What might be the future of NFTs and art in the blockchain space?

It must have been the summer of 92, a guy I didn't know personally finally hunted me down, to buy the last 2 copies of an image I had printed 10 of.

Why did they want the print? Well, first of all it was of the lead singer of a very mysterious band that did very few live gigs, they might even have announced that they quit that summer, the date I find online is in 91, but I totally did this in 92 haha!

The real reason was (hopefully) that it showed him as a weird, golden statue, almost beyond human figure, which actually fits his personality very well.

Darkroom days

Not me, but it was like that

By 92 I had already spent literally thousands of hours on photography, long days in different darkrooms, and after mastering all the underlying processes I had started experimenting for real.

So, this image is quite something... But what happens if I print the black & white negative on this colour paper that I just got, what could happen?

I'll never forget, when I turned on the white light he jumped at me, it had come alive, all golden, against deep, golden black background, and with the sweat coming out as white pearls and glistening patches.

I knew I had something right away, so I printed 10x. Now, at the time everyone knew me from being hyperactive in this capacity, so of course that is what led to the sales. On the other hand there is still some interest, unless that boat is sailed they might include it in a new, retrospective release...

Prints have to be seen IRL!

But can that be done? Why do I not just post this mysterious image here?

Well, although screens and tech are much better than before a print is often still the only way to really see good work, in my case photography, but for artists working in other mediums it might be even more true.

The current value of print

Does print have a real value these days? I do think so!

One of the only avenues to make some real, microscopic income in the Bitcoin space might be to sell unique, high quality and low volume prints. It will just fit very well with the psychology of the Bitcoin crowd.

I've been looking into setting up a process for myself where I produce actual silver print based on an ink print, a process that I can even streamline to do from hotel rooms when I travel, with almost no specialized gear.

There are also services around, where real, archival prints are produced from files. Of course there is a cost, so for myself I will have to make some microscopic income on digital only, before I start that process.

Hive, NFTs and some psychology

Now, I will share something I made today, which is based on more or less the same process I used producing some insane digital art on Photoshop in 98, it is quite relevant I think.

Shitcoin & NFT mayhem!

Here on Hive I do think I can mention NFTs, but if I even try on Nostr, Stacker News or in the Bitcoin space in general I might as well delete my accounts instead, easier that way haha!

How can content creators who should sell or at least display real, physical work get anywhere, when all the different spaces are so compartmentalized? When there is a lot of garbage out there?

A hybrid model

What I see shaping up for myself is basically what I'm doing here. I see a long term project where I start putting up some NFTs for sale, ideally stored on Arweave, but where I document the process all the way as I go along.

With Hive that will almost be like getting paid for marketing myself!

Physical prints will be included in that, but since I will never just sell an ink print this will take longer. Which will lead to more content of course.

Hopefully doing it all this way I will also have some chance at straddling the different spaces, getting some tiny sales here & there on top of workshops and more, which then is marketing in general.

What will the space be like in the future?

I remember very well how the photography and art world "got around" the fact that an ink print is not the same as a real print, especially for black and white.

There was a lot of debate, everyone knew that this was super convenient but not the same. Quietly galleries then started adding "ink print" for the medium description, and no one called attention to that, too much was at stake I believe...

I might have gotten some of that wrong, and I do not frequent spaces like that any longer, but the point is that a way forwards kinds just emerged.

Digital immutability

I do believe and hope that I myself amd totally immutable, unruly and appearing as a real person here on Hive! That is the sort of immutability that will be the most important for creators, of course.

But what about projects like Arweave? Will it work out?

What about ordinals? Other solutions? What will win in the end?

I do not know, but I'll go into this space now, and that is why I'm writing this.

My plan is to start including some scarce amount of NFTs, mention at the end of posts here that they exist, document the whole process, and then somehow tie it to physical prints and/or workshops on the ground.

I do not expect to make anything other than tiny amounts on this, but I do believe that if I get it right it will expand my footprint online in a good way.

Hive is a really good place for this too, I hope. If only there was a way to get this through to all the Bitcoin maxis... Oh well, I'll work on that too! 😄😁✍️