CryptoArt :The Paradox of Digital Scarcity

Technoetic Arts welcomes original research articles for the ongoing special ‘Cryptoart’ section that is guest edited by Primavera De Filippi and Iannis Bardakos. The special section aims to explore the full spectrum of positions related to the creation, existence and impact of ‘crypto culture.’

Technoetic Arts focuses upon the juncture between art, technology and the mind, drawing from academic research and often-unorthodox approaches. Technoetic Arts is a peer-reviewed journal that explores the juncture of art practice, technology and the human mind, opening up a forum for trans-disciplinary speculative research.

In a world where art can be copied millions of times without any loss of quality – and remixes and derivative works can be achieved without tampering with the original – blockchain technology has made it possible for the first time in history to create digital resources (e.g., cryptocurrencies or tokens) that cannot be reproduced and whose authenticity is guaranteed by cryptographic primitives. This creates new opportunities for artists to release limited editions of their work, preserving its scarcity and authenticity.

Artists working with digital media often relate to the underlying premise that information ‘wants to be free’ (Brand 1984). This stands in contrast with the element of the physical medium, which is inherently limited and exclusive due to the scarcity of physical materials. Copyright laws were established as a legal means to create artificial scarcity on information goods, with a view to re-align the properties of these two realms. Artificial scarcity can be created with blockchain technology, thereby re-aligning the properties of the digital medium with those of copyright law, as it was originally intended in the physical world. Can we think of other ways to leverage blockchain and digital technology to benefit from the realm of abundance that information and the digital provides?

This call invites artists, researchers and academics to reflect on the implications of blockchain technology on artistic practices, looking at non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a means to create a whole new system of artificial scarcity in the digital art realm.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• aesthetics of digital scarcity;

• art, NFTs and intellectual property;

• co-creation methodologies and NFTs;

• collectors, artists and the ecosystem of NFT platforms;

• dystopian visions of cryptoart;

• ecological effects of cryptoart practice;

• identity, inclusivity and cryptoethics; and

• past, present and future of cryptoart.

Technoetic Arts is listed in Scopus and the Emerging Sources Citation Index, among other academic indices. Please see the journal information page for further information, including also the Notes for Contributors.

Submissions should be made via the Technoetic Arts online system. For submissions that might deviate from the traditional academic article format (for example, for interviews, art reviews, etc.), please contact the editorial organism for further discussion.

Guest Co-Editor

Primavera De Filippi CERSA/CNRS and Harvard University, USA

Editorial Organism

[email protected]

Tom Ascott | The Royal United Services Institute, UK

John Bardakos | Athens School of Fine Arts, Greece

Dalila Honorato | Ionian University, Greece

Hu Yong | Beihang University, China

Claudia Jacques | Knowledge Art Studios, USA

Claudia Westermann | Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China