Puzzles, Monuments and Artists: outstanding Art in Blockchain
The first things that come to mind when hearing the buzzword blockchain, are most obviously, IT, decentralization and cryptocurrencies. However, there are other, less conventional fields of application of the new technology.
According to The Art Market, art sales totaled $63,7 billion in 2017, including $5 billion in online purchases. Art Collecting analyzed 500 deals where crypto was used as an accounting currency, and found out that 95% of them were settled in bitcoin. Alternative cryptocurrencies, with Ethereum at the top, were used in the other 5%.
Verification of authenticity of a piece of art is one of the key problems in this field that can be solved with blockchain. The distributed ledger concept allows for digitizing the provenance process (creating and storing ownership records).
Deloitte Luxembourg, an American startup, Verisart, ArteQuest platform and other companies have already developed online certification and decentralized storage solutions for paintings. Each piece of art is assigned a unique digital ID that can be easily verified in real time.
Art decentralization
One prominent example of art decentralization is Scarab. The core idea is in distributing the creation process: the final piece is compiled by neural networks from paintings by more than a thousand artists. The community decides which works will be used for compilation by voting.
The first such piece is now being created and looks like this. You can see the process here.
By selling paintings via smart contracts parties can achieve tax transparency, while artists are guaranteed to receive the complete payment. Apart from decentralized creation, smart contracts allow for distributed ownership when separate shares of a price are owned by investors.
Crypto artists
The bitcoin and blockchain hype is inspiring artists. One of the most popular crypto artists, Nanu Berks, is interpreting the development of the distributed ledger technology in art. Most of her pieces are made from recycled materials, such as wood, spray rests, and computer hardware. Nanu’s works have been displayed at a blockchain conference for sale. Sixty percent of proceeds will be donated to charity and environment protection programs.
The Tilcoin company has built a collection of art, including paintings by Soviet and Russian artists, previous century posters from different countries, and a stamp collection from the late 20th century. Tilcoin used blockchain to digitize all these pieces and place them in a virtual storage. The series was later fragmented, like a puzzle. The fragments are now traded for the company’s own tokens, TLC.
Blockchain is a digital log journal, where data is stored safe from forgery, modification and deletion, which makes the technology so invaluable for the industry. Using blockchain can help perpetuate all kinds of art. Since March this year, Tilcoin has sold about 150,000 painting fragments, and its popularity is still high, despite the general down trend. The fragments are often purchased as an investment or a present.
Blockchain puzzles
Another interesting phenomenon of blockchain culture is puzzles. A common example is a picture featuring an encrypted key from a private wallet, containing some crypto as a prize. In February, the most popular series of such puzzles, known as The Satoshi Nakamoto Legend, was solved by a thirty-year-old programmer. The winner received 4.87 BTC as a prize, which then equaled $50,000.
If you ever thought of taking a crack at encryption puzzles you still have a chance. Reddit users have been racking their brains over another such puzzle for the past three months. The author promises to provide tips in case it appears too hard to solve. He also noted that the prize is not limited to 1 BTC but added that he suggests concentrating on the puzzle rather than the reward. You can join the discussion here.
Bitcoin monument
While some countries are imposing a ban on crypto events, and SEC repeatedly rejects Bitcoin ETF, others willingly demonstrate their openness to digital currencies. A Bitcoin Monument was inaugurated in the Slovenian city of Kranj this year. The idea was suggested by the city municipality, and the monument construction was sponsored by the exchange Bitstamp, that has its headquarters in Kranj, and blockchain software developer 3fs. The monument stands in the middle of a roundabout close to the city center.
We have recently seen blockchain art hackathons, and decentralized museum and gallery concepts. A Scottish crypto enthusiast even developed an AR app that transforms portraits of prominent figures of Scotland’s history in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery into the most looked upon crypto influencers.
