Artists Re:Thinking the Blockchain
<p>The blockchain is Janus-faced. On one side its traits of transparency and decentralization promise much in terms of fairness and accountability, but on the other its monetary roots born as a financial payment system, albeit grounded in open-source software, mean its implementations are often stridently capitalistic. Furthermore, those involved in its development seem to oscillate between radical ethical standpoints and reductionist technological determinism. The blockchain engenders what has been called a “digital metalism” with the ability, like a modern philosopher’s stone, to transmutate life through a distributed ledger. That such a pecuniary minded technology is being touted as a new technology to underpin a newfangled internet, compels an exploration of both its current state and how it may be rethought.</p>
Editors: Ruth Catlow, Marc Garrett, Nathan Jones, Sam Skinner
Design: Mark Simmonds
Contributors: Jaya Klara Brekke, Theodoros Chiotis, Ami Clarke, Simon Denny, Design Informatics Research Centre, Max Dovey, Mat Dryhurst, Rachel O’Dwyer,, César Escudero Andaluz, Primavera De Filippi, Rory Gianni, Peter Gomes, Elias Haase, Juhee Hahm, Max Hampshire, Kimberley ter Heerdt, Holly Herndon, Helen Kaplinsky, Paul Kolling, Elli Kurus, Nikki Loef, Rob Myers, Martín Nadal, Noemata, Bjørn Magnhildøen, Edward Picot, PWR Studio, Paul Seidler, Surfatial, Hito Steyerl, Lina Theodorou, Pablo Velasco, Ben Vickers, Mark Waugh, Cecilia Wee, Martin Zeilinger
Illustrations: Juhee Hahm
ISBN: 9780993248740