Entangled Transparency 3.0

Digitization processes mean upheavals on a global scale and changes to the political world order. This brings about a raft of questions. To get to the bottom of these, the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Hyundai Art Lab and Goethe-Institut Korea, are hosting the conference Entangled Transparency 3.0 on March 9, 2023. Participation in the conference is free of charge. It will take place online. The goal is to find answers to questions such as: What kind of organization processes are necessary in order to maintain online self-determination and sovereignty? What does blockchain technology mean for artistic production, outreach, and their infrastructures?

Together with the climate crisis, advances in information technology constitute the biggest challenges of our times, both of which are happening rapidly, on a global scale, and trigger queries: What forms of governance and social organization are conceivable against this backdrop of complex restructuring? Climate change and sovereignty are both hybrid constructs, embedded in social and ecological contexts. Sovereignty, whether national or personal, whether a matter of geopolitics or self-determination, must be constantly renegotiated to find a balance, and is therefore reliant on the free flow of information. At present, however, the instrument by which we stay connected across national borders is controlled by a few corporations and functions like an absolute monarchy. By contrast, Web 3.0 promises a blockchain-based solution for a decentralized and federated internet.

Ever since the hype around NFTs (non-fungible tokens) peaked in 2021, blockchain technology has become a hot topic— even though it was first used back in 2014. Together with Hyundai Artlab and the Goethe-Institut Korea, ZKM | Karlsruhe is organizing the online conference “Entangled Transparency 3.0” to open a discussion on the possible social and cultural implications of a potential blockchain-based network. The conference will pose questions about transparency, its contradictions, challenges and risks within a new kind of Web from a cultural perspective. In addition, the impact of blockchain-based technologies on art institutions will also be raised. Together with international practitioners, artists, researchers, and theorists, ZKM | Karlsruhe and its project partners are initiating a dialogue about alternatives to Web 2.0 that is currently in use.

After the introduction of the common.garden platform by its founder, Constant Dullaart, two keynotes Bogna Konior and Maurice Benayoun will touch upon specific theories of the internet. Manifesto performances on Web 3.0’s relation to transparency by the artists, researchers, and collectives, Jaya Klara Brekke, Crypton, Primavera De Filippi, Sarah Friend, Kyriaki Goni, Operator, Bhavisha Panchia, and Bi Xin follow. While the curators and art practitioners, Ruth Catlow, Michael Connor, Sabine Himmelsbach, Yannick Hofmann, Chuang Wei Tzu, and Hyunjung Woo will elaborate on the potential role of Web 3.0 in art institutions and museums. The final discussion among the participants will be moderated by Michael Connor.

As an exemplary Web 3.0 prototype, an endless poem inspired by Peter Weibel accompanies the discussion program. The artistic-scientific chairman and CEO of the ZKM | Karlsruhe will start the collaborative online text, which will then be continued by anyone who wants to participate. This interactive artwork will be available in a digital exhibition, along with other contributions via the link et3.common.garden.

The event is curated and organized by Lívia Nolasco-Rózsás and Clara Runge (ZKM | Karlsruhe) together with Hyundai Artlab and Goethe-Institut Korea.

Further information here.  

Press contact: Felix Brenner, T +49 (0) 721/1800 1821 / presse@zkm.de / zkm.de/presse