October 5 and 6, 2024, DeFi Workshop will host at the Blockchain Beach in Pescara the event "Eclipse of Art: from Disappearance to Digital Immutability," an open call inviting artists to explore the boundaries between physical and digital art. The initiative, curated by Cryptogirl in collaboration with dragonemelon - design studio e Gea Vision, fits into a contemporary debate that combines aesthetics and technology.
The central theme, inspired by the theories of Jean Baudrillard, revolves around the progressive "disappearance" of art, understood as the loss of aura and uniqueness, put at risk by technical reproducibility and commodification. In contrast, digital art and blockchain technology offer a novel perspective of resistance to this dissolution, through the immutability and authenticity guaranteed by the digital.
The event brings together both physical and digital works, where the theme will be treated from different points of view. The aim is to articulate an exhibition path that reflects a central theoretical debate in contemporary art, namely the tension between the disappearance of the aura of the artwork and the possibilities offered by digital and blockchain technology.
A first central theme is precisely the disappearance of the aura, recalling the theories of Jean Baudrillard, according to which art, in the contemporary world, gradually loses its original essence. The aura of uniqueness and unrepeatability that characterized the works of the past, according to Baudrillard, is dissolving in the age of technical reproducibility and commodification of art. With the advent of mass culture and the continuous reproduction of images, art increasingly becomes a consumable product, losing that "authentic presence" that made it a unique experience. The implicit question is: Can art still withstand this process of disappearance, or is it doomed to a form of aesthetic oblivion?
But also considering the digital as a new frontier, with its ability to create immersive and interactive experiences, it is no longer limited to the mere reproduction of a physical object: here art becomes fluid, ephemeral and, paradoxically, eternal. Digital artists challenge the traditional concept of the artwork as a static and immutable object, creating temporary but infinitely replicable experiences. This leads us to reflect on a new form of materiality: if the physical work can disappear, the digital work can transform and survive in a continuous loop, reversing the dichotomy between ephemeral and eternal. According to this theme, the works pose questions about the identity and value of art in a context where reproducibility becomes a creative rather than destructive act.
One thought that has guided us so far and that we consider fundamental is the blockchain as a digital tool capable of leaving clear and indelible traces. The Art of Permanence, represents a kind of counterpoint to this fluidity of the digital. Blockchain technology, with its ability to guarantee the immutability and authenticity of a work through decentralized ledgers, offers a seemingly definitive answer to the aura crisis. Indeed, blockchain not only makes it possible to certify the uniqueness of a digital work, but also allows it to be permanently linked to a transparent and accessible information chain, bringing art back into a dimension of exclusivity and unrepeatability. This section thus raises a new dialectic: digital art is ephemeral, fluid, and constantly changing, but through blockchain it can simultaneously become eternally authentic, no longer subject to disappearance. It is here that the concept of art as a permanent commodity is again redefined, challenging Baudrillard's thinking with a different and more optimistic perspective.
Finally, eclipse and rebirth push beyond this debate, imagining a future in which art continually evolves, no longer as a finite object but as a process in constant transformation. This speculative view suggests that art, far from disappearing, is being transformed into something radically different: an ever-evolving entity, capable of reabsorbing and transforming its own "eclipse."
In this context, The Eclipse of Art is proposed not only as a critical reflection on the current state of art, but as a laboratory of experimentation in which the very concept of art is questioned and redefined in light of emerging technologies.
With this article, we hope to have inspired you to create or reevaluate some of your own works, and we hope to see a lot of active participation in this very important topic of contemporary art.
Per partecipare o scoprire di più sull’iniziativa, partecipa su Joyn utilizzando questo link.
For those who do not have a Joyn profile but have a desire to participate: simply email us at [email protected] with name of the work, a brief description, a useful link (website, social, portfolio...) and finally the link to download your video or image work (full-screen, 16:9 horizontal, 4k), preferably uploaded to a drive (no wetransfer or similar).
