Join us on 01 November 2023, 15.00-17.00, at the London Doctoral College (LSBU Hub, 116 London Road, SE1 6LN), for a workshop with Michael Assis, PhD Candidate at Bard Graduate Center in New York, who is visiting researcher at CSNI across October and November 2023. All welcome.
While NFTs (non-fungible tokens), Smart Contracts, and the Blockchain have become a ubiquitous part of our culture, for many, they are still shrouded in mystery. Join Michael Assis in this hands-on workshop to open the black box of the blockchain. Michael will go over the basics of the blockchain and the short and quirky history of art on the blockchain. Next, alongside a step-by-step annotated tutorial, participants will create their own NFT on the blockchain and discuss the ways in which making NFTs and participating in their economy informs us about the nature of these digital objects.
No prior knowledge necessary. Please bring an image to the workshop (your own, or CC0) and laptop.
Reading:
Daniel Rubinstein & Katrina Sluis (2013) ‘Concerning the undecidability of the digital image’, Photographies, 6:1, 151-158, DOI: 10.1080/17540763.2013.788848
Michael Assis is a PhD Candidate at Bard Graduate Center in New York. His dissertation, “Decentralized Objects: Non-Fungible Tokens in the Age of Web3” explores philosophical issues and sociopolitical aspects of NFTs. More specifically, his dissertation tackles theoretical challenges that blockchain-based art poses for commonly held notions in art history and philosophy, and argues for new image theories and ontological structures that emerge as a result of the unique affordances of the new artistic medium, the blockchain.
Image: Rhea Myers, Is Art (Token) (2023), Ethereum Blockchain.