Simple Blockchain Art Diagram, 2016, digital media. After MTAA ca. 1997.
Very obviously adapted from MTAA’s “Simple Net Art Diagram“.
Proofs of existence stored in Bitcoin block 422422 and 422423.
More details on the project page.
Category: Crypto
Categories
Democratic Palette
Democratic Palette, 2016, Ethereum Contract and HTML/JavaScript/CSS.
A palette of twelve colours that anyone can set on the Ethereum blockchain. Every vote for every colour is tracked and the top twelve make up the palette.
The images above show various different visual applications of the palette and the use of the GUI to vote for a colour (the GUI appears if you click in the window displaying the canvas).
Note that the above images are from test runs. The current palette on the live Ethereum blockchain looks like this, ready for people to vote on:
You can download the interface code here, it’s in the dapps/democratic-palette directory.
To use it you’ll need an Ethereum node running locally, and to vote for colours you’ll need some Ether.
$ ./nom --help
Usage: nom [OPTIONS]
Defaults to using 32 bytes of entropy.
-rep string
hash representation - hex, base58, bip39 or proquint (default "hex")
-seed string
read the bytes to hash as the parameter of this argument
-stdin
read the bytes to hash from stdin rather than as an argument
$ ./nom --rep hex
331151629ed17389c079aa3ecdd9828d52cde9c8411b4fd591f7a18dcda6be2a
$ ./nom --rep base58
anAa9gRLWMn3BhLSb2TQNfEoVBhLBbZnDeGnMhqnthkj
$ ./nom --rep proquint
pisil-tufag-zanir-didin-ruzaz-rutop-kakip-zatir-vutig-gavaf-nuzuf-sibuh-zilur-sakim-mimut-soziz
$ ./nom --rep bip39
sheriff core resemble talent service sword warfare offer boil vibrant uncover leisure circle pupil cattle prize cherry joke social daring media nurse primary chuckle
nom is a command line tool to generate names (identifiers).
It’s written in go. You can grab the source here:
Categories
“Hot Cold” on Homestead
Here’s “Hot Cold” live on the Ethereum “Homestead” network.
“Hot Cold” calls back to Art & Language’s 1960s Conceptual Art involving abstract aesthetic properties. It looks (and is implemented to be) twice as complex as “Is Art“, but it’s still really only one bit of information.
You can run the user interface locally in a web browser with an Ethereum node such as geth. Once geth is running, the user interface can get the contract’s state from the blochchain and, if you have Ether for gas, modify it. If someone else changes the contract’s state, you’ll see this updated.
If you want to change the contract’s status without using the user interface, you can do so using the contract’s address and ABI in EtherWallet.
The address:
0x53cd5d6bebff1eef892c191875e4d963875f50d7
The ABI:
[{"constant":true,"inputs":[],"name":"cold","outputs":[{"name":"","type
":"bytes4"}],"type":"function"},{"constant":false,"inputs":[],"name":"swap","out
puts":[],"type":"function"},{"constant":true,"inputs":[],"name":"hot","outputs":
[{"name":"","type":"bytes4"}],"type":"function"},{"inputs":[],"type":"constructo
r"},{"anonymous":false,"inputs":[{"indexed":false,"name":"hot","type":"bytes4"},
{"indexed":false,"name":"cold","type":"bytes4"}],"name":"Swap","type":"event"}]
Facecoin is at the “Art and the Blockchain” show at Digital Catapult.
Here’s Ruth Catlows’ article about it –
https://www.digitalcatapultcentre.org.uk/art-and-the-blockchain/
Categories
“Is Art” On Homestead
Ethereum has been live for several months now and has progressed to the point where the network has been declared stable.
So I’m deploying my contract artworks to the Ethereum blockchain. First up is “Is Art“.
“Is Art” is an Ethereum contract that can be instructed to nominate itself as art (or not). Whoever toggles the contract’s state as art sets it unimpeded until the next person sends a transaction to change it. A more rational system should be used – bidding, voting, a prediction market. The Duchampian aesthetic transubstantiation of artistic nomination is long played out. It is an art historical found object, as basic as a contract with a single bit of state. Brought together, the art historical and the contemporarily technological (or their audiences) can mutually animate and interrogate each other.
