Minutes before visiting Digital Witness: Revolutions in Design, Photography, and Film at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), I was perched by the window of a coffee shop, attempting to back up my iPhone to my laptop. I needed to make space for the photographs of the exhibit I knew I would be taking—indeed, that I considered an essential prerequisite to writing about it at all. Naturally, my phone froze with a spinning circle on the screen and refused to turn back on. At the conveniently nearby Apple Store, a cheerful employee suggested that rather than waiting for an appointment with tech support, I could buy a new phone and return it later if my old device regained consciousness. And since I wanted the phone for photos, I might as well try the Pro. And so it came to be that I spent my time at Digital Witness carefully wielding a $999 camera, swiping away notifications about all the smart ways it could now document the world around me. Erase unwanted objects! Enhance in-frame audio! Record in 3D! Digital witnessing indeed.My new device seemed to encapsulate the many ways digital technologies have changed our relationship to witnessing—making possible ubiquitous capture, establishing new burdens of proof, aesthetically transforming the actual images through automated computational means. To my surprise, however, the witness referred to by the show was not digital photography, as I had assumed, or social media, as in the St. Vincent song that the curators cite as their inspiration for the title. Instead, the witness is the show itself, which observes and narrates the revolutionary growth of digital software from the age of the personal computer onward. In an essay concerned with the kind of digital witness I gripped in my hand, although written at the dawn of the iPod, John Durham Peters explains the notable slipperiness of the word “witness,” which refers to both a person, an act of seeing, and the testimony of what was seen.1 Witnessing comes with a three-piece set of historical baggage, Peters claims, in the form of its ties to law, theology, and atrocity, each of which ties witnessing in some form to deep moral and cultural forces, and most primordially, to questions of life and death. Digital Witness observes some trends in digital art from the age of the personal computer to the age of the personal feed, yet the question that dogged me throughout was: does it bear witness?This question feels particularly urgent given the long history of anxiety about digital images as witnesses. In a 1993 Los Angeles Times op-ed, media critic Brian Stonehill suggested it was no wonder a Simi Valley jury did not convict Rodney King’s assailants. Why should they believe the video of King’s beating when all year they had been assailed by commercials showing Humphrey Bogart hawking Diet Coke and Michael Jackson music videos filled with figures transforming race and gender? Three decades later, as synthetic media and AI-generated images flood our feeds, such early skepticism about digital witnessing seems less paranoid than prescient.The three areas of revolution witnessed in curators Britt Salvesen and Staci Steinberger’s exhibition, per the subtitle, are design, photography, and film—an already unusual grouping that proves insufficient to contain the actual works on display. The painter Lee Mullican’s digital drawing and Casey Reas’s custom software programs, for instance, fit more squarely within the absent term “art.” The intended unifier across these domains is the rise of digital tools, although the curators acknowledge these are far from the only areas affected (one could include music, fashion, and architecture, for example). This focus on tools permeates the exhibition catalog, where the Q&As peppered throughout all begin with each artist’s first experience manipulating digital images. The best answer comes from Reas, who evokes Tangrams, Lite-Brite, and cross-stitch, emphasizing the difference between digitality and computational technologies—an important elision in the show, which understands “digital” simply as the adjective form of the noun “computer.”Like Salvesen’s earlier LACMA show 3D: Double Vision (2018–19), the work in Digital Witness spreads broadly into visual culture. Also like 3D, one of the most compelling parts of the exhibition is the ability to experience the antiquated technologies firsthand. A row of Amiga 500s with Andy Warhol’s digital drawings pulsing across the screen is a highlight. But 3D was more narrowly focused, centered around the specific evolving fantasy of replicating reality in its dimensional richness rather than the tools developed to facilitate it. Encountering the richness of the myriad creative attempts to achieve this impossible idea was what made it interesting. Digital Witness lacks such a unifying concept, interrogating neither the digital nor the witness nor the tool. If this exhibition serves as a continuation of Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952–1982, LACMA’s 2023 show on the origins of computer art, it expresses all the narrative awkwardness of a sequel.If I appear to be taking too much issue with the categorization, it’s because the work itself is largely illustrative of the processes and tools that interest the curators in this anthropological endeavor. What organizes the show is three aesthetic moves that appear throughout the work on display: blur and sharpen (digital realism), morph and warp (computer aesthetics), and cut and paste (digital collage). The framing here situates us within premade software (Photoshop, most obviously) rather than in the world of coding, though some of the work is made through coding rather than premade tools. The video clip is dominant