This conference brings together artists, hackers and researchers to critically examine the shift in digital culture from open sharing to crypto-based forms of ownership. Is this the ultimate triumph of financialisation, or are there openings for different property regimes and thus new forms of art and culture?

Panel #1: CRYPTO AND THE COMMONS
Moderator: Shu Lea Cheang
Speakers: Aude Launay, Lee Tzu-Tung, Denis “Jaromil” Roio

At a time when mainstream crypto culture is dominated by right-wing libertarianism, this panel seeks to explore how alternative crypto projects apply the concepts of radical, algorithmic and indigenous sovereignty in using the blockchain and NFTs with the aim to advance commoning practices.

Panel #2: OWNERSHIP AND DESIRE
Moderator: Inte Gloerich
Speakers: Felix Stalder, Jaya Klara Brekke, Martin Zeilinger

A peer-2-peer world without hierarchies, global unmediated connectivity, equal democratic participation across differences; claims of revolutionary potential have surrounded internet technologies from very early on, with blockchain technology being the most recent example. The emerging hypes around NFTs in and beyond the artworld, and the potential of DAOs as an alternative way to organise and govern communities and their resources, are adding new fuel to the fire, raising hopes for more inclusive markets and self-determination.

Panel #3: TACTICS & PRACTICE
Moderator: Michelle Kasprzak
Speakers: Cornelia Sollfrank, Vuk Ćosić, María Paula Fernández

Which creative tactics and practices that have already been introduced carry more future potential? What can we learn from early net art and the way it responded to the increasing commercialisation of the internet commons? Can NFTs be used to build communities?

Organised and produced by: Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, 2022

From COMMONS to NFTs followed the essay series of the same name (initiated by Shu Lea Cheang, Felix Stalder and Ewen Chardronnet) published online in Makery between January and July 2022 and later collected in a book by Aksioma.

Kino Šiška, Ljubljana / online
12 November 2022