Pseudo
Cryptopunk

In making my own crypto punk, I found the experience to be part art based, and part internet culture based. In the sense that my NFT was created using artistic techniques, but its intent/content is determined by a digital culture that continues to evolve in a way that meets the needs of creators and patrons. This is a form of artwork making use of internet technologies, and stated by Mike Hazas “Artworks that appropriate internet technology are adopting, borrowing, recycling, sampling or simply using the internet in ways that form the concept, structure and nature of the artwork. “ (129). The exact nature of NFT’s is hard to determine as it can change based on the particular NFT. But, I know that the nature of an NFT is directly tied to the surrounding desire to to own digital commodities that are limited, rare, and oddly unique.

I was also reminded of a powerful but short quote from the reading Seizing the Memes of Production edited by Alfie Bown and Dan Bristow. Where the text states “Technology and art stem from the same root in technē.” meaning that they both derive themselves from greek origin meaning to bring forth, making, fashioning, and artificing. I couldn’t help but feel that by creating a form of pseudo cryptopunk I am also partaking in a form of new age art media meant to exists soley for within the digital realm but have impacts within the physical space we all inhabit.

Collecting digital assets is fascinating to me, and I cant help but wonder how this crazed obsession began. I think that much of these digital assets hail from developers for various gaming platforms creating content considered to be more “exclusive” for a variety of reasons. But these digital assets are for the most part in the ownership of their creators, and do not necessarily have 100% true ownership for their user. Yet the rise of NFT’s and blockchain based games are on the rise, and we as the consumers may not necessarily realize the impact this new form of digital ownership may have. The article “Non-Fungible Tokens in Video Games” makes some excellent points, but also makes the effort to state “With NFTs, there’s no doubt who the owner of the asset is. NFTs help strike a better balance of power between game companies and gamers because you can actually own your assets.” I cant help but wonder how the proliferation of digital assets will eventually culminate into a new growing contemporary market. One that has the power to effect how creators make use of their own abilities, and alter how consumers interact with those creators. I suppose this matter most to me personally in relationship to the concept of digital identity.

I think that as time goes on the idea of individual digital identity importance will become more and more critical. (We have seen some of this increase due to the covid-19). We don't necessarily own much of our digital content and as a result I think we will eventually have a push for a new form of digital independence fueled by NFT’s. A great article on “Medium.com” states in relationship to maintaining individuality, authenticity, and value “In order for that to happen, we need to have true ownership of our digital content — and thus our digital identity”. The NFT allows for this to happen, and I continuously see more and more negative public outcry towards the idea that they may not really own what they previously thought. (Amazon announcing more clear policies for who buys their digital movies/TV for example) We will evolve to appreciate our digital assets differently, and how we conduct this is still a bit unknown. Postcards from Google Earth Installation, inkjet on vinyl, mdf 2014, Festival des Images, Vevey, Switzerland