The Radical Potential For DIY Print Culture In NFTs
I don't think we understand how much blockchain technology could change how we consume art. Could NFTs and the metaverse offer a transformative opportunity for self-publishing artists to find support?
Gareth Brookes Talk
Last week I tuned into an online talk organised by the wonderful people at Hackney Comic and Zine Fair, where Gareth Brookes expounded on The Power of Small Press. As a huge fan of all things print, I was reminded of my passion for creating small-run zines with very little inhibition and handing them out around the campus at University, and just making things for the sake of wanting to make something; whether it was stupid or insightful didn’t really matter. It was more about the act of creating and dispersing something that had previously never existed. Producing these strange organisms in multiples and releasing them to roam the planet on trajectories of their own.
Gareth Brookes went into this notion of the power of self-publishing, and it’s something I couldn’t help but begin to reflect on my research and experience in the NFT space. There are a few fundamental reasons for these comparisons, and why I believe the two have a lot in common, and could potentially learn a hell of a lot from each other, and even give birth to something radically new and undefined unto now.
Self-Publishing
Brookes went on to talk about why some of his favourite small run comics and zines could only ever have existed because someone just made it happen themselves. Simply put, it’s because the maker knows that, "no one is ever going to publish this..” and just makes it anyway.
Until you disengage from the ambition to please the publishers you aim to work with, and just make something for the sake of making it, as a strange pursuit of a story or a weird insight you may have had by reading too far into YouTube comments on a channel dedicated to toilet reviews up and down the country (yes that exists…) - then you never get that reaction from someone who has had their reality shifted and affected: "I didn't know things like this existed!" That's when you know you're doing it right.
Once you create an environment and a spirit around a group of people or a place that is fostering this radical break from mainstream publishing, and is simply making for making’s sake, then the world of imagination and possibility on the printed page, and events surrounding the distribution of such objects (fairs/gigs/release parties/walking around with a pram; as Robert Crumb apparently did) suddenly elevate the whole group out of individual slogs and into a collaborative and synergetic effort to transcend and transform culture.
I love being a part of Art Fairs and Zine Fairs. There is a special atmosphere of collaboration, of cross-contamination, of support for each artist and group who is brave and bold enough to put work out there, to say something and to see what people think in return, and to take part in the conversation and the culture on the ground.
The Experience:
Community - the sprit of the creative collective and the people who love buying art
Collaboration - sense of synergy and collective pursuit for something intangibly potent
The Space - the colours, the printing techniques, the materials, the shapes; all laid out on tables or suspended from string or stuck to walls
The Tables - the palette for an artist work and representation of their aesthetic effort
The Conversations - the juice of the spirit in the building; the cross-contamination and energy
Workshops - chances for people to take part in creative workshops and make something of their own to take away
Mingling and Interaction - the serendipity of finding a small book that you are so pleased to have picked up
The Limits?
Price of Entry - sometimes ticketed
Geography - concentrated in a few urban spots; out of reach of many
Social Awkwardness - the hesitation to walk up to a table with the artist there and take part in that interaction
Scenius
Why NFT’s have so quickly generated so much value, is because they can be appreciated and utilised all over the world, free of constraints to time and space, and displayed in frames and spaces that display your digital identity globally; for example, by simply becoming your profile picture.
This immediately associates you to a scene, a group of people, makers and the surrounding community, that you believe are creating something special that you want to be a part of. You want a piece of the pie, and you want that jpeg to say something about you that you can transmit to the rest of planet earth. As more people flock to a certain project, excitement and attention elevates and so the price of each piece in a project begins to climb until, as has happened with CryptoPunks, BAYC Apes, and even CryptoDaddy’s as of today, they hit stratospheric heights that only basketball players and VC’s can afford to invest.
But within the NFT space there are so many communities and projects that are open to anyone of any price range, and it’s just matter of doing some research, which isn’t hard if you love following the space and discovering new projects, just like discovering new publishers at an arts fair.
When you find something you think is of value, you can immediately access it, see who else appreciates it, discover the community that has already wrapped itself around the project no matter where they are in the world, and you immediately become enmeshed in the fabric of a few projects that speak to you.
This isn’t too different to what it’s like walking around an arts fair, picking books up to see what’s inside and seeing if anything calls out to what you like and believe in as a fan of art and unique vehicles of printed culture.
It is in this spirit of collaborative and cultural transcendence that I call to the bench Brian Eno, one of my GOATs. Below is an extract from a letter sent by Brian Eno to Dave Stewart, included as one of the appendices of his diary: A Year with swollen Appendices (1996).
A few years ago I came up with a new word. I was fed up with the old art-history idea of genius - the notion that gifted individuals turn up out of nowhere and light the way for all the rest of us dummies to follow. I became (and still am) more and more convinced that the important changes in cultural history were actually the product of very large numbers of people and circumstances conspiring to make something new. I call this ‘scenius’ - it means ‘the intelligence and intuition of a whole cultural scene’. It is the communal form of the concept of genius.
