Crypto Art Meetup
The graphic shows a so-called cryptokitty, a purple cat with deer antlers.
Thu, July 12, 2018 6 pm CEST, Talk

Art and Blockchain? How does that fit together? On July 12, 2018 the ZKM will devote an entire evening to the complex of themes of »Crypto Art« in its various forms and will hold the first live auction of cryptographic art in Germany in the exhibition »Open Codes«.

A lot is happening at the moment under the term »cryptoART«. One example are so-called »non-fungible tokenized digital assets«, a form of »smart contracts« based on the Ethereum Blockchain. So-called »crypto kitties« are probably one of the best-known implementations of this principle. But are pictures of digital cats art? It is at least very easy to draw parallels to the art market and numerous projects are currently being developed that focus on the marketing of digital objects, but also increasingly of real objects with the help of tokens. The block chain allows the buyer to trace the origin of an object and »heritage« is a price-decisive factor in the sale of art and collectibles. But how do the collector's items get into the blockchain? Crowdfunding for art? Art generated from blockchain data?

At the cryptoART Meet-Up in the exhibition »Open Codes« we will discuss what hype is and what is really revolutionary. There will be a few presentations and a subsequent open round, providing opportunity to get involved and to present own projects on the topic. 

As an entertaining highlight of the evening, there will be a live auction of cryptoART. Some of our digital cats and a Cryptopunk will be auctioned off. So if you want to buy the first collector's items of this kind that have already been exhibited in the museum, you should bring your wallet with you.

As part of the Meet-Up, hacker, artist and developer Denis »Jaromil« Roio will talk on »What lies behind Bitcoin: the rise and promise of blockchain computational systems«.

Organization / Institution
ZKM | Center for Art and Media

Accompanying program

In cooperation with