throughout. Screens play scenes from various sources, giving snippets of Jurassic Park, Björk music videos, dancing baby gifs. Several expected representations appear: Andreas Gursky’s crowded scenes, Takeshi Murata’s glitch art. Some omissions are surprising—graduate school seminar favorites Hito Steyerl, Trevor Paglen, and Harun Farocki are missing, though four of Zach Blas’s “fag face masks” from his Facial Weaponization Suite (2012–14) make an appearance.Wandering through an exhibit filled with short clips gives the impression of walking through a digital feed, and the curation encourages that same passive state of absorption. The one work that knocked me out of my trance was Brian Bress’s Dune Medallions (2018). Nothing about the work needs to be digital—he could have shot it on film—but it embodies the processes and disorientation of the digital, making it strange again. Over the course of the video, shapes are cut out of a collage of photographs and illustrations of desert landscapes (a desert of representation?). The artist works from behind the collage, becoming visible through the holes that emerge at the same time the reverse side of the collage appears in pieces left dangling. He wears a camouflage costume that replicates the foreground collage. The various layers that emerge—the dangling paper cutouts; the flat desert collage; the moving, camouflaged body—trouble distinctions between surface and depth, movement and stasis. The work’s vertical orientation speaks to both the once-condemned, now de rigueur portrait orientation of mobile video and the human scale of the portrait. The labor of imagemaking is masked by the work itself, the artist only appearing in glimpses as holes are cut in the paper, but it is nevertheless made visible. As he continues to cut into the image, what initially seem to be mere graphic shapes turn into medallions of a sort. These serve as reminders of an alternative system of meaning, a return to the use value of images as religious icons, specific and nonfungible, yet the presence of Bress’s robot-like figure in disguise challenges such self-serious interpretation.The flattening of design, commercial filmmaking, and photography obscures what’s at stake with the growth of digital tools. The issues raised by AI are not absent—standing in for the phenomenon of deepfakes is, oddly, a video featuring a deepfake Mark Zuckerberg—yet these issues are, somewhat fittingly, lost in a sea of other screens competing for our attention. The unaddressed phenomenon of the digital here is the democratization of images: text, photographs, and film all become digital images, while black morphs into white in the Michael Jackson video or the Nancy Burson composite. The politics of this flattening enacted by the computer go unaddressed by either artist or curator. In the catalog’s Q&A, the answers to the repeated question of what is lost in the conversion to digital are illuminating, ranging from blanket denial (“I can’t think of anything that was lost after switching from analog to digital”) to sentimental nostalgia (“perhaps spontaneity”; “a sort of ‘warmth’ or ‘charm’”). A kitschy aesthetic of lime green and steel throughout the galleries gives the feel of a Nickelodeon studio tour in the 1990s rather than an important locus of inquiry. That artificially glowing green continues into the catalog, where its ubiquity results in the disorienting yet poignant experience of looking up from the texts to encounter a real-world tinted rose.In the digital revolution, the camera’s status as witness has been one of the primary concerns of media scholarship and the popular press. The general trajectory has been one of panic (“Images are losing esteem everywhere, and why? Because we have more control over them than ever.”2) followed by a recalibration (digital images understood as “radically breaking with older modes of visual representation while at the same time reinforcing these modes”3) to a new reassessment with generative AI. As witnesses to the digital, what have artists had to say? As viewers of this art and visual culture, what should we think? The exhibit neither celebrates nor condemns, but rather meekly taxonomizes, samples, and entertains.Wandering the galleries in the hazy days between Donald Trump’s second election and his inauguration, the existential threat that “digital tools” now present to democracy was top of mind. Days after I visited the exhibition, the CEOs of Adobe (a sponsor of the exhibit), Apple, and Microsoft each pledged $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. As I write this, Elon Musk’s teams are worming their way through federal data sets, witnesses to the sensitive information of institutions and individuals. “To witness an event is to be responsible in some way to it,” Peters writes.4 Once we have witnessed, we cannot honestly say that we did not know. What responsibilities are kindled by this exhibit, this witnessing of the digital? Exiting the exhibition, my gleaming iPhone still in hand, I stood to watch installers mocking up the adjacent Imagining Black Diasporas exhibit.5 Printer paper delineated where the sleek vinyl text (digitally designed, no doubt) would go. Curation and polish produce the veneer of comprehension, of control, suggesting to us that this work, this world is understandable. The seams of this process, the labor that goes into them, reminds us that this work is done by mere mortals like us, and we all can and indeed do have the responsibility to engage in the always unfinished processes of meaning making. As I snapped a picture, a guard told me no photography was allowed of the installation process. This moment was foreclosed for witnessing, digital or otherwise.