You can run the user interface locally in a web browser with an Ethereum node such as geth. Once geth is running, the user interface can get the contract’s state from the blochchain and, if you have Ether for gas, modify it. If someone else changes the contract’s state, you’ll see this updated.
If you want to change the contract’s status without using the user interface, you can do so using the contract’s address and ABI in EtherWallet.
The address:
0xa95301a50551dfe16e180dec3fe0044e94d36f8c
The ABI:
[{"constant":true,"inputs":[],"name":"is_art","outputs":[{"name":"","ty
pe":"bytes6"}],"type":"function"},{"constant":false,"inputs":[],"name":"toggle",
"outputs":[],"type":"function"},{"inputs":[],"type":"constructor"},{"anonymous":
false,"inputs":[{"indexed":false,"name":"is_art","type":"bytes6"}],"name":"Statu
s","type":"event"}]
For instructions on how to do this, see the “Contracts” pane in EtherWallet.
I’ve started moving my Ethereum projects to Truffle (Pudding) and Meteor, getting ready to deploy them to the live network.
Artworks and curation can both take place on or be represented on the blockchain.
Artworks can be stored directly as data on the Bitcoin blockchain or represented by various proxy schemes.
Curation of digital artworks for exhibition online or in the gallery can be organized and effected on the Bitcoin blockchain using these representations.
For both artworks and exhibitions this has the advantages of permanence, transparency, and of engagement with new technological means of organization.
Storing Artworks On The Blockchain
Storing data on the blockchain has technological and social limits.
Technologically, storing more than a few kilobytes of data on the blockchain will be a slow process as many transactions will have to be sent over the course of several blocks to avoid the Bicoin blockchain’s current one megabyte per block limit and to ensure that the transactions are stored in the correct order.
Socially, adding non-Bitcoin-transaction data to the blockchain leads to “blockchain bloat”. This is where the Bitcoin blockchain, already over 40 gigabytes in size, grows more quickly than necessary to maintain the security of the Bitcoin currency.
See here for examples of various techniques: Hidden surprises in the Bitcoin blockchain and how they are stored
Unspendable Addresses
The original way of storing data on the Bitcoin blockchain was to send small amounts of Bitcoin to addresses that do not represent valid public keys but instead represent 20 byes of arbitrary data. This wastes the sent Bitcoin as there is no valid key that can be used to re-send it. The resulting transaction stores the data in the Bitcoin blockchain.
To send more than 32 bytes of data, the data must be encoded 32 bytes at a time and sent as multiple transactions.
OP_RETURN
The Bitcoin script opcode OP_RETURN can be used to return 40 bytes of data from a Bitcoin transaction. This does not require that any Bitcoin be wasted, and does not require the Bitcoin software to keep track of the transaction in case its value is ever spent in future (it is still stored on the Blockchain).
To send more than 40 bytes of data, the data must be encoded 40 bytes at a time and sent as multiple transactions.
Representing Artworks On The Blockchain
Storing identifiers for artworks on the blockchain provides a more efficient but in some cases less robust means of referring to objects via the Blockchain.
ascribe.io
ascribe.io places records of ownership (and Creative Commons Licensing) of digital artworks on the Bitcoin blockchain. The artworks media files are stored by ascribe.io . Its SPOOL protocol can be used by third parties to identify and transfer ownership of artworks. Other services and technologies are available.
SPOOL supports a “Loan” operator for exhibition rights.
URL
The URL of the artwork can be represented by one or more unspendable addresses or OP_RETURN transactions.
Work Hash
The cryptographic hash (e.g. sha256) of the artwork’s digital media file, or of a written description or other means of identifying the work, can be placed on the blockchain as an unspendable address or OP_RETURN transaction.
Signature By Valid Address
The public key of a valid Bitcoin address (preferably a vanity address) can be used to create the cryptographic hash of an artwork’s digital media file or other identifier. This hash can then be communicated via a transaction or by off-blockchain means.
Authority Control
If the artist registers their works via traditional means, the full text or hash of the artwork’s authority control identifier can be placed on the blockchain.
