Always there when you call, always online.
“Being online” is no longer an activity we participate in, it is the way that we are. Our online identities can compliment, preclude or mirror our meatspace selves, but they are reflections, distorted or otherwise, of ourselves.
As a network of artists, designers, and cultural producers interested in this relationship between humans and technology, Refraction is constantly considering the ways in which the hyper-online self produces and consumes art, and the ways in which we use technology as a tool to do so. The internet has democratized access to artwork and deprioritized ownership of it, making it easier than ever to be an artist, and harder than ever to earn a living from art.
How can we remodel this paradigm to encourage access while championing ownership? How can our online identities help us navigate the rapidly changing New Creative Economies? In partnership with the LUKSO blockchain, Refraction is investigating the answers to these questions in a series of conversations, events, and exhibitions.
Touching down in Austin on March 13th, we’ll be exploring themes of identity and ownership alongside artists Cibelle Cavalli Bastos and Tabitha Swanson in a digital art exhibition designed by Craig Barrow, curated by Malcolm Levy and Kaitlyn Davies. Exhibited digital artworks will be distributed exclusively to all event attendees on their very own Universal Profiles, powered by the LUKSO blockchain.
The exhibition is soundtracked by a storied lineup of international and local selectors from the extended Refraction community. Headlined by Pacific Rhythm label boss, DJ D.DEE brings his knowledge of far-flung records and natural wines to keep the party going well into the night. Growth In Decay affiliate SaliYah provides an eclectic selection of broken beats and bass-laden bangers, and local legend Ian Orth opens the night with breezy house and disco classics.
RSVP now to reserve your spot, and read on to hear from exhibition participants on their perception and perspective of identity and ownership in today's rapidly changing and relentlessly online creative landscape.
Tabitha Swanson, exhibiting artist:
I think identity in the digital age provides us with a lot of options and sub-categories we can align ourselves with. Being able to identify with and explore different identities is important, but we should always remember that real social change happens through policy and working together. All of our digital likenesses and information is owned by the platforms we use to explore these identities, so who really owns our digital identity? We can go into as many AI simulated worlds using as many digital identities as we choose, but I'm uncertain how meaningful that is if material conditions for the common person does not improve. Identities can bring us together with like-minded community members, but we should remember to not let it separate us from each other too much. We all need to work together to fight for better data protection and against large conglomerates aiming to extract every resource from us that they possibly can.
Ownership is such an interesting subject in the age of AI. I recently read that Tumblr and sites of that ilk are also selling all our data to AI algorithms. The AI companies also technically own all outputs, or at least, that's what they say. I have no idea how it'll work out, but I think we need to work together to define our rights.
Cibelle Cavalli Bastos, exhibiting artist:
In the digital age, identity emerges as a dynamic construct, increasingly fluid, fragmented across platforms, shaped by the demands of platform capitalism, and the perpetual performance mandated by social media's gaze and the fear of algorithmic death as well as the creative outputs we generate. Generative AI, like DAll-E and Midjourney, rather than threatening the essence of artistry, expands the toolkit for artists, allowing for deeper exploration into the constructs of identity and expression. These technologies challenge us to rethink the boundaries between the creator and the created, offering new avenues for critique and self-exploration.
The relentless performance on social media, coupled with algorithmic pressures, intensifies the struggle for authenticity, impacting mental health and our sense of self. Yet, this digital landscape also presents opportunities for resistance and reimagining identity beyond conventional constraints. It's a call to artists and individuals alike to harness digital tools not as ends but as means to challenge, question, and redefine the essence of identity in our times. Here NFTs play an interesting role; that of grounding markers of moments in space/time of an artist’s journey, "a testament to history” of sorts for the ever evolving identity as a subjectivity as well as one’s art practice.
The digital age forces a reevaluation of identity, not as a fixed entity but as a dynamic, multifaceted construct that we continuously negotiate. It's a complex dance of visibility, expression, and resistance, offering both challenges and opportunities to redefine what it means to be human in a digitally interconnected world.