This chapter explores the opportunities and challenges presented by non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for the museum sector. Faced with unprecedented financial difficulties during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, NFTs offered to museums and galleries not only potential new income streams but also innovative ways of engaging with audiences and a fresh approach to collections. The grounding of NFT technology in decentralisation, democratisation, and direct trading relationships offered the possibility of a form of economic mobility for those who participated and had the potential to disrupt traditional art market structures. NFTs represented a new tool to explore creative responses to challenges faced by 21st-century museums, including accessibility, digitisation, and restitution. This chapter considers both the financial promise of NFTs for museums and the broader questions they have raised for the cultural sector. Important ethical and legal issues have arisen, and solutions are being sought by stakeholders from a multitude of disciplines. Given the pace of technological development, the rapid emergence of new use cases for NFTs and the complexities of the questions they raise, the search for answers will no doubt be an ongoing and iterative process, developing over time in response to the ever-changing landscape.
There has been considerable interest in the adoption of Web3 technologies in filmmaking, particularly for the perceived potential for such developments to address access to the industry, facilitate new funding models, and maximise audience and fan investment, financial or otherwise, in film productions. There has been less attention, however, on the possible role of these technologies in the preservation and conservation of film heritage, including the multiple contributions and stages of creativity towards a commercial film work. This chapter examines the potential application of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the film space in bringing artefacts of film production to the public, through a particular focus on Quentin Tarantino’s proposed NFTs for his handwritten and annotated script development materials for Pulp Fiction (1994), and the subsequent dispute with Miramax. The Tarantino example provides insight into the nature of the film work, the relationship between artist and audience, and the motivation to contribute to the wider archive process. Drawing upon the work of Lefebvre as well as examples from visual art and cultural heritage, this chapter develops a theory of the NFT as non-object, and the investigates the stakes for NFTs in the history of film and property theory.
The digital landscape is transforming cultural heritage preservation. Online mapping initiatives, like UNESCO's GIS and Historypin's community-driven maps, are fostering engagement and accessibility. Europeana's digital library and CyArk's 3D preservation empower us to explore and safeguard heritage across time and space. By catering to diverse heritage types (tangible and intangible), these platforms offer valuable tools for education and global exchange. With the integration of Web3 technologies, these initiatives can further enhance their impact. Decentralized networks enable more equitable access to digital heritage, preventing gatekeeping and censorship. Blockchain can ensure transparent and immutable records of heritage artifacts, addressing ethical concerns related to digital representation. Additionally, the tokenization of cultural assets offers allowing communities to retain control over their heritage. However, the adoption of Web3 also necessitates careful consideration of data sovereignty and digital rights to ensure inclusive and responsible cultural preservation.
