Decentralise everything : a critical analysis of crypto art and non-fungible tokens as Egalitarian artefacts

Abstract

This study surveys the emergent artistic phenomenon identified as Crypto Art in relation to a perceived artistic decentralisation immanent to the orientation. Crypto Art delineates an artistic orientation predicated on the construction and artificialisation of digital ephemera under the construct of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In a word, NFTs refer to cryptographically secure certificates of ownership over digital assets (Sidley and Dingle 2022, 132-133). These certificates of ownership are recorded and verified on a distributed digital database known as a blockchain. Crypto Art applies the NFT construct to digital artworks, classifying them as fundamentally unique and singular in their presentation and framework. Moreover, Crypto Art assumes the blockchain’s technologically decentralised architecture towards an artistic decentralisation. That is, blockchains have no central custodians and as such are envisioned as replacing human systems predicated on centralised power crystallisations. As an artistic orientation, Crypto Art attempts to bypass the role of intermediating actors – such as galleries and museums – towards a technologically mediated form of autonomous interaction. As such, this study considers the extent to which Crypto Art, through the construct of NFTs located on the blockchain, facilitates an artistic decentralisation.