ProposalsProposal 669

GLITCH <3 Nouns

GLITCH is a community that brings together a highly curated group of creative and smart individuals contributing towards or researching the use of blockchain and artificial intelligence in the artistic domain to produce new artworks, technical standards, philosophical concepts, research or products that tackle key societal issues. The underlying rationale of GLITCH is twofold: (1) to push the boundaries of crypto art, by inspiring artists and engineers to collaborate in order to explore the use of blockchain as a medium, rather than as a mere transaction layer; (2) to promote the values of openness and collaboration, by pushing artists, engineers, musicians, researchers, performers, and entrepreneurs to work together towards the production of collaborative endeavours, jamming with ideas to generate new projects or initiatives.

GLITCH is a response to the systemic challenges that exist in the art world:

  1. What’s Broken in the Art World: The art world is largely controlled by a small number of gatekeepers who dictate what gets created, seen, and valued. It has become a space where financial interests override artistic freedom, limiting creativity and excluding many artists from meaningful participation.
  2. How We’re Going to Fix It: GLITCH is creating an ecosystem that reclaims creative control and empowers artists. Our residencies act as incubators for innovative public goods and technologies, aiming to break down barriers and reimagine how art and technology can coexist. The projects we create not only challenge the traditional art market but propose new models for ownership, participation, and collaboration.
  3. Alignment with Nouns values: GLITCH is about building an art world where collaboration trumps competition and where technology serves as a tool for creative liberation rather than commodification. GLITCH is helping to build a future where artists and engineers can freely experiment, remix, and create public goods that shift the art industry toward more openness and inclusivity.

KEY ACTIVITIES

1. GLITCH RESIDENCIES

Every year, GLITCH brings together a highly curated group of creative and smart individuals contributing towards or researching the use of blockchain and artificial intelligence in the artistic domain to produce new artworks, technical standards, philosophical concepts, research or products that tackle key societal issues.

These residencies comprise approximately 60 participants each year, carefully selected because of their values of openness and collaboration. The GLITCH community is a collection of artists, engineers, musicians, researchers, performers, entrepreneurs, etc. striving to exchange ideas, visions, and expertise with one another. Many of these individuals are polymaths, with strong ties in the traditional art world and/or international recognition in the blockchain and NFT landscape.

There is no clear cut agenda for topics to be worked on, as the team believes in the natural synergies that occur from a selection of top-level participants. The idea is to have a value-aligned cohort of creative and open-minded individuals live under the same roof for an extended period of time. Participants are encouraged to work on their own projects as well as to collaborate with one another, both at the conceptual, operational and artistic level. The goal of these residencies is ultimately to bring the right people, in the right place, at the right time, and then let the magic happen.

2. COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS

Collective exhibitions have been key in promoting GLITCH's mission to break down traditional barriers in the art world, by offering to emergent and established artists the chance to exhibit their work in traditional art settings, while promoting the values of openness and collaboration.

  • Ecotone Exhibition on Feral File: One of our flagship collective exhibitions, "Ecotone," was hosted on the Feral File platform. This exhibition promoted the fusion of art and blockchain technology, encouraging deep collaboration between artists and blockchain engineers. "Ecotone" served as a powerful example of how artistic expression and technological innovation can be harmonized to explore new possibilities within the creative domain.
  • Synesthesia Festival: A group of GLITCHers spent 3 weeks working collaboratively on art pieces to be exhibited at the Synesthesia Festival in Portugal. This intense creative residency further strengthened GLITCH's ethos of collaborative creation, blending different artistic mediums with blockchain and AI technologies.
  • Fey Arts Festival: GLITCH also had a significant presence at the Fey Arts Festival, where 10 GLITCHers showcased their works that sit at the intersection of art and technology. Exhibiting in a fully natural setting, these artists demonstrated how blockchain and AI can integrate into immersive, natural environments while highlighting the power of creativity and decentralized technology in reshaping the artistic domain.

3. COLLABORATIVE ART PROJECTS

GLITCH facilitates collaboration between artists and engineers, leading to the production of ambitious artworks and NFT collections that would have never been possible without this form of collaboration and cross-pollination. We list below the most notable ones:

  • Human Unreadable: the artist duo Operator has created an extremely successful Artblocks-curated collection of fully on-chain NFT choreographic works, which was awarded the Lumen Prize for the Metaversal Generative Art category. This collection was born and incubated at GLITCH and was made possible thanks to the contributions of many GLITCH engineers and collaborators, including Isaac Patka, and Leo Blondel.
  • Mechanical Garden: An evolution of the Plantoid art project that has benefited from the collaboration of engineers such as Isaac Patka, Ben Moskowitz, Martin Vert, 0xGiulio to evolve into a larger scale installation with AI-embeddings and upgraded NFT functionalities.
  • Animals: An ambition artistic collaboration between Primavera De Filippi, Will Papper, Adrien Guerrera, and Jake Hartnell to create a fully on-chain NFT collection of blockchain-based lifeforms that feed off cryptocurrency and evolve over time as new SVG genes are injected into the Aminal’s DNA code
  • Oceanic Whispers: A collaboration between the artist duo CrossLucid and many GLITCHers, including Elisabeth Sweet and Apolinario Passes, to create a new NFT collection of AI-generated works, with integrated poetry components.

