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NFTs and their Impact on Art Creation, Curation, and Commerce
22. July 2022 - 23. July 2022
Over the last couple of years, Non-Fungible Tokens stormed into the creation of arts and, even more so, the art market. New forms of visual arts have developed, and existing artworks are increasingly represented by NFTs. Some of them gain outraging prices. Nevertheless, the general comprehension of what exactly NFTs are, how they influence the creation of visual art, what their legal effects are and should be, and how they affect incentives and values in art markets is far from complete. The conference assembles artists, lawyers, and economists from outstanding institutions to discuss these issues.
Thursday, July 21st
18:30 Pre-Conference Dinner
(active participants and guests with special invitation only)
Friday, July 22nd, Morning Session
Describing and Understanding NFTs in General – but with a Particular Perspective on NFTs in Arts
Moderator: Rosa Menkman, Kunsthochschule Kassel
09:00 – 09:30 Welcoming Address and Introduction to the Conference
09:30 – 10:15 Social Codes (The Central Pillars of the NFT Ecosystem: Goals, Aims and Opportunities)
Casey Reas, Artist, Creator of the Processing Programming Language, University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Design Media Arts
10:15 – 11:00 Not Just a Receipt: The Use of Blockchains as Supports and Performative Components in Artwork
Regina Harsanyi, Time-Based Media Specialist, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
11:00 Coffee Break
11:30 – 12:15 NFTs and Sustainability
Roman Beck, Head of the European Blockchain Center, IT University of Copenhagen
12:15 Lunch
13:15 Opportunity to take part in a short guided tour of the Nordbau, one of the most architecturally interesting university buildings in Germany, created by Paul Friedrich Posenenskes in 1962.
Friday, July 22nd, Afternoon Session
Perspectives from Arts
Moderator: Joel Baumann, Kunsthochschule Kassel
13:30 – 14:15 NFTs from the Perspective of Artists
Ruth Catlow, Artist-Theorist and Curator, Director of the Furtherfield Gallery, London
14:15 Coffee Break
14:45 – 15:30 After NFTs: Art and Its New Formalism
Pekko Koskinen, Chief of Products at Economic Space Agency, Helsinki
15:30 – 16:15 Cultural Protocols: Museums and/as Blockchains
Tina Rivers Ryan, Researcher, Curator, Art Historian and Critic, Albright–Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York
16:15 Short Coffee Break
16:30 – 18:00 Panel Discussion “Values of Art and NFTs (Including Perspectives from Economics and the Law)”
with the Speakers of this Session and Jan Hemming, Professor for Systematic Musicology, University of Kassel
Moderators: Rosa Menkman and Joel Baumann
19:30 Conference Dinner
(active participants and guests with special invitation only)
Saturday, July 23rd, Morning Session
Perspectives from Law and from Economics
Moderator: Georg von Wangenheim, University of Kassel – blockchain-center.eu
09:00 – 09:45 What Rights can NFTs represent? Do NFTs Strengthen or Weaken Creators’ Rights? – A Critical Jurist’s View
Edmund Schuster, London School of Economics and Political Science
09:45 – 10:30 Small but not Zero – The Scope of Applying NFTs from a Law-and-Economics Perspective
Georg von Wangenheim, University of Kassel – Blockchain-Center.eu
10:30 Coffee Break
11:00 – 11:45 NFTs and their Values in Art Markets
Francesco Angelini, Cultural Economist, University of Bologna
11:45 – 12:55 Panel Discussion: “The Market for NFT Art Works (Including Perspectives from Arts)”
with the Speakers of this Session (and others joining)
Moderator: Björn Frank, University of Kassel, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management
12:55 Closing Remarks
13:00 Lunch
14:00 – 16:00 Guided Tour to documenta fifteen (ruruHaus and Fridericianum) and Discussion with Cem A., Artist and Curator
(active participants and guests with special invitation only)