Introducción: En este texto se aborda la inclusión de personas con discapacidad visual en diversos grados en el ámbito del museo (físico y virtual), destacando la necesidad del diseño de espacios que permitan una mejor experiencia estética por parte de este colectivo haciendo uso de tecnologías hápticas, realidad virtual e integrando 3D/NFT’s en la creación de experiencias inmersivas y táctiles. Metodología: Se propone el uso de fotogrametría digital para la generación de gemelos digitales, así como Unreal Engine para su programación con retroalimentación háptica, y su posterior conversión a NFT (Non Fungible Tokens) e inclusión en plataforma digital. Resultados y discusión: de manera prospectiva se plantea una mejora significativa en cuanto a accesibilidad y experiencia estético-formal por parte de personas con discapacidad visual, justificada en fuentes que muestran que esta integración tecnológica facilita una conexión emocional y cognitiva más profunda con la obra de arte. Conclusiones: se recalca la necesidad de abordar políticas culturales inclusivas desde el ámbito de la museografía de contenidos, en colaboración con organizaciones especializadas para asegurar su implementación efectiva, impulsando la innovación tecnológica y fomentando una sociedad más equitativa.
Omer Aziz, Muhammad Shoaib Farooq, Adel Khelifi, Mahdia Shoaib
Abstract The rapid evolution of the digital landscape has catalyzed the integration of blockchain technology within the domain of cultural heritage, particularly in virtual museums within the Metaverse. This study introduces ArchaeoMeta, a novel framework designed to leverage blockchain technology to enhance security, authenticity, and visitor interaction in a virtual museum environment. Utilizing smart contracts deployed on the Ethereum Sepolia testnet, the framework manages visitor interactions and secures digital artifacts, addressing challenges associated with scalability and user experience under varying loads. The performance evaluation involved simulating user interactions, scaling up to ten thousand concurrent users, to assess the impact on transaction latency, gas usage, and blockchain size. Findings reveal significant scalability challenges, as transaction latency and blockchain size increased with the number of users, highlighting areas for optimization in managing high user traffic within the blockchain infrastructure. This study contributes to the understanding of blockchain applications in cultural heritage, suggesting that while ArchaeoMeta offers a robust platform for virtual museums, enhancements in scalability through layer-2 solutions or alternative blockchain platforms are essential for its practical implementation. The framework sets a precedent for future research in the convergence of blockchain technology and cultural heritage preservation, promising a transformative impact on how digital cultural experiences are curated and consumed.
The absence of clear protocols in the conservation of new media art has led to a situation of extreme precariousness of digital artworks. The irruption of blockchain culture and NFTs seems to offer an opportunity to overcome this situation. This paper aims to clarify whether or not the structure of data and metadata associated with transactions in the blockchain solves the challenging obsolescent and unstable condition of new media art. The disturbing reality is that the so-called ‘cryptoart’ is not always stored and encapsulated on the blockchain itself. In a high number of cases, assets just point to artworks living outside, stored on off-chain servers or platforms. This paper analyzes the possibilities for the preservation of art hosted on the chain. Despite some limitations, this method is understood as the more coherent and robust for long-term life and availability of digital art associated with Web3 technology.
Tangible cultural heritage has recently been an important target for companies’ mining, minting or forging non-fungible tokens (NFTs). When encountering cultural goods collected in museums, the practice of NFTs needs to comply with national rules aimed at preserving and valorizing cultural heritage. NFTs are assets that could play different roles in museums. They might be considered as a tool for enhancing preservation or access to information on cultural goods, in particular when the latter cannot be displayed in the premises of museums. While no provision on preservation or access would be affected by the use of NFTs for such purposes, this chapter argues that these assets are way too expensive to be considered as an appropriate means for the said goals. On the contrary, NFTs remain one of the most recent tricks that bodies managing tangible cultural heritage, including artworks museums, use to collect funds. Thus, NFTs may be considered as a fund-raising tool, under the condition that the unique goal of the museum is to re-invest the collected money into initiatives fitting with its educational mission. In order to have a complete description of the scenario, it is worth referring to some national cultural heritage rules that favour fund-raising practices in museums; in some countries, these provisions may affect the ability of minting NFTs, even when they concern ancient artworks in the public domain.
