Structures of Belonging [electronic resource].

Aksioma Institute for Contemporary Art 2023

Open access content

So far, many of the things we build on and with blockchains have presented themselves as new types of property enclosures. From cryptocurrencies to NFTs, decentralized ledger technology seems mostly dominated by the asset logic of financialization. But the landscape of blockchain-enabled digital culture is fantastically diverse and can encode much more than a desire for wealth and ownership. In this short essay, media theory and digital art researcher Martin Zeilinger explores what might become possible – for artists, activists or community organizers – when we reimagine blockchains not as property-oriented infrastructure, but as structures of belonging. Doing so may allow us to develop conceptual frameworks that better account for (dis)continuities between hyper-capitalist tech innovations and their radical alternatives. Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) offer the perfect starting point for thinking about how to mix on- and off-chain technologies in structures of belonging that push beyond fintech legacies and emphasize collaboration, co-ownership and sharing.
https://www.librarystack.org/structures-of-belonging/?ref=unknown

Technology and the arts
New media art
Sociology

Text

Martin Zeilinger
Janez Fakin Janša
Marcela Okretič
Miha Šuštar
Luka Umek
Sonja Grdina