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Connecting the Dots
A few years ago, documentary filmmaker Dan Sickles stumbled upon the blockchain while trying to stay out of the way of investigating police after his apartment was broken into. During his downtime, he chatted with online acquaintances he met while researching how to survive as an independent artist and filmmaker. “My house got robbed, but all this digital art is safe,” Sickles joked with them. This chance encounter led him to realize the authenticity of the community he had found. “I was somebody who probably scoffed at the question of what your online community looks like, only a few years ago,” Sickles said. “But this was somebody actually turning out for me in a moment. And they were a stranger.”
The Art World’s Disconnect from the Blockchain
The crypto world is a perfect subject for Sickles, who has made a career of fixing his lens on often neglected or misunderstood communities. His 2014 debut, Mala Mala tells the stories of several members of the Puerto Rican transgender community. His 2017 follow-up, Dina, which won the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival, followed a couple on the autism spectrum in a “real-life romantic comedy.” Crypto Art, as he terms it, is similarly left out of the mainstream—except for the brief NFT boom in 2022—with conversations around the topic burdened by stereotypes and generalizations. “It’s hard to discern genius from grifter,” Sickles said, especially when a new form of technology is involved. “A lot of the criticisms are absolutely valid … But not everybody is a grifter or making $69 million.” The disconnect between the art world and the blockchain is partly due to the lack of understanding and education about the subject.
A New Approach to Art and Value
Sickles and his partner Shane Boris—who produced Oscar-winning documentary Navalny in 2023—sought to highlight the middle-class artists working in the Crypto Art space in his latest multimedia documentary, New Here. Part oral history, part “desktop dreamscape,” the film features interviews with art historians, Web3 pioneers, and digital artists like Claire Silver, who discuss the past, present and future of this new art world for those unfamiliar. Casey, a fictional character that falls down a literal, virtual rabbit hole, serves as a narrative guide, learning about the historical foundations of the blockchain. Ultimately, “the film is about artists making money,” Sickles said, “which is fundamentally controversial.” For him, the blockchain, NFTs, and other uses of new technology give middle-class artists the ability to support themselves autonomously. That is, without the middlemen.
A New Era of Collaboration and Support
When Sickles and his team began to make New Here, other creatives asked to get involved. His newly formed production company, DPOP Studios, was an answer to that demand for a supportive network. The studio’s offshoot projects—like a music video for a K-Pop group, and the creation and sale of NFTs related to New Here, with 15 percent of the revenue going directly to the cast in perpetuity—helped grow the film’s budget. Grants, fundraisers and other support from the same groups that sent Sickles and his wife that kombucha added to the pot, with Sickles estimating that he was able to raise about $650,000 last year for the film. “We are holistically trying to figure out better models for collaborative artmaking,” Sickles said.
Challenging Misconceptions and Stereotypes
For digital artist and writer Rhea Myers, the attraction to participating in New Here lay in Sickles’s defiant, patchwork independence and the opportunity to correct long-standing misconceptions of NFTs as, in her words, “a strange, crypto-bro, VC-backed incursion into the art world.” “That’s not where the history starts,” Myers said. “Blockchain technologies date back to the 1990s, while digital art has gone through multiple generations of practitioners even before that.”
Myers herself has been part of the Crypto Art space since the early 2000s and watched as the community was eyed warily and then dismissed by the traditional, fine art world. Her work, she added, is largely about trying to “poke people in the direction of having a look at these things they wouldn’t ordinarily.”
A Call to Action
Sickles sees blockchain as a tool to provide artists and marginalized groups economic autonomy. “You get to encounter people who are making NFTs and they’re using the money to pay their rent, or pay for their meds, or to do other things within a capitalist society one needs money for,” Myers said. “They get incredible disapproval from their peers for this one way of making a living within capitalist society. And I just find that incredible.”
To Sickles, the disapproval—the annoyance or agitated anger towards artists who have tapped into crypto—is what remains most interesting to him as finishes New Here. “Some of the most interesting art that has lodged itself in my films—sometimes it pisses me off. Sometimes it really makes me angry. Sometimes I don’t get it. And I don’t understand why it was made. And maybe that reaction is the thing,” Sickles said.
“If all that pisses you off, that’s at least an emotion that was engendered by somebody and the community.”
“That happens less and less in the galleries in Chelsea,” Sickles said. Yes, it’s true that artists and other parties involved in the crypto community are “alchemizing value out of nothing.” But, Sickles added, “if all that pisses you off, that’s at least an emotion that was engendered by somebody and the community.” This is what makes the crypto world so fascinating, and it’s what sets it apart from other art forms.
- Blockchain technologies date back to the 1990s, while digital art has gone through multiple generations of practitioners even before that.
- Myers herself has been part of the Crypto Art space since the early 2000s and watched as the community was eyed warily and then dismissed by the traditional, fine art world.
- Sickles sees blockchain as a tool to provide artists and marginalized groups economic autonomy.
| Key Takeaways |
|---|
| Blockchain technologies have a rich history, dating back to the 1990s. |
| Myers sees blockchain as a tool to provide artists and marginalized groups economic autonomy. |
| Sickles is fascinated by the disapproval and anger towards artists who have tapped into crypto. |
A New Era of Art and Community
As Sickles finishes New Here, he looks to the future with excitement and optimism. The film is a testament to the power of community and the importance of understanding and embracing new technologies. In the world of art, nothing is certain, but one thing is clear: the blockchain and crypto art are here to stay. And with films like New Here, we can expect to see a new era of exploration, innovation, and creativity unfold. “If all that pisses you off, that’s at least an emotion that was engendered by somebody and the community.” This quote captures the essence of Sickles’s approach to the crypto world, and it’s a message that resonates deeply with the artistic community. As we look to the future, it’s clear that the blockchain and crypto art will continue to push boundaries and challenge our understanding of art, community, and value.