The nature of arts fair and zine fairs is inherently inclusive and celebratory, and inspires you to pick up a pen yourself and say what you have to say just because you can and maybe there are others out there who would find it funny or interesting to see what you have to say.
Well I’d find it hard to describe some of the NFT projects I’ve discovered in any other way. Of course there’s more of a technical barrier to operating these smart contracts and deploying them on the Ethereum blockchain, or Polygon or Solana. But as a viewer and a consumer of art and print, I have loved roaming around Discords, Twitter and various websites trying to discover projects that resonate with me, and that take me on unexpected journeys through digital space.
Beeple
Beeple, the godfather of NFT drops, described his style of work as follows in a recent GQ interview:
Whats the picture I'm most interested in making that day? It isn't a super conscious choice of what those things are. But I feel like if I make the picture that I'm most excited about making, people will respond to that. They can innately see the passion that has gone into making that. Things like when people are drinking milk from Buzz Lightyear's boob; if I'd have asked someone before do you think people would like this, they'd be like No that's super dumb, why would you do that. But then like tonnes of people do love it. And so I think people are actually much weirder, even than they think. And I think sometimes to cut through the noise, you have to go real hard
I feel this energy and attitude to making what you most want to make, and then allowing that to prove the value of the thing created, to be a great metaphor for the power of self-published work. It is this spirit and creative release that I feel runs parallel in both the NFT space and the zine fairs that I have been a witness to over the last few years.
The NFT space is in a a very primordial state of existence right now, and so it’s hard to get your head around what it even is, never mind keep up with how it is constantly changing and developing. I think this is a feature, not a bug though, because it keeps certain people off its scent, and so as it grows and evolves, it is nurtured, protected and appreciated by those people who are willing to dedicate enough of their time and attention to unboxing the whole space, and revealing all the juicy collectibles and interactions that are behind the dodgy door.
From the outside you would never guess there was anything special about the place. I think that is true of most scenius.
I really do believe there is something ground-breaking that exists between both NFT’s and zine fairs, where both can offer so much to support and re-evaluate the potential worth of the other, and together create something completely new in terms of what is created, and how the experience and interactions around discovering those creations is designed.
The Scenius of NFT’s
So why am I claiming that Eno’s term ‘scenius’ hits the nail on the head when it comes to NFT’s? It’s because a lot of the characteristics of the space, and how it seems to protect itself and nurture those who step inside the scene, seem to be explained perfectly by the geography of a scenius.
The geography of scenius is nurtured by several factors:
Mutual appreciation – Risky moves are applauded by the group, subtlety is appreciated, and friendly competition goads the shy. Scenius can be thought of as the best of peer pressure.
Rapid exchange of tools and techniques – As soon as something is invented, it is flaunted and then shared. Ideas flow quickly because they are flowing inside a common language and sensibility.
Network effects of success – When a record is broken, a hit happens, or breakthrough erupts, the success is claimed by the entire scene. This empowers the scene to further success.
Local tolerance for the novelties – The local "outside" does not push back too hard against the transgressions of the scene. The renegades and mavericks are protected by this buffer zone.
I feel the NFT space and the crypto/art world is in a very, very special place right now, where there are some incredibly smart and talented people and communities generating some groundbreaking work. At the same time, it feels like we’re only just scratching the surface as far as these smart contracts and technologies go, and this level of lid-on fission is going to mean we’re all in the right place at the right time when it really spreads its’ wings.
A Design Opportunity - Digital Art Fairs in 3D Worlds
Another design opportunity that I have been thinking a lot about is the chance to redefine what an art fair is in 2021 and beyond. Over the last year, due to lockdown and COVID restrictions, many art fairs have taken their stalls and exhibition halls online, into virtual web-designed spaces. Of course these have served their purpose for the artists and small publishers that rely on the programme of events that allow them to meet their fans, connect to their audience, sell some of their stock, and forge new connections with upcoming artists and other publishers. It may not have filled all the gaps such as putting on workshops and feeling a part of the print culture in a city, but they’ve done their best.
However, as the metaverse solidifies into existence on the blockchain, I think there is a wonderful opportunity to build a whole platform for hosting print fairs, and to give artists and small presses complete control over the display of their work, how the sales process functions, and with NFTs in the mix, to also create completely new and dynamic ways to interact with people and to reward loyalty and collectors for holding their work.
Not only does this opportunity open up limitless ways for people to attend these events, but the way in which value is transferred can be fundamentally built into the system itself, such as the Lightning payment system on Bitcoin. I wrote about the power of L2 payment networks here. With QR codes on tables and opportunities to transfer assets in the form of NFT's through simple wallet exchange, the layers that these artworks and publications are passed on can be completed wired into the blockchain for the simple and seamless exchange of goods.
The Space
I think that is a beautiful possibility, and it opens a whole can of worms around what the UX Design of a space like that would look like, how the customer interacts with the table, what pop ups there are, the utility of the objects after the event has finished, maybe building easter eggs into the event space to be found and collected by people who want a gamification of the space, in a form of play-to-earn model.