Referring To Artworks On The Blockchain
When The Artwork Is Stored On The Blockchain
When the artwork is stored in unspendable addresses or in OP_RETURN values, either the first transaction in the series or the sending address (where that address is used only to send the transactions representing the artwork) can be used to refer to the artwork.
When The Artwork Is Represented On The Blockchain
When the artwork is represented on the blockchain by an invalid Bitcoin address (for example one storing a URL or one representing the hash of the artwork’s digital media file), this address can be used to refer to it.
When the artwork is represented by a valid Bitcoin address, this address or transactions (containing values) signed by it can be used to refer to the artwork.
Crypto Tokens And Coloured Coins
Systems such as Counterparty and Coloured Coins add the ability to use Bitcoin’s blockchain to store or represent tokens for assets other than the Bitcoin currency.
These tokens can be used to represent artworks, shares in artworks, involvement in a show or other grouping, and just about anything else.
Sending someone a token is functionally equivalent to signing their key in web-of-trust based cryptographic systems, although it does not have the same social significance.
To refer to an artwork with a token, send the token to the artwork’s address. Where the artwork’s address is not a valid Bitcoin address, this will make the token unrecoverable. Where the artwork’s address is a valid Bitcoin address that the artist controls, they will be able to transfer the token to a third party if they wish.
Curation
Calls For Submissions
Calls for submissions can be broadcast on the blockchain either as Counterparty broadcasts or as urls, messages, or GitHub commit hashes placed on the blockchain using a system like Cryptograffiti.
Acceptance And Rejection
Acceptance of the work can be represented via the transfer of Counterparty or Coloured Coin tokens.
Broadcasts via Counterparty or Cryptograffiti from the artwork’s or (more likely) artist’s valid Bitcoin address can .
Loan And Exhibition
ascribe.io’s SPOOL protocol supports Loan operations.
Broadcasts via Counterparty or Cryptograffiti from the artwork’s or (more likely) artist’s valid Bitcoin address can contain and confirm loan information.
Loan of artworks can be represented via the transfer of Counterparty or Coloured Coin tokens.
In particular, Token Controlled Access can be used to restrict or enhance access to works using Counterparty or other tokens.
A similar, non token approach would be for net based artworks to use a Bitcoin address whitelist allowing exhibition machines (in the gallery) or proxies (for online shows) to display them if they can cryptographically sign their requests using the valid Bitcoin key used to accept and pay for the loan.
Exhibition Fees
Exhibitor fees can be paid in Bitcoin to a valid Bitcoin address, either that of the artwork or, more likely, the address that created the storage or representation of the artwork on the blockchain
Show Duration
The duration of the show can be expressed in terms of ranges of Bitcoin block numbers or UNIX timestamps.
Webliography
Hidden surprises in the Bitcoin blockchain and how they are stored
“Bunnybots – Cryptoart for art angels” at London Art Fair.
Play and remix here –
http://playyourplace.co.uk/playnew.html?id=203
Furtherfield mention my work and Primavera di Filippi as influences. 🙂
Categories
Ethereum Art Ecosystem
(Sketch from June 2015, unpublished until now.)
The Blockchain is an obvious medium for storing titles to property beyond currency. This includes property titles for artworks, particularly digital artworks. But there is nothing smart about using smart contracts for that. Rather than seeking to bring the failings of DRM to the blockchain, we should seek to use smart contracts to formalize more interesting economies of relationships between art and its audiences.
The Basics
Items
Everything is an item.
Owners
Every item has an owner. This is simply an Ethereum address from which instruction transactions will be obeyed. They can be implemented as basically as a GUI for a human operator or by complex blockchain or oracle systems.
Containers
Many items can have a pseudo-spatial relationship to other items, containing them in the way that a gallery contains a show or a magazine contains a review for example. This is distinct from the control relationship of ownership.
An item’s container is its location.
Purchasing an instance of an artwork makes the purchaser the container for that instance, not the owner of the artwork contract.