In 2021, the first year of Metaverse, Web3.0 ecosystems emerged as a result of the Internet's de-centralized evolution. In the Web3.0 space, there has been a very active advancement of the generative art non-fungible token, which is a special asset stored on a blockchain that allows creators to buy and sell assets and verify ownership. In other words, as it reconstructs the interpersonal relationship, the generative art non-fungible token must carry cultural values to be meaningful, and waiting to observe artificial intelligence generative art in the future requires a new mindset and posture. Design thinking is a design-based approach to solve today's complex problems. This study thus addresses the new Web3.0 ecosystem and introduces environmental sustain ability issues and computational thinking in the form of generative art to discuss the possibilities of future design thinking. By linking with social information, this study also creates an intersection with heterogeneous knowledge and stimulates a new thinking pattern that is different from previous ones. This project of design and research in the Metaverse virtual environment is still a novel topic. Reviewing past literature indicates that relevant papers are very scarce, and more resources are urgently needed for research in this field.
Abstract The paper examines the possibilities offered by decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) for supporting audience participation in the museum sector . DAOs, a type of digital infrastructure underpinned by blockchains and smart contracts, have been seen as informing a more autonomous, self-managing, transparent, and more efficient online organization, one capable of shaping how users participate and communicate with one another. At the same time significant questions have been raised over how DAO technologies complicate the human issues of democracy and shared authority. This paper explores and evaluates the impact of DAO structures in the context of museum participation, specifically viewing them through the lens of shared authority and democracy. It argues that these technologies are capable of offering evidence-based participation, but that this is contingent on access and trust.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) significantly contribute to the establishment of VIP culture by embodying exclusivity, uniqueness, and privileged access, inherent to their nature. They enable creators and brands to offer exclusive ownership or access to digital or physical assets, aligning with the VIP ethos of rarity and status. Through NFTs, experiences, artworks, or digital collectibles become status symbols, fostering a new dimension of exclusivity in digital spaces. This intersection of technology, art, and exclusivity amplifies VIP culture, allowing it to extend beyond traditional boundaries into the realm of digital collectability and virtual experiences, thus redefining what it means to be part of the "in-crowd" in the digital age.
This document explores the existence of art within and outside of the market and institutions. It provides a historical overview of the art market, highlighting the emergence of commercial art galleries and the current $60 billion art industry. The impact of digital art and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on the art market is discussed, including their growing popularity and challenges. The role of art outside the market is emphasized, focusing on its potential for social change and activism. The document concludes by questioning the value of art and the interplay between art and commerce. It highlights the fluidity between art within and beyond the market, showcasing artists like Bansky who challenge the traditional art market and use their art for political activism. The document also delves into the influence of online platforms and digital arts on the art market, including the rise of NFTs and their impact on valuation. Overall, the document provides a comprehensive exploration of the multifaceted nature of art and its relationship with the market and institutions.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) represent a groundbreaking shift in the digital ownership paradigm, leveraging blockchain technology to certify uniqueness and ownership of digital assets. Unlike fungible tokens, such as cryptocurrencies, which are interchangeable and hold the same value (one Bitcoin is always equal to another Bitcoin), each NFT is unique or ‘non-fungible’ and cannot be exchanged on a like-for-like basis. This uniqueness and indivisibility make NFTs the perfect vehicle for digitally representing ownership of unique items, from digital art to virtual real estate.
This article delves into the intersection of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), the art world, and the instrumental role of social media in advancing the proliferation of digital collections. NFTs, unique digital assets built on blockchain technology, have sparked a revolution in art ownership, identity verification, and creative expression. Through comprehensive exploration of its significance, challenges, and opportunities, this study demonstrates how NFTs have democratized art ownership, provided global recognition to artists of diverse backgrounds, and simultaneously granted direct access to collectors. A significant driving force behind the success of this blockchain technology lies in its investment potential. Social media platforms have transformed into virtual galleries, effectively amplifying artists' voices, enhancing societal insights and cultural levels, and shedding light on the global visibility of NFT projects. Case studies of successful NFT collaborations underscore the coexistence between NFTs and social media, highlighting the potential of both mediums in shaping the future of art and creativity. While acknowledging concerns such as copyright issues and environmental impacts, this article underscores the need for responsible actions and ongoing research to ensure a sustainable and pervasive future for NFTs in the art world.
