A computer-generated image of white lines forming a curving volume against a black background

Still from Herbert W. Franke's Rotationen/Projektionen, 1974. Photo by Art Meets Science

Herbert W. Franke & Casey Reas

Criticism and conversations about art, technology, and NFTs

Jack Kaido

Casey Reas / Herbert W. Franke

A computer generated image of a curving, oblong form with a red center and concentric blue shapes

Commentary

A certificate for a reproducible drawing accompanying by two diagrams illustrating how it will look when the instructions on the certificate are executed

Gabagool

A digital image with several elements suggesting flowers, plants, home furnishings, and architectural elements arrayed on a blank background with angled planes of yellow and pale blue

Commentary

A small black-and-white portrait of a shirtless middle-aged man with his name written at the top; the photo is set on a black field with archival notes handwritten on a white strip at the top

Left Gallery

A cover of Spike Magazine reads "SPIKE ART MAGAZINE / WEB 3 / WINTER 2021"

The Hirsch Truth

Commentary

Abstract digital composition in teals and yellows, slightly pixelated.

Robert Alice

A gray round painting hangs on a white wall atop a weathered concrete platform in the ocean

Albright-Knox Art Gallery

A print of warped red, yellow, and blue volumes on yellowing paper

John Provencher & Travess Smalley

Two artists discuss the role of chance in their creative process, and how they have applied generative systems to genres and formats where they aren’t commonly used.

When working with chance, the hardest part is learning when to let go.

Large metal sculptures of flowers are illuminated in rainbow hues at night

Brian L. Frye & Primavera de Filippi

Do NFTs make copyright obsolete?

Two legal scholars who make art to explore issues of intellectual property law debate the impact of blockchain technologies on creative markets.

A black-and-white photograph of a tree in a cemetery that has been modified so that the tree stands straight while the rest of the image is warped

Daniel Temkin & Sarah Groff Hennigh-Palermo

Two artists discuss critical approaches to code.

Temkin is fascinated with the idea of code as a kind of magic language and plays up its mystery to complicate notions about the logic of computing, while Groff Hennigh-Palermo aims to demystify code by making her process as transparent and accessible as possible. In the following conversation, they discuss their shared interests in coding as an act of communication and the social environments of computation.

Critical Perspectives

Commentary

Authentication in the Expanded Field

NFTs could be an improvement on the paper certificates used to authenticate reproducible artworks. But much work needs to be done to realize that potential.

Commentary

Timed Exposure

Two new initiatives are exploring the potential of NFTs not only to sell photography but also to build connections between its past and future.

Criticism

Painting the Blockchain into History

Robert Alice endows Bitcoin with the gravitas of inevitability by enmeshing paintings of its founding code in a network of references to histories of art and computing.

A grid of eight portraits with an abstract black and white design at the center

The Groundwork

A series of video interviews with leaders who are experimenting with institutional forms and building cultural infrastructure for the NFT space

Colborn Bell, The Museum of Crypto Art
Sofia Garcia, ARTXCODE

What Outland has done so far, and where things are headed The First Hundred Days

Circles of white, purple, pink, and dark blue form a pattern of radial lines around a central black hole