Event Description
In September 2023, the SEC ordered that the creators of Stoner Cats ‘destroy’ any remaining NFTs in their possession, and in November 2023, the European Union proposed a ‘kill switch’ on any smart contract on the blockchain, but what exactly does it mean to destroy something on the blockchain? Confronted with immutability as a defining characteristic of the blockchain, the act and concept of destruction seems to create a paradox: how can an immutable object be destroyed? Through an analysis of approaches to destruction in the field of blockchain-based art, this talk argues that destruction on the blockchain veers away from traditional conventions of destruction and towards theories of performance and performativity informed by the unique affordances of the blockchain itself as a medium and its entanglements with capital and commodification. Thus, destruction of objects on the blockchain becomes a performative act.
Event Speaker
Michael Assis, graduate student at Bard Graduate Center
Event Information
Open to Columbia University ID holders. No registration required. Please join via Zoom. Please email Stephanie Reitzig at [email protected] with any questions.
Hosted by the Science Studies Working Group.
