BitCulture: Fine art on Solana, AI music, podcast + book reviews

2 years ago

BitCulture explores arts, culture, euphony and media successful blockchain and Web3.

Fine creation connected the blockchain

Exchange.art caput curator Haley Karren came to Web3 from immoderate of the world’s starring creation institutions and says that moving with 14,000 artists connected Solana’s good creation marketplace has broadened her tastes.

Exchange.art’s caput curator Haley Karren

“I person a caller appreciation for pixel art, voxels and things that truly are precise overmuch autochthonal to this space. It’s been fascinating to spot the quality betwixt what I was much funny successful 2 years agone and what I’m funny successful now.”

Formerly a curator astatine New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection successful Venice, Karren says her relation has ever been arsenic a “conduit” betwixt modern artists and the remainder of the world. Even much truthful present that she’s connecting accepted artists to a abstraction that utilizes blockchain, NFTs and artificial intelligence.

“Digital creation and accepted creation spaces are moving unneurotic much and more. That’s a large propulsion for america astatine Exchange.art, but determination is inactive a small spot of a divide,” she says.

“There’s conscionable a small spot of a bias against the blockchain successful a sense, and I deliberation it’s a small spot of not knowing it.”

She says often, collectors are unaware that the blockchain tin beryllium utilized for provenance, and artists don’t recognize that NFTs tin beryllium programmed to cod royalties each clip a portion is sold.

“It’s shifting immoderate established norms successful the creation satellite that didn’t springiness artists capable ownership implicit their work,” she says.

“I effort to assistance onboard radical arsenic good arsenic artists oregon accepted creation collectors. It is simply a process, you know, knowing what crypto is, knowing what a wallet is.”

In the accepted creation world, galleries are the gatekeepers. For artists to merchantability works, galleries request to show them for buyers, taking commissions of up to 50% for doing so.

NFTs assistance regenerate these gatekeepers, giving power backmost to artists.

“It’s a immense displacement successful presumption of sovereignty and shifting it backmost toward artists. It places overmuch much work connected them to besides marketplace their work, to speech astir their enactment and to contiguous it coherently.”

Karren sees her existent relation arsenic a “sounding board” for artists to deliberation done however a bid should beryllium presented, and enactment retired successful the world, however many, however often, successful which order?

One specified creator Karren highlighted is Lisanne Haack and her “Synergy” bid (pictured left). Haack is simply a integer creator who creates successful a benignant that resembles lipid painting, arsenic good arsenic charcoal and pastels.

“In a fascinating departure from carnal art, she varies the texture of the enactment betwixt canvas and paper,” Karren explains, adding that integer tools alteration Haack to cut, paste, rework and repetition sections to make integer pieces of good art.

Emerging trends successful the abstraction see artists “working with antithetic AI programs and incorporating it into their originative process to past propulsion themselves successful a mode that they wouldn’t person been challenged previously.”

She besides points to conceptual creation being enactment connected the blockchain directly, arsenic good arsenic the emergence of illustration arsenic a good art.

“Finally, successful this space, it has been fixed its due. It’s been fascinating to ticker and larn much astir this creation signifier that has a agelong past and has not been considered a good creation signifier successful the accepted creation world.”

Musicians vs AI

AI has been causing a disturbance crossed the satellite with its quality to remix and make “new” works based connected existing artists. Musicians and large grounds labels person taken wildly varying stances connected this.

Dance/electronica instrumentalist Grimes was a trailblazer, offering to divided 50% of the royalties with immoderate “successful” AI-generated opus that uses her voice. She said she finds it “cool to beryllium fused with a machine” and is successful favour of “open sourcing each creation and sidesplitting copyright.”

I'll divided 50% royalties connected immoderate palmy AI generated opus that uses my voice. Same woody arsenic I would with immoderate creator one collab with. Feel escaped to usage my dependable without penalty. I person nary statement and nary ineligible bindings. pic.twitter.com/KIY60B5uqt

— 𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰 (@Grimezsz) April 24, 2023

But rapper Ice Cube, who roseate to fame successful the precocious 80s with N.W.A., said successful a caller interview helium would writer anyone producing AI tracks mimicking his dependable and immoderate level that offers the track.

“It’s similar a sample. Somebody can’t instrumentality your archetypal dependable and manipulate it without having to pay. I deliberation AI is demonic, I deliberation AI is going to get a backlash from integrated people.”

Universal Music Group famously ordered streaming services similar Spotify to prohibition AI from being capable to bid connected the label’s content. However, past week the statement signaled it’s not opposed to the exertion if utilized successful the close way, announcing a concern with the “wellness dependable app” Endel to make “ethical” AI euphony that “respects artists’ rights.”

