Art and Tech in Berlin: A Powerful Combination
What happens when art and tech collide? For Masha McConaghy — art curator, researcher, adviser, and co-founder of ascribe — it was the birth of a Berlin-based blockchain technology startup that’s helping solve one of the digital art world’s biggest dilemmas.
This post is written by Masha and chronicles a path from problem to solution, as well as offers insight on transitioning from the institutional art world into the startup scene.
Berlin is a city friendly to those who want to change the world and how we think. Existing at the ultimate intersection between art and tech, it attracts many artists who hack, and hackers who make art. No wonder I love it here — I’ve been at this intersection for a long time. But although the two are harmonious in many ways, their corresponding sectors operate quite differently. I’ve witnessed this firsthand as I transitioned from the institutional art world into founding ascribe in Berlin.
First, I’ll give a bit of a backstory. While I come from a scientific family, I chose to pursue my passion for the arts from a young age. As I was defending my PhD on the relationship between art and commerce, I began to see how art and technology could coexist. But it wasn’t until I met Trent McConaghy — my co-founder at ascribe — in Paris, that I began to fully understand just how powerful the two can be together.
For me, tech was always the thing that “geniuses do, somewhere.” Trent was the one not only following the new trends in tech but also helping to create them. He shared his passion with me, explaining it in a language I understood. I was hooked. I, in turn, would tell him of the new trends in the art market and about new exhibitions. We had brainstorming sessions and shared crazy ideas. We married in 2008, truly blending art and tech. I began to see more similarities in the work I was doing and the work he continued to do.
The spark that eventually led to ascribe came out of a personal problem I had during this time. Trent and I had been collecting physical paintings for a while, but as we moved around in the world, the art accumulated in storage facilities in Vancouver, New York, and Berlin. This dilemma started to nag me; I became fascinated by digital art and the benefits of being able to access it anywhere at anytime. I wondered, how could we buy digital art and truly own it? How could digital art be special, one of a kind, and thus, valuable — just like physical paintings?
From that point on, I began contemplating digital art’s central problem: selling it and attributing ownership on the internet. It was the summer of 2013, and while we were having a coffee after visiting an art gallery, it all came together. Trent had been raving about Bitcoin and the blockchain, which he believed was both fascinating and revolutionary. The conversation shifted as we discussed this problem in relation to selling digital art. Trent posited, “Why can’t you own digital art the way you own Bitcoin?” I loved the idea of art and money coexisting and uniting in the digital form. Fast forward to now, and ascribe is a company that has art and tech deeply embedded in its DNA.
I’ve since settled into the Berlin tech world, working hard to grow the company and serve the art community. It’s been an incredible learning experience thus far. No matter where you come from, it’s important to be open to new ways in which different sectors operate. I can now identify the ways in which the tech world differs from the art world.
When building a tech company, be prepared to do the following:
Talk to everyone. There’s no time for insecurities or being shy and private. Talk to your clients, ask them questions, ask for feedback, and tell your story. It’s also OK if only a few people get excited about your product. You move forward, update your product, and iterate. While networking is important as an artist, you are typically celebrated for your work as it is. People don’t need to necessarily even like the art or exhibition but they appreciate the process behind it, which often reflects a very personal journey. You may accept others’ opinions or criticism after the fact but it is rarely a consideration during the actual artistic process.
Get to the point. I was very used to long conversations with artists in my previous roles. You enjoy the ambience of the room, share experiences, learn about the artist, and discuss ideas or practices. In the tech world, conversations are extremely short. Instead of meetings with artists that last upwards of two hours, I now have thirty minute Skype calls. And just before the end, someone will say, “Two minutes left, is there anything else we need to discuss?” There’s certainly value in knowing how to best prioritize your time to stay efficient.
Be okay with discussing money. This is almost taboo in the art world. Many will embrace the idea that art is priceless, when in reality there is a price on works of art because artists need to make a living. These two ideas are constantly at odds with one another and often produce weird and ambiguous environments, even in galleries. In the tech world, it is very clear who is doing what with money, who is benefiting, and how. Costs and value are totally acceptable things to discuss from the beginning.
Celebrate solutions. The art world loves to intellectualize problems. You can build philosophies on problems, then have panels, conferences, and discussions around them. That’s the beauty of the art — ideas flourishing on top of ideas. Tech, on the other hand, loves solutions. If there is a problem, you find a solution that’s realized as software, tools, or platforms to enhance and fix things. Once there is an idea that leads to a solution, you move to a new problem. It’s an ecosystem continuously being built on existing software.
Art and tech have largely different communities, each with their own practices. These communities could certainly learn from one another: sometimes efficiency and up-frontness matter, and sometimes it’s good to explore the philosophy of it all.
I’ve embraced the excitement of bringing an art background to the tech world, meeting great challenges head-on, and finding lasting solutions. When worlds collide, powerful things happen.
