member of the advisory group
If you meet other visitors, you can exchange ideas - provided you have activated the camera.
On the other hand, the gaming and pixel aesthetics are conceptually close to NFT culture. The CryptoPunks, still one of the most successful NFT drops, looks very similar to WorkAdventure's avatar. This allows visitors to approach the aesthetics through the medium.
The publication is an invitation to an interactive discovery walk. With a specially created pixel avatar, visitors can move freely around the space and explore whatever interests them in any order. Anyone who wants to can give the platform access to a camera and microphone to communicate with other people.
Our publication is one of three sub-studies on the topic of “Culture and digitalization” commissioned by TA-SWISS. We were also asked to prepare the studies by HSLU and the Music Council in this immersive format.
Technically, an NFT is a certificate of authenticity that is stored on a blockchain and can be sold and traded. The NFT usually represents a digital asset such as an image, video or audio file, but can also indicate ownership of a physical artifact, such as a sneaker.
from left to right: CryptoPunks (2017), Dolce & Gabbana collection (2021), Nyan Cat (2021), New York Times article (2021), Nike sneakers (2022), Jack Dorsey's first tweet (2021), Kings of Leon album (2021), video by singer Grimes (2021), Everydays by Beeple (2021).
Strictly speaking, the term NFT only refers to the certificate of authenticity. However, when we use the term in the publication, we always mean the certificate together with the asset. A few examples of assets that could be linked to an NFT are pixel characters, clothing items, memes, news articles, etc.
NFTs and their impact on the art world
Our research question was how NFTs change the relationships between work, art creators and recipients. The key findings:
The areas of tension in our publication on NFTs.
Audience – Work
Through NFTs, the relationship between audience and work is increasingly characterized by market mechanisms. Tradability is inscribed in the NFT technology and is mostly used purely financially. This has reinforced the idea that digital art must also sell in order to have value.
In the meantime, traditional art institutions such as auction houses, museums and galleries have also entered the NFT cosmos. This enables an in-depth examination of NFTs in the institutional art discourse and a classification in art history.
There is the possibility of creating “gigantic editions [of NFTs] for small prices”, says one interviewee. This means that more people can afford to own art and participate in the art trade. However, many interviewees questioned whether NFTs actually make art more accessible due to major technical barriers to entry.
Audience – Artists
The technology of NFTs holds great potential for innovation. Thanks to their programmability, NFTs can potentially be dynamic objects that allow scope for interaction between the audience and the work, the NFT community or the artists.
NFTs have also created a new ecosystem with its own actors and rules. The large sales platforms do not function like galleries. Artists tend to have to make much more direct contact with fans or prospective buyers in order to draw attention to themselves. Digital communication platforms such as Discord or X (formerly Twitter) play a major role in the exchange between artists and the public, as well as in the evaluation and classification of works. There are numerous sub-communities within the NFT cosmos, some of which focus on very different values - from community and mutual support to selling as many high-priced NFT works as possible.
Artists – Work
Due to their programmability, NFTs offer the possibility of writing rules into the artwork. For example, it can be specified that the artists receive a percentage of the sales price - known as royalties - each time the work is resold.
However, other properties can also be written into these smart contracts: For example, some works can only be owned by a certain person for a certain period of time - if they are not passed on after this time, the works disintegrate. Ownership, the central characteristic of NFT technology, can thus be rethought through artistic practice.
The fact that only small amounts of data can be stored on the blockchain has an impact on aesthetics. Many artists copy the pixel aesthetic, even though images linked to NFTs are often not stored directly on the blockchain.
