Artists Rethinking the Blockchain [Paperback]

The blockchain is widely heralded as the new internet - another dimension in an ever-faster, ever-more-powerful interlocking of ideas, actions and values. Principally the blockchain is a ledger distributed across a large array of machines that enables digital ownership and exchange without a central administering body. Within the arts it has profound implications as both a means of organising and distributing material, and as a new subject and medium for artistic exploration. This landmark publication will bring together a diverse array of artists and researchers engaged with the blockchain, unpacking, critiquing and marking the arrival of it on the cultural landscape for a broad readership across the arts and humanities.

Contributors: C?sar Escudero Andaluz, Jaya Klara Brekke, Theodoros Chiotis, Ami Clarke, Simon Denny, The Design Informatics Research Centre (Edinburgh), Max Dovey, Mat Dryhurst, Primavera De Filippi, Peter Gomes, Elias Haase, Juhee Hahm, Max Hampshire, Kimberley ter Heerdt, Holly Herndon, Helen Kaplinsky, Paul Kolling, Elli Kurus, Nikki Loef, Bj?rn Magnhild?en, Rob Myers, Mart?n Nadal, Rachel O'Dwyer, Edward Picot, Paul Seidler, Hito Steyerl, Surfatial, Lina Theodorou, Pablo Velasco, Ben Vickers, Mark Waugh, Cecilia Wee, and Martin Zeilinger.

With a diverse list of writers per issue, it is divided into three sections: Documents, Fictions and Theories, respectively hosting explanative, narrative and speculative texts. Among the contributors to the latter, Hito Steyerl elaborates on art as an alternative currency itself, while Rachel O'Dwyer outlines a systematic analysis of upcoming system structures based on blockchain, and Rob Myers points out the strategic importance and then use of trust and 'network consensus'. Beyond them a significant number of contributors have been involved and altogether they have produced a remarkable work. --Aurelio Cianciotta, Neural

Marc Garrett is an internet artist, writer and curator. HlCÅ