BitCulture: Visual Art on Solana, AI Music, Podcast + Book Reviews

BitCulture explores art, culture, music and media in blockchain and Web3.

Table of Contents

Visual art on the blockchain

Haley Karren, chief curator of Exchange.art, came to Web3 from some of the world’s leading art institutions and says working with 14,000 artists on Solana’s fine arts marketplace has broadened her tastes.

Exchange.art Chief Curator Haley Karren (included)

“I have a new appreciation for pixel art, voxels and things that are really unique to this space. It was fascinating to see the difference between what I was more interested in two years ago and what I’m interested in now.”

Karren, a former curator of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, says her role has always been as a “conduit” between contemporary artists and the rest of the world. Especially as she connects traditional artists with a space that uses blockchain, NFTs and artificial intelligence.

“Digital art and traditional art spaces are increasingly going together. That is a big challenge for us at Exchange.art, but there is still a small gap,” she says.

“There’s a little bit of a bias against the blockchain in a way, and I think it’s a little bit of not understanding it.”

She often says that collectors are unaware that the blockchain can be used for provenance, and that artists don’t realize that NFTs can be programmed to collect royalties every time a piece is sold.

“It shifts some established norms in the art world that didn’t give artists enough say over their work,” she says.

“I try to help people on board, but also artists or traditional art collectors. It’s a process, you know, understanding what crypto is, understanding what a wallet is.”

In the traditional art world, galleries are the gatekeepers. In order for artists to sell works, galleries must display them to buyers, for which they charge commissions of up to 50%.

NFTs help replace these gatekeepers and return control to artists.

“It’s a huge shift in terms of sovereignty and shifting it back to artists. It puts much more responsibility on them to also market their work, to talk about their work and to present it coherently.”

Lisanne Hack artwork — *Incorporating Aspects of Physical Art (Lisanne Hack, Aspire, 2022*)

Karren sees her current role as a ‘sounding board’ for artists to think about how a series should be presented and marketed, how many, how often, in what order?

One such artist Karren highlighted is Lisanne Haack and her “Synergy” series (pictured left). Haack is a digital painter who creates in a style similar to oil paint, but also charcoal and pastels.

“In a fascinating departure from physical art, she varies the texture of the support between canvas and paper,” explains Karren, adding that digital tools allow Haack to cut, paste, rework and repeat sections to create digital works of art.

Emerging trends in the space include artists “working with different AI programs and incorporating it into their creative process and then pushing themselves in a way they wouldn’t have challenged before.”

She also points to the direct placement of conceptual art on the blockchain, as well as the emergence of illustration as a visual art.

“Finally, it has been given its due in this space. It was fascinating to see and learn more about this art form that has a long history and is not considered an art form in the traditional art world.”

Musicians vs AI

AI has caused a stir around the world with its ability to remix and create “new” works based on existing artists. Musicians and major record labels have taken very different positions on this.

Dance/electronics musician Grimes was a trailblazer, offering to share 50% of the royalties with any “successful” AI-generated song that uses her voice. She said she thinks it’s “cool to be fused with a machine” and advocates “open sourcing of all art and killing copyright.”

I’ll split 50% royalties on every successful AI-generated song that uses my voice. The same deal I would with any artist I work with. Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal ties. pic.twitter.com/KIY60B5uqt

— 𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰 (@Grimezsz) April 24, 2023

But rapper Ice Cube, who rose to fame with NWA in the late ’80s, said in a recent interview that he would sue anyone who produces AI tracks that mimic his voice and any platform that offers the track.

“It’s like a monster. Someone cannot use and manipulate your original voice without paying. I think AI is demonic, I think AI will get backlash from organic humans.”

Universal Music Group has ordered streaming services like Spotify to ban AI from training on the label’s content. Last week, however, the label indicated it’s not against the technology if used properly, announcing a partnership with “wellness sound app” Endel to create “ethical” AI music that “protects the rights of respects artists”.

UMG artists will use Endel’s AI technology to “create science-based soundscapes designed to enhance listener well-being, including both new music and new versions of catalog music.”