Gérald Estadieu, Ka Man Ng, Filipa Martins de Abreu, Daniel Filipe Farinha
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged individuals and all international collaborations, including research and academic international conferences. Most conferences had to adapt to an online or hybrid mode at best, if not cancelled or postponed. During this period, we were invited to organise the third edition of an international conference on Arts, Technology and Society. At its core, it is an academic conference, but it also offers a platform for an art exhibition and forum for artists to share and exhibit. Due to Macao's physical constraints and its inaccessibility for outside visitors, the Local Organising Committee took the challenge to organise the first virtual art exhibition in an academic conference, including Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) for artists willing to sell their digital artwork. This paper presents the creative process as well as the technical issues faced during the conference and exhibition preparation time. As NFT-based virtual exhibition is a new offer within an academic international conference and a new tool to permanently promote artists’ work, we are also proposing some possible future works to develop further this approach and give it a larger visibility. We believe such type of exhibition can play an important role on a world seeking for more sustainable communication.
This study delves into the burgeoning intersection of NFTs and the museum sector. It examines the transformative potential of NFTs in redefining art curation, ownership, and accessibility. The paper presents a comprehensive background on the rise of NFTs, their technological underpinnings, and their cultural and economic impact on museums. A Decision Matrix Mechanism is proposed to assist museums in evaluating the strategic fit of NFT initiatives. The paper discusses the multifaceted factors influencing NFT adoption, including technological readiness, legal frameworks, ethical considerations, and market dynamics. It underscores the importance of a nuanced approach that aligns with each museum's mission and the evolving digital landscape.
The growing outrage over the continued stewardship of artefacts acquired through nefarious means has compelled cultural institutions to explore their role in marginalising cultures through misrepresentation. Indigenous communities around the globe are seeking the repatriation of sacred objects often collected through colonial violence. Though many museums have collaborated with communities to repatriate these artefacts, many have also avoided or refused repatriation requests, leaving communities without recourse. This paper will explore repatriation in the digital world through the lens of Cercle d'Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise's (CATPC) the quest for the return of an important Balot Pende sculpture from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and whether creating a digital iteration, like an Non-Fungible Token (NFT) of a sacred object, offers a potential activist tool to reclaim an alternate form of ownership when physical repatriation is not available.
Andreia Nogueira, Célio Gonçalo Marques, António Manso, Paula Almeida
This research contributes to the discussion around the importance of the long-term preservation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and minted digital artworks. The paper is based on a review of the literature on blockchain in art and heritage management and conservation, with particular attention to references related to the production, marketing, maintenance, and distribution of NFT-based digital art. The aims of this paper involve anticipating potential problems in the oversight of NFTs and setting out good long-term management principles and practices as well as specific preservation strategies. Despite the fact that it also discusses issues over authorship, copyright, creative commons, and open access, the paper is particularly devoted to raising concerns about the high energy consumption associated with blockchain technology and its impact on climate change. It also highlights how the preservation of NFTs cannot be neglected, despite the belief that they last forever. Most studies dedicated to analysing the impact of blockchain technology on the cultural heritage sector ignore the most important issue: preserving not only the minted digital artworks themselves but also the respective blockchain networks. Overall, this paper seeks to foster a collective awareness of the need to reflect on blockchain-related art practices and their implications for the long-term protection of cultural property.
