Saba Chima speaks with artists who are learning what cutting-edge technology and "non-fungible tokens" can do to boost their audience and protect them from cyber-thieves.
These days, people are just as likely to consume art by clicking a mouse as they are by going to a gallery or a performance. But in a digital environment, how can artists protect themselves from all those hackers we constantly hear about?
At the latest World Art Day, organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), one of the themes was technology. Artists were introduced to the ways that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can make it easier for them and their audiences.
Robyn Conti explained in an article for Forbes Advisor UK: "An NFT is a digital asset that represents a real-world object like, for example, the Charlie Bit My Finger video. NFTs are bought and sold online, frequently with cryptocurrency, and are generally encoded with the same underlying software as many cryptocurrencies."
Like physical money, cryptocurrency being "fungible" is easily exchangeable at the same value. "[However,] NFTs are different. Each has a digital signature that makes it impossible for NFTs to be exchanged for or equal to one another (hence, non-fungible)," Conti writes.
Global artists who participated or followed the World Art Day 2021 exhibition, came together on social media to share an understanding of the role NFTs play in protecting their works with creative licenses.
One of the artists who minted her artwork via the gallery was Kiku Wu, an MA Fine Arts student based in Los Angeles.
While reasonably new to terms like NFT, Ms Wu made great use of the online gallery. She explained: "An NFT allows digital artists to monetise their art and control creatorship. By minting an NFT, each artwork becomes a unique token that can be tracked on blockchain—helping users to recognise the original artist."
Making use of the opportunity provided by the concept gallery, Ms Wu shared: "I [too] minted one of my brainwave generative arts "愛波Wave of Love." Ms Wu's signature artwork 'Wave of Love' featured in this article is also available on the online platform Hic et Nunc, along with more of her works.
Photo 1 caption: "愛波Wave of Love"
We also spoke to Andru Kiamanc, an artist and member of a recently launched NFT hub in Cologne, Germany. He believes that speaking out about NFTs and promoting an NFT platform like Hic et Nunc via social media, can bring more artists together in a shorter period of time.
He explained, "Hashtags, for instance, or social media, to participate in COVID times [has been impactful]. NFT can be a new kind of gallery/ showroom for the artists—some art only achieves its full potential, [when] tokenised".
The World Art Day 2021 concept gallery was a unique experience in which artists learned about maintaining their rights as digital artists providing eminent avenues to share their work with others—helping them come together and build an online community of creatives.
Mr Kiamanc, unlike Ms Wu, did not get the opportunity to mint his work but chose to support the event's initiative via social media. For him, opportunities like the concept gallery "represent a lot of artists [giving] them an event and or space to connect with each other and showcase a variety of pieces".
When speaking about her experience of learning more about how applicable NFT blockchains are to her artwork, Ms Wu described the founders of the event to have immensely enlightened her on the topic.
In Ms Wu's words: "They provide a very useful guideline that helps artists who are NFT beginners to mint their art, and they promote artwork on Twitter. NFT [is] more accessible; they encourage [an] artist to sell their work at $1 XTZ to reach out to even more buyers".
Artists are generally more preoccupied with how to create a sound or a look. But it's clear that they can also benefit from focusing on cutting edge technology, particularly for creative protection. Artists depend on the internet to increase their exposure. But that brings with it risks of online plagiarism and theft.
Photo 2 caption: "Earth Phase 地相圖"
Photos credit: Kiki Wu: @kikiwu404
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