# The Work of Art in the Age of Immutable Cryptography - hosted by Aura · Luma

Source: https://lu.ma/keayfo09
Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/The-Work-of-Art-in-the-Age-of-Immutable-Cryptography-hosted-by-Aura-Luma?index=0x6687069f689d8456b63781a30faaa89f0584c5174e743ea0b47bc82beecf5bd464b8cfee
Submitted by misha on 2024-07-04 UTC, 1 upvote, 0 comments

## Summary

An event hosted by Aura and Luma, titled The Work of Art in the Age of Immutable Cryptography, states that cryptoart did not begin or end with the NFT and asks how persistent, autonomous cryptographic objects could serve as art supplies. Its framing questions also ask how such artworks might resist or embrace financialization, and whether the chain itself is a more expressive medium than the NFT or smart contract. The agenda lists talks by Achilleas, Alexander Mangel, Sam Hart, Simon Denny, MP, Henry Vanderspuy, Stina, Sarah Friend and Joan Heenskerk, closing with a panel of Stina, Billy and Joan moderated by Achilleas.

## Article

​The NFT was heralded by many as the return of the presence and aura associated with localised artworks prior to the age of their mechanical reproduction; and many thus welcomed an age of digital scarcity and a new renaissance. Cynics argue that instead what we got was speculation in the place of (rather than alongside) the artwork, artists acting as community managers and a desert of broken hashes and links. Independently of whether or not this is an accurate diagnosis, cryptoart did not begin nor end with the NFT.

​Cryptography allows for persistent, autonomous and valuable digital objects and processes that closely resemble physical ones in their objectivity - how can these factors function not just as distributive rails but also as art supplies for a class of artworks that would have been impossible without them? How would these artworks resist, embrace or converse with their financialization in novel ways? If the blockchain is the medium, then is the NFT and the smart contract too constraining a canvas, and is the VM and the chain itself the properly expressive building block? Do both artworks and games converge into autonomous golems?

​ Event Patrons:

Privy Dora

Agenda:

10:00AM - 11:00AM: Tea & Coffee

11:00AM - 11:10AM: 'From Artworks to Artchains' by Achilleas 11:10AM - 11:30AM: 'The Recipe' by Alexander Mangel 11:30AM - 12:00PM: 'Artchains: low-level protocol-design as art' by Sam Hart 12:00PM - 12:30PM: 'NPC Compensation: Financial Frontiers Beyond World of Warcraft Gold, Ultima GPs and L$' by Simon Denny 12:30PM - 13:00PM : 'Curation in the NFT space' by MP

13:00PM - 13:30PM: Lunch

13:30PM - 13:50PM: 'How can the philosophy of computation contribute to this discourse?' by Henry Vanderspuy 13:50PM - 14:20PM: 'Public Art Online - Site-Specificity and Locational Identity in the Digital Age' by Stina 14:20PM - 14:50PM: 'Site Specific Software' by Sarah Friend 14:50PM - 15:20PM: 'Decrypt net[art]work $ystems' by Joan Heenskerk 15:20PM - 16:00PM: The Work of Art in the Age of Immutable Cryptography. Panel with Stina, Billy and Joan. Moderated by Achilleas.

16:00PM - 18:00PM: Drinks reception