FRESCO | Creating Blockchain Era For The Art World
The art world can be one of innovation and change, yet deeply rooted in tradition. This is nowhere more true than in art collecting. Galleries have a huge influence on the introduction of new art, and can have the unfortunate effect of preventing ease of introduction. Even with online display galleries where budding artists can present reproductions of their work, breaking into the world of fine arts is even more difficult than making debut as a published author. FRESCO hopes to change all of that.
FRESCO is a token-based art value/art trade system built on a blockchain program platform. It works similarly to existing cryptocurrencies, but it will be used only to assign value to artworks. Initially, collectors will be able to purchase FRES, the tokens that will be issued by FRESCO. They will then assign their FRES to artworks in their existing collection. For example, a collector who has a Frida Kahlo, a Grandma Moses, and a Paul Klee art print might assign fifty percent of his FRES to the Kahlo painting, thirty-five percent to Mrs. Moses primitive art work, and the remaining 15 percent to the art print. When these paintings are traded or sold, that valuation will follow them.
FRESCO will keep record of any subsequent transactions. Because these transactions are based on a distributed platform, they are less easy to lose, have stolen, destroyed or lost than traditional means of provenance. Provenance is the paper trail associated with the sale and trade of artwork — somewhat in the same way that a deed tracks the way property has changed hands over the years. It can be used to help decide whether a painting or other artwork is the genuine article, or whether at some point a forgery had been substituted for the original.
FRESCO can be good news for artists in two different ways. First, because of the way it introduces value to an art piece, it can decentralize the introduction of new artworks. Whereas previously, such introductions were largely in the hands of art galleries, digital media really does provide a wider range of viewers for artworks. Second, blockchain technology makes it more difficult for such artworks to be “borrowed” by casual viewers and used in ways for which the artist gains no credit. Provenance for new art can be as surely traced as provenance for established artworks.
In addition to tracking provenance and making introduction of new art easier, FRESCO is providing a means through which to set values for art. It has always been difficult to assign a value to an artwork. It is a multi-layered process that involves the skill of the artist, the age and history of the piece, its placement and significance to history (not the same thing as the history of the piece) and the fickle mood of fashion. By assigning FRES to an artwork as it is introduced, and then letting it accrue FRES naturally through transactions, assigning value becomes much easier.
In a sense you could consider FRESCO an artwork of sorts itself. It is part of the new blockchain-based development, which is bringing changes to multi levels of the financial world, as well as to programming. Even the banking industry has become interested in it, so it makes sense that the world of art collecting, and art production, should also become part of this new wave of technology. Art has a way of incorporating new techniques while holding onto the old. Cavemen drew with charcoal sticks — and so might your modern artist. But the modern artist will have all the subsequent centuries of artistic tools available as well. It should come as no surprise that blockchain technology should be one more color on the pallet.
