Art. Blockchain. These two words are not necessarily synonymous with each other.

In the recent unfolding of Art Moments Jakarta, a fresh new technology revolution was introduced to the art scene. As a result, artworks can now be truly authenticated.

Art Moments Jakarta (AMJ) held its inaugural art fair in Indonesia early this month, 3rd to 5th May 2019, at Sheraton Grand Jakarta Gandaria City Hotel and made waves in the contemporary art market of South East Asia. The highly successful event was attended by over 10,000 unique visitors, art collectors and art-lovers. AMJ curated a strong and diverse group of artworks by some of the most sought-after international contemporary artists, including KAWS, Cyril Kongo, Mr Banksy, Damien Hirst, Yayoi Kusama and Natee Utarit. A US$ 6 million of sales generation was reported over the span of the three-days-fair. Many artworks were successfully sold, such as paintings from neo-pop Japanese artist Mr., sculptures by Li Chen and G. Sidharta, and paintings from Banksy, Handiwirman, and Agus Suwage. Also held at AMJ was an Art Talk titled ‘Paradigm Shift in the Arts Industry with Technological Inclusions’, whereby Industry Experts Arno R. Setiawan, Douglas Gan, Marcelo Garcia Casil, Belinda Ang, Daryl Goh spoke in a panel moderated by Melin Merril.

 

Where exactly does the blockchain fit in? Douglas Gan, CEO of BCB Global, shared how the art industry can use BCB Blockchain technology to authenticate the origin of artworks. Imagine the future where every single artwork produced by an artist can be authenticated on the blockchain. The blockchain ledger can never be changed or altered by anyone. This enables the artist to authenticate their work truly, and by doing so, can make every particular piece more valuable than if it were to have multiple copies. Furthermore, if the artist were to tokenize themselves, their art pieces, projects, and series they are commissioned to do, the artist would fundraise and share their profits with their fans, project commissioners, and art galleries. This would create a win-win situation for the whole art industry. Using the BCB blockchain technology, smart contracts can be created; this will enable artists to work with galleries and form smart contracts on the blockchain ledger. This could be for a particular series or project being commissioned.

 

In summary, BCB technology can create smart contracts between the artist and the gallery, and it can also be used to tokenize either the artist or the project. It can also be used to authenticate the origin of every art piece the artist has done.