Remixable Media
For my thesis at Portland State University, I created a virtual art exhibition that serves as a response to NFTs and a critique of the concept of artificial scarcity as it applies to digital art. Instead of seeking to make digital art artificially scarce, why not seek to utilize its strength as an infinitely reproducible, even remixable media? All of the art featured in the gallery is licensed under Creative Commons, so it is able to be used and remixed by others, as long as they adhere to the artists' selected Creative Commons license.
To enforce the idea behind my exhibit — “remixing” art that is Creative Commons (CC) or open source to create something new — I found it appropriate to use CC and open source elements in my branding. All typefaces are open source, including the base type used for the logo (which is based on lettering done for Jugend magazine in 1896). The pixelations were created using old art licensed under CC.
Overall, I wanted the gallery to have a very harsh and internet-y appearance. A wild aesthetic felt fitting given the subject matter and that NFTs and crypto could be described as the “wild west” of the internet, especially at the time of the gallery’s creation in the first quarter of 2022.
The gallery is hosted on Mozilla Hubs and was built using its sister program Mozilla Spoke.
I also created my own piece for the gallery, titled Orb & Ornament.
I advertised the gallery by creating a social media post that was done by “remixing” all of the art submitted, reinforcing the ethos of the project.