Payment Systems
With technologies such as Sphinx Chat and the Lightning Network built onto of the Bitcoin blockchain, there’s radically new ways of building payment systems into online experiences with simple QR codes, without any need for an intermediary payment system. That is hugely liberating for artists and creators the world over, and incentivises the adoption of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency all over the world, where people may not have had the opportunity to understand what it is these technologies can do for their personal and professional lives.
Virtual Merchandise and Collectibles
Digital avatars mean there’s a whole world of digital fashion round the corner. We’ve seen this with Minecraft and Fortnite skins, and now, as the metaverse takes shape and starts really drawing our collective attention in, there is going to be a huge opportunity to design and create visual merchandise for people’s avatars and the spaces they proudly want to decorate online.
Community (Discord)
The ability to stay in direct and constant communication with fans and collectors via Discord channels and other means of communication allow the group and community to build continuously, is becoming a huge part of any successful NFT project. There are now dedicated roles that people and marketers are existing in now that is simply to steer the community, to keep interaction up and to generate a buzz. With the adoption of some of these projects requiring a little bit of technical knowhow, the communities that I have been a part of have always been extremely helpful and supportive in working out how to make a transaction, or transfer funds from one chain to another. I’ve even been given free funds off of generous people to bridge between ETH and Polygon which proved to me how special this space is.
POAP
Proof of Attendance - there is always a pride in people having turned up to an event and in telling people ‘I was there’. Well that pride now comes with a collectible, and if events are going to be occurring online, then I think the chance to prove you were there is going to be a huge attractor for people who want that acknowledgement from their peers.
Easter Eggs
There is a chance to build easter eggs and unlockables into the fabric of the space itself, and to gamify the interaction of the event itself into something that is collectible.
This is Not Replacing Physicals
Technology has always transformed how we are able to contain stories and transmit them beyond the limits of our vocal chords. Language turned to writing. Mark-making turned to printing. Now even the space that stories are consumed in and exchanged within can be revolutionised by emerging technologies.
It's not meant to be a replacement for the physical book or publication though.
Not only providing inspiration but also a break from the screen, books are an elemental aspect of Ben’s practice. “There is so much stuff in books that you can’t just get on the internet, and you consume them in a different way – a richer way,” he tells us. “I think the connection between the pages and your hands means the information gets absorbed in a different way, or at least, that is the way for me.”
I love my collection of small press zines and comics, and it's not something I ever want to put an end to growing, but it could allow a completely different audience to discover and connect to your art and stories. As the NFT space is already proving, people want to buy great art and hold it, and in turn support the artist in their endeavour to continue making great art. This rewards both the artist and the collector, which is why this space is so equalising and liberating for creators. An artist from Mexico City could by chance find their community in a small town in the North of England, after their artwork was found and traded and elevated to mythical status amongst a few early collectors.
Materiality
As I spoke about in a previous post too, there is a huge opportunity to merge the collecting of NFT’s with physicals to go alongside them, so that people get both the NFT they desire, and something to put up or display in their home. That seems to be where the high end art dealings are going to head, and I’m excited to see how it evolves.
In Conclusion
The serendipitous ingredients for scenius are hard to control. They depend on the presence of the right early pioneers. A place that is open, but not too open. A buffer that is tolerant of outlaws. And some flash of excitement to kick off the virtuous circle. You just can't order this.
What Camp 4 illustrated is that the best you can do is NOT KILL IT. When it pops up, don't crush it. When it starts rolling, don't formalize it. When it sparks, fan it. But don't move the scenius to better quarters. Try to keep accountants and architects and police and do-gooders away from it. Let it remain inefficient, wasteful, edgy, marginal, in the basement, downtown, in the 'burbs, in the hotel ballroom, on the fringes, out back, in Camp 4....
It seems far beyond what we can imagine right now, but with avatars and metaverse’s becoming more and more embedded into the blockchain space, and digital spaces becoming more and more utilised by brands and events, it's only a matter of time before fairs and events such as this could begin to take shape. The DIY nature of zines could offer a huge opportunity for the digital nature of NFTs to adapt and grow. It’s a challenge for such a digital and virtual experience to feel communal, local, material and tangible, but that’s an exiting design opportunity that I have tried to break down in this lengthy post.
With the power of tokenisation and DAO’s slowly making themselves heard (to myself at least) I think there is a wonderful opportunity to radically transform how art and printed goods are shared, experienced and sold. Not only as objects in and of themselves, but also how the events and spaces where these creations are displayed, collected and celebrated, in digital 3D space, can be designed from the ground up.
And most importantly, to do so in a way that rewards the artist in the long-term for holding themselves to their own artistic ideal, and not compromising to please a publisher or the notion of what’s popular at any current time or place or market.
Some of the Issues that illustrators and printmakers face are laid out in another event at HCZF:
From decent pay rates to established standards on legal rights, and professional development opportunities to career support, we can all agree: comics has none of these things. Do we need them? Are we getting on just fine without them? Or are there ways we can make this not-quite-industry more accessible and hospitable to all within it?
I can’t help but think that blockchain technology and NFT communities can do a whole lot of good for healing some of these issues, and it’s time we started thinking about how that change could begin to take place.
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