simondlr #32 - Decentralized Autonomous Artists, Audiobook, & Stories In The Machine

Hi friends! Been a busy month and I’ve got a bunch of cool news. :)

Firstly, I published a new article on “decentralized autonomous artists”, giving some background and recent projects in the space (like Botto).

https://blog.simondlr.com/posts/decentralized-autonomous-artists

Secondly, I finally finished the audiobook of “Hope Runners of Gridlock” which includes GAN imagery and a backtrack scored by me. It was a joy to create and revisit the characters for the 1-year anniversary of the release.

Listen to it here in whatever format you prefer: https://blog.simondlr.com/posts/hope-runners-of-gridlock-audiobook

Thirdly, I wrote an article for Zora’s zine, titled “Stories In The Machine”. I share the story of my short story that got embedded into Ethereum in 2015 and the longer term implications of a long-term public record.

https://zine.zora.co/the-stories-in-the-machine

I also have more exciting news. “This Artwork Is Always On Sale” is currently being exhibited at the State Hermitage’s first virtual exhibition. Really proud of this! It was also featured in one of Japan’s leading art magazines: Bijutsu Techo.

Phew, super happy with everyone this month! :)

Links!

Climate DAOs

I’ve always thought the incentives that make crypto work at all (a global database) is one that could be used to solve other kinds of coordination problems: especially the one of our times → climate change. There’s a been a host of interesting projects here and I’ve been spending my time doing research. It’s definitely worth going down the rabbit hole for, starting with a current poster-child project. KlimaDAO. I also tweeted about and got a lot of conversations hidden in the replies.

Ascribe

A project that in many ways was WAY before its time. Trent McGonaghy gives a good breakdown of the era in IP/NFT/ART + blockchain.

WAGMI Scenius

The proliferation of GM (“Good Morning”) & WAGMI (“We’re All Gonna Make It”) underlies a broader sentiment towards what Packy McCormick describes as new scenius. Well worth the read, and an interesting perspective on crypto more broadly. I remember thinking back in 2017 that it was kinda weird that there’s an entire group of people excited about a new kind of database, but now, it’s grown a lot more.

Platform Legitimacy

Li Jin & Katie Parrott wrote a great article on the web2.0 platform and how it gained and lost legitimacy. I remember quite early on feeling burned by Twitter when it moved away from pro-API to advertising around early 2010s. It drove me to blockchains. This week too, the value of a decentralized proved useful when the Tezos NFT platform went down. All the NFTs, although it was work, was salvaged. So, when done right, the era of the platform could look very different in a few years.

Tokyo Neighbourhoods

From the urban planning side, I’ve become a huge fan of “Life Where I’m From” that touches upon Japanese zoning, urban life, & city planning. Also, it’s just such a calm documentary style. Enjoy this one on Tokyo Neighbourhoods!

That’s all for this time! Thanks for reading.

Also, for those particularly in the southern hemisphere, please enjoy a sunset. Currently, having clouds + sunsets at 4:30pm. Not ideal.

Take care!

Simon