Art and Blockchain: Where to Start?
Familiarize yourself with this new world of crypto art with a few starters
I have been asked several times if I had resources about art and blockchain, crypto art, new online art marketplaces and emerging artists. I don't want to rewrite or re-invent the wheel, and therefore would like to instead list a few places to start from that I usually send people, who want to familiarize themselves with this brand new world that is slowly transforming the way we transact digital art.
Disclaimer: this post is based on companies and people I know and is not intended to be a comprehensive list. If you know of others, please add them as comment and let's discuss and spread the word.
Education platforms:
Artnome blog by Jason Bailey, curator, advisor and expert in blockchain, art and AI
An artist dictionary for blockchain terms on Medium
New Art Academy articles (also by Elena Zavelev on Forbes) and panels and conferences
Digitally Rare podcast https://digitallyrare.podbean.com/
The Hunt newsletter by Snark.art
Research paper published by ETHBerlin "There is no such thing as blockchain art"
The Rare Art Festival (originally started in 2018 by Rare Art Labs, it became a community effort in 2019)
New digital art marketplaces backed by blockchain technology:
These sites allow to create limited-edition unique tokens (non-fungible tokens or NFTs) out of files artists upload to these platforms. For the first time, blockchain technology allowed artists to create limited editions of digital works (gif, jpg, video files, etc.) and therefore create scarcity that we hope will help create value for these works to be traded.
opensea.io
superrare.co / pixura.io
knownorigin.io
rareart.io
makersplace.com
Blockchain-based platforms that provide the tools to create digital art:
These tools are slightly different than the previous ones as you can create the art directly on the platform. The marketplace aspect is similarly handled:
Editional iOS app (create, claim and exchange digital artworks, all in a free app that is the new Instagram for digital artists or wannabe artists)
Dada.art (social platform that allows users to communicate via visual drawings that complement each other)
The Sandbox (gaming platforms where gamers, designers and artists can create their own avatars and elements that can be used in games. They provide grants for artists)
Curation platforms :
These platforms act as the new curators for this new market, often working with more established artists (and curators) to allow people to understand this new world and make sense of it (or at least try to).
Snark.art (production studio for hand-picked projects by established artists who want to experiment with blockchain)
First Edition (https://firstedition.art/) is Jake Brukhman's curation platform showcasing unique editions of artists from Editional or other platforms, and visualized in a virtual gallery hosted in Cryptovoxels.
CADAF.ART (it is the first digital art fair. It happened in May 2019 in New York and will host its second edition in Miami in December 2019)
Kate Vass Gallery
Artechouse (physical spaces for digital art in DC, New York and Miami)
http://dot.gallery/ (to be released in September 2019)
MOCDA museum / platform (to be released in October 2019)
New 3D art visualization platforms:
Cryptovoxels
Decentraland
Art registries:
Many different models popped up to try to solve the authenticity and provenance issue in the art world.
Codex Protocol
Verisart (built on Bitcoin)
Portion.io (working mostly with galleries to upload their works onto their registries)
Artory (allowing only trusted vetted partner to enter works into their registry to avoid the issue of fakes)
Fractional ownership experiments:
Tokens have been thought to be a good use to replace art funds and diversify investments with pieces of physical artworks.
Maecenas
Masterworks.io (not using crypto anymore because the company did not receive the green light from the SEC to issue a security token)
Funding mechanisms:
Artist communities have tried to get organized to receive their own funding via DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) that allow members of these communities to vote on how to allocate the funds they receive. This allows to commission artists and support creation.
Trojan DAO is an artist collective based in Greece
Humanity DAO is an experiment on UBI and democracy
Royalties are offered to artists for the first time on platforms like Snark.art, Dada.art, Superrare.co, etc. but need to be formalized and clarified.
Artists:
I know I should have started with them, but the list is so long that it did not make sense. The community of artists experimenting with crypto platforms, projects or concepts is a mix of new artists who come from the blockchain world (coders and blockchain theorists experimenting with creative ideas), more traditional artists who are trying to test the new use cases and revenue models for their art, and conceptual artists who are pushing the boundaries of all art and tech concepts. It is an incredibly diverse groups showing the extent of the current experimentations but also the uncertainty about defining any movement.
Anyway, it's way to early to conceptualize, so just enjoy the experiments for now.
The list of artists has been removed as a more comprehensive directory is under construction to support artists with the proper categories, details, links and resources. Their projects deserve a better way to be represented online and we are working on it.