On April 1, 2022, I conducted a panel discussion in my Introduction to Film (Media) Production class asking questions: Are NFTs the key to a creator economy and a democratized art market? Or are they overhyped assets whose bubble will eventually pop? Should creators build communities around these assets or should they stay clear of them? The panelists shared their insights on the potential evolution of NFTs with a sharp focus on the implications for artists and media makers.
The panelists included: Zach Braiker, CEO of refine-and focus, a marketing innovation and growth consultancy trusted by Fortune 500 companies and startups alike; Bolor Amgalan, an Assistant Teaching Professor at Northeastern University, hybrid material designer, and design strategist leveraging virtual reality, craft materiality, and blockchain technology to design culturally sensitive transition design interventions with implications on the future of work and human-machine collaboration; and Martin Roberts, a media scholar who has taught in the Department of Film & Media Studies at Dartmouth College since 2016 and has published on a wide range of subjects in media studies including ethnographic surrealism, global documentary, the Dogma ’95 movement, subcultures, and more. The panel was organized as a result of a conversation between Zach Braiker and me back in January during which he challenged me to engage with the NFT phenomenon.
Here is a collection of follow-up materials that I assembled with the panelists. I’m still on the fence when it comes to NFTs, however, the panelists opened my eyes to the potential of NFTs in spite of the hype surrounding the cultural practices around NFTs.
Web3 starting points
- NFT glossary by digital culture works, website
- The Defiant guide to Digital Art and NFTs, The Defiant, October 20, 2020, YouTube, video<
- The Harvest: A Cryptocurrency Documentary (Misho Antadze, 2019), website
- Web3 Starter Pack, a collection of starting points from the Crypto, Culture & Society DAO, website
- Crypto, Culture & Society, a learning DAO exploring the impact of crypto on culture and society with a mission to build liberal arts education for crypto, website
Critiques of Web3
- “The Third Web” by tante, a.k.a. Jürgen Geuter, Nodes in a Social Network, blog, December 29, 2021, article
- “The Internet Is Just Investment Banking Now,” by Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, February 4, 2022, article
- “New Study on NFTs Deflates the ‘Democratic’ Potential for the Medium,” by Jasmine Liu, Hyperallergic, December 3, 2021, article
- “Will the Artworld’s NFT Wars End in Utopia or Dystopia?” by Tina Rivers Ryan, artreview.com, December 2021, article
- “I Looked Through All 5,000 Images in Beeple’s $69 Million Magnum Opus. What I Found Isn’t So Pretty” by Ben Davis, artnet.com, March 17, 2021, article
- Line Goes Up – The Problem With NFTs, Folding Ideas (a.k.a. Dan Olson), YouTube, January 21, 2022, video
- Extremely Fungible Tokens: The Anti-NFT Movement by TheRealSullyG, YouTube, February 20, 2022, video
- Extremely Fungible Tokens, website
NFT marketplaces and examples
- SuperRare is a marketplace focused on single-edition digital artworks on the Ethereum blockchain, they describe themselves as “Instagram meets Christies,” website
- objkt.com Is an NFT marketplace on the Tezos blockchain, offering art, music, collectibles, and other virtual goods, website
- Hic et Nunc (HEN) is an open-source project envisioned as a decentralized public smart contract infrastructure on the Tezos blockchain, website
- OpenSea was the first and has become the largest NFT marketplace on the Ethereum blockchain, website
- Leda is an NFT marketplace that uses the Jupiter blockchain, website
- The JUP-Otter Mutations 41/50, an example discussed during the panel, website
- Pieces of Me is an online exhibition of personal offerings from artists known for their explorations of identity, being, and phenomenology in digitally-mediated realities, website
- NFT#, click on the Pieces of Me title to access the rooms and the artworks they contain, website
- SnowX is an Oculus app that anyone can buy/sell/experience 3D NFT in VR, Twitter profile, see also SnowX_Thomas, CEO of SnowX, VR NFT art marketplace in VR, Twitter profile
- FABERIUM is a pilot blockchain secured digital experience platform and a curated marketplace for artisanal NFTs meticulously crafted by artisan-creatives for collectors and luxury brands, website
Wallets
- MetaMask is a cryptocurrency wallet that works with Ethereum blockchain and Ethereum-based tokens (erc20, 721, etc.), website
- Temple Wallet is a cryptocurrency wallet that works with the Tezos blockchain, website
- Coinbase provides the functionality of a bank, allowing you to hold, trade, receive, and send funds in a variety of crypto and fiat currencies, website