As 2022 comes to a close, we’re returning to some of the many articles we’ve published over the course of a fascinating year in the world of cultural Web3. If you’re new to the game or want to brush up on the utility of Web3 technology in the arts sector, these articles are a great starting point:
On the collecting side, the emergence of easily navigable online platforms invites a younger generation into the art world by opening up an alternate, less intimidating, and transparent market.
For artists, NFT technology promises to protect the uniqueness and provenance of work, thereby preventing forgeries which promises to also benefit galleries and collectors. In addition, artists create smart contracts for NFTs through which they can guarantee royalties from future sales — 10 percent is the industry standard — revenue that creatives are currently cut out from under the existing auction house system.
NFTs are a logical throughline of inherently fungible cryptocurrencies and in this respect are here to stay. The extent to which the NFT market can continue its gangbuster growth and unsettle traditional practices of art making and trading are multibillion-dollar questions.
Fractionalized NFTs In The Art And Cultural Sector
F-NFTs are created when a single NFT is divided into multiple fractions that can be sold as separate tokens. This would allow buyers to own a percentage of a particular NFT, which they can resell or manage. Effectively, F-NFTs encourage inclusion and participation in art ownership (or are marketed as such) by lowering the risk and barriers to digital collecting.
Chiefly, F-NFTs have been tapped by cultural institutions to offer tokenized art at affordable prices to woo communities and drive revenue.
Cultural organizations should view F-NFT sales through the lens of a longer-term roadmap, creating continued value for their F-NFT holders and establishing a community that’s continuously invested in the project. That means ensuring there are resources at hand (whether social media expertise, community management, or blockchain know-how) to sustain an ongoing plan, as opposed to a one-and-done NFT sale, and to lock in a solid return on investment.
When Generative Art Meets NFTs And The Blockchain
Generative art emerged in the 1960s with the likes of Georg Nees, Vera Molnár, and Charles Csuri — computer art pioneers who used early mechanistic technologies to generate autonomous art-making systems.
Today, generative art begins with artists programming a code or algorithm to create a generation mechanism which produces a visual piece (or audio in some cases) that cannot be fully predicted until the process is concluded. In essence, they are designing a code which becomes the artist itself.
As the NFT market continues to evolve, so will generative art. The technical and artistic skills necessary for these projects to come to life are immense. Due to this difficulty level, the projects are not subject to the frequent rug-pull schemes that are commonly found among the general NFT ecosystems. Instead, many generative art projects rely on communities and active Discord servers to market their upcoming releases and to stir enthusiasm for the work.
The Cultural Utility And Value Of Proof-Of-Attendance NFTs
Since NFTs came into view for the cultural sector, proof-of-attendance tokens have been put forward as a tool that institutions and event organizers could use to engage audiences on-chain. These collectibles offer something more to both cultural organizations and visitors: the opportunity for deeper audience connections and sustained engagement long after visitors have gone home.
Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP) is the platform and system that creates and stores proof-of-attendance tokens. Minted on the POAP, these collectible NFTs are digital proof that the collector attended or participated in “some form of interaction between the issuer and the collectors.”
For both brands and cultural organizations, POAP engagement can be used to measure interest and engagement, while serving as a means of extending ownership to the audience.
