NFTs have become a topic of intense debate since the landmark Christie's auction of Beeple's Everydays - The First 5000 Days in March 2021. Closely related to blockchain technologies and cryptocurrency, scholarly and journalistic discussion of NFTs has centered on their relationship to broader questions of political economy and art under globalized capitalism. Recipients of the Double Hoo Grant, undergraduate Hazel Schaus and graduate student Karl-Magnus Brose aim to clarify the terms of the debate by historicizing the emergence of NFTs and blockchain technology, analyzing the dominant genres of art on the blockchain, and offering a perspective on the potential for future development and the shape of the emerging artistic and theoretical field of NFTs and blockchain.
A presentation by Hazel Schaus (AH major) and Karl-Magnus Brose (PhD candidate) who were awarded a Double Hoo grant to pursue an independent research project.