On Blockchain and Art: an interview with Ruth Catlow

Abstract

When Satoshi Nakamoto released Bitcoin in 2009, the world became aware of blockchain technology, but cryptocurrency is just one of the applications that can be powered by blockchain technology. Blockchain technology2 is a distributed database where many copies of the data are replicated and synchronized. Don Tapscott (2016) describes the blockchain as “an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value. [...] Blockchain differs from traditional ledgers of transactions in that it is decentralized, public and encrypted.”3Technology is becoming an integral part of creating, displaying, signing, and selling art. How is blockchain involved in the cycle of a work of art?In the following interview with Ruth Catlow (London, 1968), artist-theorist, curator, and co-founder and Artistic Director of Furtherfield4 and DECAL5(Decentralised Arts Lab), reflects on blockchain’s6 place in the art world and the importance of decentralized structures in art and economics. Focussing on critical investigations of digital and networked technologies and their emancipatory potential, she offers interesting insights into new economies, and suggests concepts for alternative ways to create new art practices.