Decentralized Futures

The Context

The artists engaged in a 10-month research and creative exploration of the artistic and thinking potential that decentralized and blockchain technologies can offer in our contemporary society in times of wars, neo-liberal regimes, and ecological derangement, envisioning and critically examining the futures that these technologies can enable. All the artworks on view address contemporary themes rooted in digital culture and creative technology and have a strong interdisciplinary character. The artists question some of the significant issues of our time, such as environmental, political, social, and economic concerns, while exploring new models of organization and resource management that are made possible by distributed and decentralized technologies. In this sense, they delve into concepts of decentralization and redistribution, digital scarcity, and horizontality. The decentralized futures they explore allow for changes in the nature of relationships between different agents regarding decision-making, distributing assets, involving participants in a collective project, or considering the balancing of ecosystems.

The Narrative

One of the recurring themes in the artists’ research is the interconnectedness of human and non-human beings, acknowledging the growing need to develop economic and cultural models that consider other forms of life (Dropstream Economies, Maiz, Bubble). Other projects, such as The Merge, Fango 1000, and Networked Play, explore the new possibilities of participatory storytelling created by the medium, which allows users to influence the development and evolution of the work actively. The same urgency is found in those projects that aim to expose the intricate economic and political machinations behind technological structures and use artistic interventions as a means of protest and subversion (Hash Breakdown v2, Lithium Republic XYZ). ARTeCHÓ - Art, Economy & Technology is a European initiative created by five European institutions: SERN - Startup Europe Regions Network, Baltan Laboratories (Netherlands), FZC-Etopia Center for Art & Technology (Spain), Frankfurt School Blockchain Center (Germany) and MEET Digital Cultural Center (Italy). ARTeCHÓ is funded by the European Commission under the Creative Europe Programme and supported by Cultuur Eindhoven. ARTeCHÓ - Art, Economy & Technology - Unleashing the potential of Crypto Art and other tech tools for European creative industry, regions and society is a European initiative created by five European institutions: SERN - Startup Europe Regions Network, Baltan Laboratories (Netherlands), FZC-Etopia Center for Art & Technology (Spain), Frankfurt School Blockchain Center (Germany) and MEET Digital Cultural Center (Italy). ARTeCHÓ is funded by the European Commission under the Creative Europe Programme.