Stay informed:

`The Web3 Foundation is partnering with the legacy music festival

On May 31, the Web3 Foundation, which is behind the Polkadot blockchain, announced a new partnership with Primavera Pro to create the inaugural Web3 Music Summit in June in Madrid. Primavera Pro is known for hosting some of Spain’s biggest festivals, with hundreds of thousands in attendance. The conference focuses on blockchain technology, experiential events and discussions about the future of music in the digital age.

DJ Agoria gives NFT owners 100% of the recording rights

French DJ Agoria announced his entry into the NFT scene through the NFT music platform Bolero. Agoria revealed that his fans who collect his music as NFTs would see 100% of royalties redistributed to them. He said it’s “high time” to give back to fans and also sees it as “a genuine and legitimate opportunity for my traditional partners to step into our ecosystem.”

Elon’s cryptic meme about AI

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a love-hate relationship with AI. While he helped found OpenAI, create robot armies, and buy up GPUs to create his own generative AI tool, he has also warned of its destructive capabilities. Last week, the billionaire tweeted a cryptic meme about people entering the AI space, ranging from mundane-looking humans to corpse-like zombies.

AI ♾️ pic.twitter.com/U8b6ynMGrQ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 19, 2023

Podcast Review: Edge of NFT

The Edge of NFT podcast explores the intersection of emerging technologies and culture, exploring everything from art to gaming and animation.

Hosted by Eathan Janney, Jeff Kelley and Josh Kriger – three industry insiders and founders of Web3 consulting firm MainChain Venture – the show attracted more than 100,000 listeners last year.

This podcast goes beyond technology and looks at the human element of how NFTs are changing the way we interact with communities and industries. Ranging from 30-60 minutes, each show features a guest interview and explores topics such as building better Web3 games, the importance of culture and royalties for Web3, and even reaping tax losses from NFTs.

Read also: Top 10 crypto artist Trevor Jones on getting rich, stretching and being rich again: NFT Creator

Big guests they’ve had on the show include Dim Mak founder and DJ Steve Aoki, The Sandbox founder Sebastien Borget, VeeFriends creator Gary Vaynerchuk, and Filecoin Foundation chairman Marta Belcher. The presenters also regularly travel to high-profile events such as Consensus and ETH Denver to lead interviewees and give listeners a sense of the flavor of the event.

In last week’s episode, they covered a event in New York at Christie’s art gallery with a 152-piece generative art collection of physical hand-drawn monoprints combined with NFTs.

Prepare for our episode with @fastackl by @CannonDotArt 😎

Kanon shifts art and design to #Web3 by building things that match the incentives of artists and collectors! 😍

Subscribe to Spotify to listen 👇 pic.twitter.com/AkAzTyJ4nD

— Edge of NFT 🎙 (@EdgeofNFT) May 30, 2023

Book review: Crypto TitansThrough Marcus Thielen

Subtitled “How Trillions Were Made and Billions Lost in the Cryptocurrency Markets,” this 405-page book is now out. Crypto Titans talks about the last 15 years of the cryptocurrency industry – from the publication of Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin white paper in 2008 to the ongoing banking crisis and the US crypto crackdown in 2023.

More than just a history, Crypto Titans reveals the interconnectedness of everything and everyone in crypto. How regulatory action in one country led to a massive crypto explosion in another. Where some crypto empires were built and others turned to rubble in a matter of days.

However, if you’re looking for a gripping book that will keep you on the edge of your seat, you might want to stick with fiction. This book aims to be objective and fact-based – with plenty of references to boot: 631 in fact.

This means that unless you’re a history buff, things can get a little dry just talking about fact after fact. The book overcomes this with plenty of chapters and sections – meaning you can easily dive in and out and pick it up again with a fresh mind.

There’s even a handy little index in the back, in case you need a quick refresher on a specific company or person. Sam Bankman-Fried gets 68 mentions; the Securities and Exchange Commission, 41.

The book is great for anyone interested in the history of crypto. Readers don’t need to be familiar with crypto or financial jargon to enjoy it, though a basic understanding will certainly help.