Artworks
Smart artworks are the self-driving cars or High Frequency Trading Algorithms of the smart contract/smart property artworld. Their most important feature is that they manage their own exhibition and sale – they evaluate offers and make the decision whether to accept them or not automatically.
Editions
An artwork can simulate scarcity or manage exposure by having a limited edition size. This is a count of the number of instances of the artwork that be included in containers at one time. An edition size of one is a unique artwork.
When an artwork is sold or exhibited this doesn’t decrease the edition size but does reduce the amount of the edition available to be sold or exhibited simultaneously.
Provenance
The provenance of an artwork is its sale, exhibition, and critical history. All of these are stored on the blockchain as a natural result of their operation (and as recorded Ethereum “events”).
Display
Authentication
An artwork can be queried to find which Containers currently hold instances of it. This can be used to authenticate displayed artworks. Authentication information can be displayed in the interface or accompanying materials for an exhibition.
Control
Artworks can (weakly) control exhibition by storing their assets on an IP-locked website and only allowing a whitelist of addresses to access it. Containers provide an IP address and proxy their exhibition of the artwork through that.
This is obviously subject to IP spoofing and cannot prevent downloading but provides an example of a system of this kind of thing for people who want it.
Sale and Exhibition
Collections can make offers to artworks to permanently purchase or temporarily exhibit them.
It is up to the artwork to decide whether they accept the offer or not.
Purchased instances of an artwork may also allow their owners to veto or suggest their sale or exhibition.
Simple Offers
A simple offer to purchase consists of a price.
A simple offer to exhibit consists of a time, a duration and a fee.
The artwork can accept or decline the offer based on availability, whether the price or fee is sufficient, and any external information about the address the offer was sent from (e.g. an external blacklist).
Tagged Offers
Tagged offers are an example of a slightly more flexible system for artworks to decide whether to accept an offer or not.
The collection makes an offer formatted as a dictionary of key/value pairs. The artwork then evaluates this offer, most simply by comparing it against its own tag dictionary (and for price, etc as with a simple offer).
The disadvantage of this method is that the tag values must be trusted by the artwork. This can be addressed by a trusted third party signing the tags, or by a SchellingCoin-style evaluation of the tags.
Exhibition Fees
Artworks receive fees for being exhibited (these can be set to zero if desired). They can pass these on to the owner of their contract (presumably the artist).
Resale Refusal and Fees
Artworks can veto sales as well as exhibitions. They can also take a percentage of any sale price, simulating the Droit de Suite/Artist’s Resale Right (this can be set to zero if desired).
Collections
Collections are containers. They contain artworks. Shows, museums and galleries are all collections.
Temporary and permanent collections feature artworks loaned for exhibition or purchased to be held in museum or personal collections.
Collections have selection and acceptance policies.
Exhibitions, auctions, awards, competitions and commissions are containers.
Exhibitions
An exhibition occurs at an institution. It contains a particular number of artworks for a particular duration (which may be perpetual).
The exhibition must offer artworks an exhibition fee and details of its duration. For more complex schemes it must provide the artwork with further information, for example the dictionary required by “Tagged Offers”.
For the duration of the exhibition, the artwork will register it as the container for one of its instances.
Auctions
Auctions are containers which can accept and enforce bids up until a time limit. The placing and any extra evaluation of bids is handled by other contracts.
Awards
Awards are containers of works entered for the award, with the actual award allocated by oracle, Schelling Coin or other auditor contract.
Competitions
Turner Prize-style competitions combine exhibitions with an award at the end, allocated by oracle, Schelling Coin or other auditor contract.
Commissions
Commissions specify requirements as tags and offer a price for satisfying them as confirmed by a Schellin Coin or other auditor contract.
Reviews
Reviewers produce 5-star reviews of artworks, with a brief title.
These are aggregated by Collections and may be referred to by the artwork.
They can be filtered by reviewer reputation.
Conclusion
With just a few basic types of contract and with some compexity either deferred or excluded from the system it is possible to make smart artworks and art institutions in code online in the blockchain.
By moving the curatorial and developmental functions of the artworld into artworks and institutions themselves it is possible to remove the vagarities of human attention from the development of the art market while still representing human economic and aesthetic interests within it.
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