A museum is the destination of the crystallization of history and culture, and a museum is the center for the development of heritage culture. The display and exhibition of historical relics can promote the harmonious development of society. However, there are many defects in traditional museums. The collection in the museum is scattered. The exhibition needs a specific time and place to open, and the exhibition mode is boring and lacks entertainment, which seriously limits the museum’s dissemination of history and culture. In order to improve the public’s number of visits, museums need to keep pace with the times. Using augmented reality technology can digitize the information in the museum and integrate it with the user’s real environment, which solves the limitation of time and space for most users to visit the museum, and greatly increases the entertainment of users to visit the museum. In addition, the application of blockchain technology in digital museums can effectively ensure the security of museum cultural relics data and quickly restore the lost cultural relics information. The digital museum can help tourists realize cross-region viewing. Through multimedia software and hardware, it can greatly stimulate tourists’ interest and attract tourists of different ages to visit. This article uses digital technology to present physical museums in a digital form on the network, but it is difficult for digital museums to conduct targeted analysis on tourists of different ages. This article will analyze the attraction ability of digital museums to tourists of different ages, thereby attracting tourists of different ages to visit. This paper compared traditional museums with digital museums based on augmented reality technology and blockchain technology. The experimental results showed that from the perspective of young people, the average interactivity of traditional museums and digital museums was 47.20% and 78.20%, respectively; from the perspective of the elderly, the average interactivity of traditional museums and digital museums was 59.04% and 70.36%, respectively. Therefore, the digital museum built by using augmented reality technology and blockchain technology can effectively improve the interaction with users. The digital museum can improve the interaction with tourists of different ages, attract a large number of tourists for virtual visits, and improve the cultural transmission and economic development of the digital museum.
An integral part of our daily lives, the digital has been an essential part in new strategies formulated by museums and cultural institutions around the world in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. On numerous occasions, various studies have analyzed the impact that the pandemic had on the digital transformation of museums and other cultural spaces. A vector of democratization and inclusion, the digital offers unique aesthetic experiences, and technology is the spearhead launched by many museums to outreach new audiences. However, the acceleration of digital content opens up new issues and raises multiple questions, especially on the environmental and social impact. The digital is responsible for about 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. These issues are more relevant now that some museums are actively reflecting on whether to integrate or not NFTs (non-fungible tokens) or explore the metaverse. Can digital development be combined with the ecological responsibility approach in the case of cultural institutions? How can we build environmentally friendly digital strategies? What measures can museums take, in terms of digital impact, to plan for a sustainable future and limit global warming to 2° C? This article provides an introduction to the notion of digital sobriety and some practical ideas on how it can be adapted to museums, gathering reflections and examples of good practice, developed by cultural organizations around the world.
With the development of blockchain technology and non-fungible token (NFT), digital collections have ushered in a golden age. In the field of cultural and museums, the digital collection has also been given a new mission, i.e., to migrate cultural relics from offline places to online digital platforms, thus broadening the application areas and ways of offline collection. However, in the actual implementation, it presents a multifaceted ecology of pros and cons. Beginning from the current situation of displaying and utilizing digital collections, this paper comprehensively discusses the opportunities and risks faced by digital collections in terms of venue breakout, market-based valuation, cultural and tourism integration, illegal finance, digital banditry, and property rights based on the application cases of digital collections in museums, and provides an outlook on the future model of museum digital collection ecology.
Non-fungible token was a buzzword throughout 2021 and continues to thrive. NFTs are uniquely identifiable digital representations of structured metadata referring to physical or digital items. They are predominantly used to transfer certain interests and rights (including intellectual property) over the fandom, profile pictures or born-digital artworks. While NFTs might be primarily used in for-profit settings, with numerous artists and brands reaping the benefits of marketing their creations on NFT platforms, they have profound relevance for organisations active in the field of the digital preservation and dissemination of cultural heritage. This chapter discusses how NFTs might be approached by the GLAM sector. It especially focuses on the possible changes to the financing and the professional role of galleries and museums, the potential of NFTs to revolutionise access to digitised or born-digital artworks from a much wider audience, the fate of ownership of ‘real-world’ artworks, the possible collaborations of cultural organisations and NFT platforms, and whether NFTs can serve as an optimal solution for the preservation and dissemination of cultural heritage hosted by cultural organisations. It also presents the findings of a survey-based empirical analysis of the perceptions of people interested in NFTs related to the relevance of NFTs in the galleries and museums sector.