Abstract
In recent years, blockchain, a new and potentially disruptive technology, has come to the fore. Despite its widespread use in several fields, it is in the cultural sector that it can offer numerous advantages. The implementation of a blockchain system could make the traditional art market less opaque by recording data on an encrypted and immutable register, and its use could also improve the circulation of works of art, encourage their collection, and promote a new form of ownership. This chapter highlights the features of blockchain that make it suitable for the management and enhancement of cultural heritage, considering the different fields of application as well as the way in which it can be integrated to support the sale and management of cultural assets and to develop new business models for cultural and creative firms.
TopIntroduction
The intense technological advancement over the last two decades has led to major innovations in several areas including computer security (cryptography) and decentralized data management (Morabito, 2017). This has resulted in a new and potentially disruptive technology, referred to as Blockchain, coming to the fore.
It is a tool capable of bringing numerous benefits to the economic system, despite the unknowns being numerous. Among the various fields of application, it is in the cultural sector that Blockchain can offer the most satisfying benefits, although it generates quite a few perplexities and imposes a renewal of established practices and models on a sector traditionally reluctant to change and innovate.
Creative and cultural industries are vital sources of innovation and nowadays digital technologies play a central role in supporting culture-led development strategies (Bosone et al., 2021) and several scholars recognized the importance of digital technologies such as Blockchain on the mechanisms at the core of value creation (Sashi, 2021).
The implementation of a Blockchain system could make the traditional art market less opaque by recording data on an encrypted and immutable register, and could improve the circulation of works of art, encourage their collection, and promote a new form of ownership. Emerging platforms where consumers trade fractional ownership of artwork that is tokenized on Blockchain is an innovative business model utilizing the characteristics of this technology in the art market (Kim, 2020).
Within this scenario, specific attention has been paid to the emerging phenomenon of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), on which the spotlights of cultural, academic, institutional, and business realities are projected. NFTs seem to offer Blockchain an opportunity for expansion, moving from a specialised audience to a broader one.
This technology might contribute to the definition of new rules and offer different mechanisms to institutionalize markets (Russo-Spena et al., 2022).
Thus, the use of Blockchain technology in the cultural scenario has the potential to revitalize a sector severely hit by the economic crisis following the Covid-19 pandemic, but the efforts that cultural industries must put forth to adopt it are not understated, together with the significant up-skilling and re-skilling costs that firms must bear.
Drawing on these considerations, this chapter aim to offer an overview of the uses of Blockchain technology in the field of cultural heritage and to assess the ways in which it can support the creation of a new ecosystem for the management of cultural and creative industries thanks to its intrinsic characteristics of immutability, traceability, and transparency that are essential features for ensuring the fairness and transparency of transactions taking place in the art industry.
Specifically, the analysis carried out in this contribution aims to fulfil the following research objectives:
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Review the existing literature related to the application fields of blockchain in the cultural and creative sector.
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Identify and analyze concrete use cases of blockchain technology in cultural and creative enterprises and verify if they align with the evidence emerged from the literature review.
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Clarify what are the key features of blockchain technology that contribute to generating value for the business of these cultural companies.
TopTheoretical Background
Recent literature highlights growing attention on the dialogue between innovative technologies and the cultural and creative sector. In addition, the term “Blockchain” is increasingly used in studies concerning cultural heritage.
The authors consider it appropriate to systematize the literature review into three key concepts: Innovation in the cultural and creative industry; Blockchain Technology and Blockchain application in the cultural and creative industry.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Generative Art: Type of art that is created almost entirely with the use of an autonomous system that determines the characteristics of a work of art otherwise dependent on the artist's decisions.
Blockchain: A data structure that consists of growing lists of records, called “blocks”, securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a unique cryptographic code that does not allow the data it contains to be altered or modified.
Crypto Art: Art movement involving digital artworks linked to the blockchain through non-fungible tokens.
Distributed Ledger Technology: Systems in which all participants in a network have the same copy of a database that can be read and modified independently by individuals.
Tokenization: Process enabling the digitalization of a physical object through the conversion of its rights into a token and its registration on a blockchain.
Non-Fungible Token: A special type of token, representing the deed and certificate of authenticity, written on a blockchain, of a unique asset (digital or physical). Non-fungible tokens are therefore not mutually interchangeable.
Fractional Ownership: A form of collaborative consumption where the overall cost of an asset is split among a group of owners or users.