OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH presents PROOF OF ART, the world’s first museum exhibition on the history of NFTs and digital art. Congruously to the topic, the show is viewed offline at the Francisco Carolinum but also online in Cryptovoxels, a blockchain-based virtual world. In light of the developments surrounding NFTs in art and the art market, a retrospective of their history – and why they are suddenly on everyone’s lips – becomes compelling. NFTs are a technology designed to solve a problem: the overabundance of digital files. The NFT is also a means of certifying authenticity for each digital file that is stored in the blockchain, thus rendering these files unique. NFTs function as digital signatures of artists. The discussions about it, which have so far been dominated by the art market and art criticism, force public cultural institutions to fulfil their responsibility and to ask fundamental questions about the artistic, material, and sociological value of digital art and to give answers. With PROOF OF ART, OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH bears this challenge and gives an overview of the origins of NFTs and their development: from first formative attempts with digital technologies, through first artistic experiments with the blockchain, to current crypto art. Both off- and online, the multimedia exhibition presents around 25 positions by artists who deal with the new system of meaning and values, examines the role of artists in their high-tech environment and discusses the effects of virtual spaces on our everyday life. As a result of these red-hot discussions, the OÖLKG acquired an NFT property in Metaverse Cryptovoxels on April 24, 2021, where it opened the digital offshoot of its museum for photo and media art: the “DFC Francisco Carolinum” located at 17 Clarion Alley on the island of San Francisco. In addition to various exhibitions, there is also a space for discussing the legal questions that arise around NFTs for artists, museums, and collectors – where, parallel to the opening of PROOF OF ART at Francisco Carolinum in Linz on June 11, 2021, the fourth chapter of the exhibition is opened.

Participating artists at DFC Francisco Carolinum: Claudia Hart, Addie Wagenknecht, Sasha Katz, Gisel X Florez, CryptoYuna, Helena Sarin, kyt, lulu xXX, Flufflord (Tea Stražičić), VXN (Victoria Campobello), Joaquina Salgado, Serwah Attafuah, Krista Kim, Itzel Yard (IX Shells), Grimes x Mac, Hackatao, LaTurbo Avedon, REEPS100 (Harry Yeff) & Trung Bao, Ness Nissla, kai (Kaigani Turner), Chris Torres, Coldie, Alexander Reben, Olive Allen, Mario Klingemann, SIRSU (Ameer Suhayb Carter), Robert Alice, Robert Gallardo, Casey Reas, Hideki Tsukamoto, Kenny Schachter, Matt Kane, Carlos Marcial, Keiken

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