The Blockchain through the DAOWO Global Initiative

The DAOWO Global Initiative, curated by Ruth Catlow and Penny Rafferty, has consolidated an international network of cooperation between art and blockchain involving international artists and technology-related institutions and communities in cities around the world. Now a series of online events are continuing this work started by the DAOWO Global Initiative Network and spanning more than four years, with the aim of engaging global communities on a local scale as well as global scale.

Furtherfield, Serpentine Galleries and the Goethe-Institut began a collaboration on a global scale to examine projected blockchain technologies in an attempt to lay the foundations for a new decentralised ecology of open source cultural organisations. The DAOWO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation With Others) programme investigates the benefits of blockchain development starting from a local perspective with artists, practitioners and blockchain entrepreneurs, together with local initiatives, communities and institutions in order to consider transnational systems and approaches collectively. In February 2020, the Artworld DAO – A 52hr** Gathering brought together professionals and representatives belonging to art and technology organisations from all over the world to map and discuss the obstacles, opportunities and implications of decentralised automation in the art world. During this event, the communities created a prototype DAO at local level. Now a series of online sessions are again moving the discussion to a global level in a series of free events. It all starts with the question: how can DAOs learn from artists to interact with people and communities where they are?

The events will run from the end of January to March 2021. The first event, to be held on 28 January, will connect with Berlin to introduce BLACK SWAN DAO, an experimental initiative to respond to the increasing precariousness of work by providing tools for collaborative organisation and the sharing of resources. The project is organised by Trust, an interdisciplinary research laboratory in Berlin for artists, designers, computer scientists and ecologists working with advanced technologies and experimental theories. In this way the project aims to build trans-local cooperation, catalysing a peer-to-peer support structure for those working in Berlin and beyond.