{"id":4885,"date":"2020-03-25T11:25:29","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T15:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/?p=4885"},"modified":"2021-07-24T11:35:02","modified_gmt":"2021-07-24T15:35:02","slug":"defying-obsolescence-how-blockchain-tech-could-redefine-artistic-expression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/2020\/03\/25\/defying-obsolescence-how-blockchain-tech-could-redefine-artistic-expression","title":{"rendered":"Defying Obsolescence: How Blockchain Tech Could Redefine Artistic Expression"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As dark as the rising plume of thick smoke was, it couldn\u2019t possibly have conveyed the damage being done to our cultural heritage on June 1, 2008.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Universal Studios blaze in Los Angeles took fire crews twelve hours to extinguish. The true extent of the damage, however, would reach back through the decades, and deny future generations an immeasurable wealth of artistic expression.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps you wondered if, one day, the technology might exist to decipher the lyrics in the almost-unintelligible version of \u201cLouie Louie\u201d recorded by The Kingsmen, which was investigated by the FBI in 1965 after a complaint that the song was obscene. After a 31-month investigation, the agency declined to press charges. And although the lyrics were always public, we\u2019ll likely never know the truth \u2014 the master copy was incinerated.<\/span><\/p>\n

An estimated half-a-million Universal Music Group master tape recordings were destroyed in the inferno. Original tracks by artists of the caliber and cultural significance of Aretha Franklin, John Coltrane, Tom Petty, and Nirvana disappeared forever. The original recording of Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s seminal \u201cRemaining Awake During a Great Revolution\u201d speech was lost.<\/span><\/p>\n

While many of the recordings had been digitized, the fidelity of the master recordings can never be replaced. As long-time sound engineer for Prince, Susan Rogers points out, “When a listener is listening to a master mix, that’s as good as it gets. Everything else from there is a copy.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Is blockchain technology the first best hope for artistic permanence?<\/b><\/h4>\n

Almost all music is now recorded digitally, with only a handful of artists reverting to <\/span>reel-to-reel recording<\/span><\/a> for the quaint discipline it demands. The same is true of film, as professional 4K digital film cameras now rival traditional 35mm film in both resolution and dynamic range (even the British war epic <\/span>2017<\/span><\/i> was filmed with digital cameras).<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, not all art can be digitized. Live performances, and many fine arts, and installations are temporary by nature.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But blockchain technology promises a whole new level of immortality. As a technological revolution with no single point of failure, distributed ledgers represent the first best hope of genuine data permanence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Provenance and intellectual property<\/b><\/h4>\n

For the most part, distributed ledger technology and art have had a fairly transactional relationship. The democratization of the fine art market, once steeped in elitist opacity and domination by powerful institutions, has coincided with the emergence of blockchain.<\/span><\/p>\n

In late 2018, Christie\u2019s <\/span>recorded<\/span><\/a> the $317 million sale of the Barney A. Ebsworth Collection on the permissioned Artory blockchain. It was, according to the famed auction house, an experiment. The ostensible prime purpose of recording transactions of works of art on a distributed ledger is to demonstrate provenance..<\/span><\/p>\n

In an industry characterized by a notorious lack of transparency, recording the sale and movement of artwork on a blockchain will boost collector confidence. Art forgery is rife, with some estimates of the number of fakes hanging in galleries, museums, and private collections running <\/span>as high as 20%<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA Time Magazine article in 1990 famously reported that of the 800 canvases Camille Corot painted in his lifetime, 4,000 ended up in the United States.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As blockchain technology provides a trail of ownership and movement to the art world, passing off a fake painting as authentic could become impossible.<\/span><\/p>\n

The technology is also deployed by artists from pop singers to digital art creators to protect and earn money from their intellectual property rights. Zeptagram, a music rights platform running on the <\/span>Telos<\/span> network, allows recording artists to tokenize their music rights and share profits with their fans and supporters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Christina and Johan Lowenstrom of Swedish band Tapefly created <\/span>Zeptagram<\/span><\/a> because they \u201cfelt that there was a need to create more ways for musicians to be able to live off their art and to give back power to creators.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Blockchains can act as service layers providing provenance and authenticity to works of art, as well as afford artists the ability to tokenize their work to generate income. Yet there are more profound properties distributed ledgers lend to the arts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defying obsolescence<\/b><\/h4>\n

Almost as a byproduct of more mundane uses, blockchain technology removes from artistic creation a characteristic that has always been part of its makeup \u2014 built-in obsolescence.<\/span><\/p>\n

But does removing the property of built-in obsolescence simply mean a new medium of storage, delivery, and consumption? Or does it have the potential to change an artist\u2019s message \u2014 to go to the very heart of what is being created?<\/span><\/p>\n

In discussing obsolescence here, the intention is not to suggest that the artist’s message becomes irrelevant, but instead to note that until now humans have not created a medium that will not degrade over time.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Perhaps the closest we’ve come are the plaques on the Pioneer probes and the Golden Records aboard the Voyager spacecraft, which Carl Sagan noted “would only be played if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space”. President Jimmy Carter suggested that:<\/p>\n

“This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

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