In today's digital landscape, the concept of ownership for artists like me goes beyond mere legal rights to embody a stewardship over the narratives and dialogues our art creates. It's about fostering a dialogue that evolves with our audience, ensuring our work reflects our true intentions and serves as a guiding light for our artistic journey. In the realm of NFTs, this idea of ownership becomes a deep connection between the artist and their creations, with each NFT standing as a testament to artistic exploration and a medium for challenging and reshaping societal views on art.
The focus on the material aspects of NFTs often overlooks the intention and broader discourse they engage with. So it's crucial to consider these digital forms as vehicles for artistic inquiry, moving the conversation beyond mere form to the essence of art itself.
This shift in ownership in the digital age invites us to reconsider the artist's role and art's essence, viewing digital platforms and NFTs as modern canvases that elevate artistic discourse. For me, ownership is about embracing the complexities of digital existence and using our creations to foster exploration, connection, and transformation. It's about leveraging digital platforms and NFTs to ensure art remains an active participant in our ever-changing world, redefining ownership as a holistic engagement with art's lifecycle in the digital age.
Malcolm Levy, curator:
When I think about the role of identity in the digital age, I think of the multiplicity of meanings that one can take within their own identity. Outside of ideas of ownership, you also have ideas of hybridity, of thinking about things in a slightly different way around what one's identity is and what identity means. You have identity pertaining to the cultural norms of your life, your music interests, your art interests, your cultural interests. Then you have your personal identity; your sexual orientation, your religion, that you can choose to showcase in different ways.
What I find to be particularly interesting about identity in the digital age is that you have the ability, to some degree, to control that identity. Paradoxically, because of the way the internet moves and shifts and shapes you also often have no control over it. This is where ideas of ownership intersect with identity. There is more need than ever to own our online identities, and with web3 and blockchain technologies, we finally have a meaningful way to consider doing so.
As a digital artist that was part of the pre-NFT generation, I would create digital works that were shown in a variety of different contexts— galleries, artist-run centers, festivals, and it didn't really sell because there was no easy way to transact and own these artworks. Then, when I first became acquainted with web3 and started to release NFTs, everything shifted because there was finally a way to attribute value to digital works. What that opened up and changed for my artist practice was emancipatory, and I’ve heard that echoed back from the wider web3 artist network. Artists control a lot more than they did before. Of course, you have different people trying to beat those foundations back to earlier constructs of the gallery system, but there are options now that didn’t exist before. In many ways the conceptual framework for Refraction came out of the same sort of line of thinking.
As a curator, I’m interested in the ability to select and disseminate work from artists that allows them to have a stake in the ownership and presentation of that work, and allows us to innovate and imagine new infrastructures together. At Refraction, we collectively organize our events and exhibitions, and share in the upside together. That upside can take many forms, whether that’s an artist royalty percentage or the opportunity to display artwork during different art and cultural showcases, museums and festivals world wide, and it’s exciting to showcase artists and artworks which are acknowledging a more distributed understanding of value and ownership.
As a founder, I draw heavily on my experience as an artist and curator. There were many times in my life where my creative input was usurped, taken over, or just stolen by larger multinational corporations. Our reciprocal agreements with artists ensure that ownership is prioritized, and that it should be distributed at every level of the value chain.
Craig Barrow, exhibition designer:
Identity has always been an integral part of the creative process. It's your lived experiences, your knowledge, your thoughts that in turn inform your creative output. The internet provides infinite surfaces to put your identity out on show, when previously you didn't have as many opportunities to share that part of your process. The most publicly facing part of your identity was the work that you put out, and unless you had a high-profile magazine feature, you weren't able to share much more of that process, especially if you were still establishing yourself as an artist. Even then, it was often quite a polished version of what the actual process is.
Now, you have so many opportunities to share what goes into your creative process and your life and identity. I think by having that opportunity and being able to share those things, it allows audiences to connect with creatives on a level of deeper understanding, and allows the artist to create a multifaceted brand. This deeper bond forges a relationship between the artist and audience, which hopefully creates more opportunities for the two to interact. Idealised identity allows artists to express themselves and connect with audiences beyond the final creative work.
Refraction and The Department of Decentralization are presenting the art programming at this year’s ETHBerlin from May 24-26. The exhibition is curated through an Open Call. Interested artists can submit their artwork from April 10th to May 10th.