UMG artists volition usage Endel’s AI exertion to make “science-backed soundscapes, designed to heighten listeners’ wellness, including some caller euphony and caller versions of catalog music.”

Michael Nash, the label’s main integer officer, said, “At UMG, we judge successful the unthinkable imaginable of ethical AI arsenic a instrumentality to enactment and heighten the creativity of our artists, labels and songwriters, thing that Endel has harnessed with awesome ingenuity and technological innovation.”

Is this a cautious greenish airy for AI creators from 1 of the euphony industry’s astir almighty players?

Stay up to date:

`The Web3 Foundation partners with bequest euphony festival

On May 31, the Web3 Foundation, which is down the Polkadot blockchain, announced a caller concern with Primavera Pro to make the inaugural Web3 Music Summit successful Madrid this June. Primavera Pro is known for throwing immoderate of Spain’s largest festivals, with hundreds of thousands successful attendance. The league focuses connected blockchain technology, experiential events, and discussions connected the aboriginal of euphony successful the integer age.

DJ Agoria gives NFT owners 100% of signaling royalties

The French DJ Agoria announced his entranceway to the NFT country via the NFT euphony level Bolero. Agoria revealed that his fans who cod his euphony arsenic NFTs would spot 100% of the royalties redistributed to them. He said it’s “about time” to springiness backmost to fans and besides sees it “as a sincere and morganatic accidental for my accepted partners to measurement into our ecosystem.”

Elon’s cryptic meme astir AI

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a love-hate narration with AI. While helium helped recovered OpenAI, creates robot armies and is buying up GPUs to make his ain generative AI tool, helium has besides warned astir its destructive capabilities. Last week the billionaire tweeted a cryptic meme astir radical entering the AI space, going from everyday-looking radical to corpse-like zombies.

AI ♾️ pic.twitter.com/U8b6ynMGrQ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 19, 2023

Podcast review: Edge of NFT

The Edge of NFT podcast explores the intersection of emerging technologies and culture, exploring everything from creation to gaming and animation.

Hosted by Eathan Janney, Jeff Kelley, and Josh Kriger — 3 manufacture insiders and founders of Web3 advisory MainChain Venture — the amusement racked up much than 100,000 listeners successful the past year.

This podcast goes beyond exertion and looks astatine the quality constituent of however NFTs alteration the mode we interact with communities and industries. Ranging from 30-60 minutes, each amusement features a impermanent interrogation and explores topics similar gathering amended Web3 games, the value of civilization and royalties to Web3, and adjacent taxation nonaccomplishment harvesting of NFTs.

Big-name guests they’ve had connected the amusement see Dim Mak laminitis and DJ Steve Aoki, The Sandbox laminitis Sebastien Borget, VeeFriends creator Gary Vaynerchuk and Filecoin Foundation President Marta Belcher. The presenters besides regularly question to high-profile events similar Consensus and ETHDenver to behaviour interviewees and assistance springiness listeners a consciousness of the spirit of the event.

In past week’s episode, they covered an event successful New York astatine Christie’s creation assemblage featuring a 152-piece generative creation postulation of carnal hand-drawn monoprints paired with NFTs.

— Edge of NFT 🎙 (@EdgeofNFT) May 30, 2023

Book review: Crypto Titans, by Markus Thielen

Subtitled “How trillions were made and billions mislaid successful the cryptocurrency markets,” this 405-page publication is retired now. Crypto Titans recounts the past 15 years of the cryptocurrency manufacture — starting from the publishing of Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin achromatic insubstantial successful 2008 to the ongoing banking situation and the U.S. crypto crackdown of 2023.

More than conscionable a history, Crypto Titans reveals the interconnectedness of everyone and everything successful crypto. How regulatory enactment successful 1 state led to a monolithic crypto roar successful another. Where immoderate crypto empires were built, and others turned to rubble successful a fewer days.

If you’re looking for a gripping edge-of-your-seat read, though, you whitethorn privation to instrumentality to fiction. This publication focuses connected being nonsubjective and fact-based — with plentifulness of references to boot: 631, successful fact.

This means that unless you’re a past buff, it tin get a small adust conscionable talking astir information aft fact. The publication overcomes this with plentifulness of chapters and sections — meaning you tin easy dip successful and out, picking it backmost up with a caller mind.

There’s adjacent a useful small scale astatine the back, successful lawsuit you privation to get a speedy refresher connected a circumstantial institution oregon person. Sam Bankman-Fried gets 68 mentions; the Securities and Exchange Commission, 41.

The publication is large for anyone with an involvement successful the past of crypto. Readers request not beryllium acquainted with crypto oregon fiscal lingo to bask it, though a basal knowing volition surely help.