Tactics & Practice #13: From COMMONS to NFTs
Hybrid conference
Kino Šiška, Ljubljana / online
12 November 2022
This conference brings together artists, hackers and researchers to critically examine the shift in digital culture from open sharing to crypto-based forms of ownership. Is this the ultimate triumph of financialisation, or are there openings for different property regimes and thus new forms of art and culture?
Panel #1: CRYPTO AND THE COMMONS
Moderator: Shu Lea Cheang
Speakers: Aude Launay, Lee Tzu-Tung, Denis “Jaromil” Roio
At a time when mainstream crypto culture is dominated by right-wing libertarianism, this panel seeks to explore how alternative crypto projects apply the concepts of radical, algorithmic and indigenous sovereignty in using the blockchain and NFTs with the aim to advance commoning practices. Aude Launay will examine the relationship between “self-sovereignty” and the commons, Dennis “Jaromil” Roio will explore how Web3 can be developed as a space for digital commons against new aggressive forms of privatisation, exploitation and centralised control, and Lee Tzu-Tung will focus on how artists creatively use NFTs to pirate the current property regime and decolonise ownership structures.
Panel #2: OWNERSHIP AND DESIRE
Moderator: Inte Gloerich
Speakers: Felix Stalder, Jaya Klara Brekke, Martin Zeilinger
A peer-2-peer world without hierarchies, global unmediated connectivity, equal democratic participation across differences; claims of revolutionary potential have surrounded internet technologies from very early on, with blockchain technology being the most recent example. The emerging hypes around NFTs in and beyond the artworld, and the potential of DAOs as an alternative way to organise and govern communities and their resources, are adding new fuel to the fire, raising hopes for more inclusive markets and self-determination. People engaging with blockchain often express a desire for a different world. Yet, the social dynamics that mainstream blockchain projects produce usually remain firmly rooted in a status quo that idolises private ownership and rewards early adopters. Are alternatives possible? What besides ownership is being desired in blockchain experiments? Can blockchains break free from capitalist logics, or does the tokenisation inherent in their systems prevent any potential in this direction? In this session we take a closer look at the desires encoded in blockchain, DAO and NFT projects, and explore what a vision of a truly different world with blockchain could look like.
Panel #3: AFTER THE BUBBLE: NFTS AS A LONG-TERM ARTISTIC MEDIUM?
Moderator: Domenico Quaranta
Speakers: Cornelia Sollfrank, Michelle Kasprzak, Vuk Ćosić, María Paula Fernández
Over the last year, NFTs came to prominence mainly as a means of applying artificial scarcity and value to digital assets, and facilitating a highly speculative market of digital art objects and collectibles. Even those projects that engaged the medium in a more experimental way or attempted to establish emancipatory social dynamics were deemed successful only when they generated a consistent flow of money and investments. Attention was measured in crypto; audience engagement meant wallet engagement. Crazy financial speculation dominated everything.
Now that the bubble has burst, many questions arise about the whole techno-social infrastructure and the artistic practices emerging from it. Is speculation somehow intrinsic to the NFT environment? Is it possible to use blockchains as a means of authentication and to creatively experiment with smart contracts without indulging in the speculative behaviours typically associated with crypto? Is there a future for NFTs without WAGMI? How can art and artists have a role in criticising and reshaping the Web3 scenario? Which creative tactics and practices that have already been introduced carry more future potential? What can we learn from early net art and the way it responded to the increasing commercialisation of the internet commons? Can NFTs be used to build communities? These are some of the questions that net art pioneers Cornelia Sollfrank and Vuk Ćosić, co-founder of the JPG protocol María Paula Fernández and researcher Michelle Kasprzak will address in this panel.
Organised and produced by:
Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, 2022
Curatorial board: Felix Stalder, Shu Lea Chang, Janez Fakin Janša, Rok Kranjc
Head of production: Marcela Okretič
Executive producer: Sonja Grdina
Coordination at Kino Šiška: Simona Jerala
Webcast operator: Fixmedia
Web developer: Igor Kovačić
Visual identity: Federico Antonini, Alessio D’Ellena (superness.info)
Animated graphics: Domen Dimovski
For the series:
Tactics & Practice
In the frame of:
konS – Platform for Contemporary Investigative Art
In partnership with:
Kino Šiška – Centre for Urban Culture, Lokalpatriot
Associated partner:
Ljudmila
Outreach partners:
WAM/Fair Data Society, NERO, Makery
___
The konS project ≡ Platform for Contemporary Investigative Art was chosen on the public call for the selection of the operations “Network of Investigative Art and Culture Centres”. The investment is co-financed by the Republic of Slovenia and by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union.