4. TECHNICAL PROTOCOLS AND STANDARDS

GLITCH is not only focused on artistic creation but also on developing open-source technical protocols that serve the public good. These tools provide artists with the freedom to engage in more creative expression by offering innovative frameworks that realize their visions. Anchored in collaboration, openness, and Creative Commons principles, these protocols provide artists with tools to expand their creative possibilities.

The following protocols have been developed so far:

  • REMIX NFT: Designed to foster a culture of remixing within the NFT space, REMIX NFT encourages artists to reinterpret and build upon existing works, pushing the boundaries of collaborative creativity.
  • Token-Bound License: This protocol refers to embedding legal licenses directly into NFTs, ensuring that Creative Commons-like licenses are intrinsically tied to the tokens. This empowers artists to clearly communicate how their works can be used, remixed, or distributed, making copyright licensing more transparent.
  • Alias.studio: The Remix NFT protocol and the Token-bound Licenses combined, have given rise to the emergence of a new NFT platform, allowing for AI-generated images to an be licensed through the delivery of NFT with encoded rights.
  • GLITCH Protocol: The GLITCH protocol enables artworks to interact asynchronously through smart contracts. When a new work is created using the GLITCH protocol or when someone interacts with a work deployed on the protocol, data about the interaction is recorded on the blockchain, allowing other artworks to react to it in real-time.

Objectives

All these past activities have fostered a vibrant, diverse community of artists and technologists who have begun to penetrate the art world, challenging its norms. These creators are not only participating in the traditional art ecosystem but actively “contaminating” it by introducing new models of openness, collaboration, and blockchain-based creativity.

The key objectives we are trying to achieve are the following:

  • Attract new people into the GLITCH community: We want to attract artists, engineers, and innovators across the blockchain, AI, and art ecosystems to participate in upcoming GLITCH residencies and collaborate on cutting-edge projects for the public good.
  • Expand GLITCH Presence in the Art and Tech Worlds: Strengthen the global reach of GLITCH by connecting with international communities of artists and technologists who are pioneering new forms of creative expression at the intersection of art and blockchain.
  • Build a Self-Sustaining Ecosystem for Artists: Provide resources and support for GLITCH artists to build lasting careers within and beyond the traditional art system, offering mentorship, funds, and opportunities to exhibit at major exhibitions and festivals.
  • Drive Open Innovation Through Technical Protocols: Continue developing and promoting open-source tools such as the REMIX NFT and GLITCH Protocol, enabling artists to freely experiment with blockchain technology in an open and collaborative way.
  • Promote the GLITCH ethos in the Traditional Art World: Leverage GLITCH’s outputs and public engagement to advocate for the values of CC0 licensing, remix, openness and public goods, nudging the traditional art world towards inclusivity and collaboration.

By funding GLITCH, Nouns contributes to transforming the art world—turning a broken system into one where artists can easily collaborate and align with the values that Nouns stands for.

Path to sustainability:

GLITCH is actively working towards sustainability by developing long-term revenue streams. Thanks to this Nouns grant, we will be able to build a strong ecosystem of artists and collaborators in order to ensure self-sustainability in the long-term.

  • Revenue from NFT Sales: The NFTs created during the GLITCH residency are designed to generate income for both artists and the GLITCH collective. By incorporating innovative models like the sale of NFT collections through mechanisms such as Droposals (splitting proceeds between Nouns DAO, GLITCH, and artists), GLITCH aims to build a consistent flow of revenue that supports future residencies and projects.
  • Expanding Partnerships: GLITCH is working to expand its network of collaborators and funders. By building relationships with other DAOs, blockchain organizations, and art collectives, GLITCH aims to diversify its sources of funding and support. This will reduce reliance on any single entity while continuing to grow its influence and reach.

Why Nouns ?

  1. GLITCH is made up of artists who are the most “Nounish” people we know, but aren’t (yet) part of the Nouns community Nouns drive radical creativity, experimentation, and community-driven innovation, which are at the core of the GLITCH community. GLITCH artists share the values of creative freedom and understand the power of collective effort, using blockchain technology in experimental ways to push the boundaries of art and culture.
  2. GLITCH is working on initiatives that could benefit from Nouns implication, and Nouns could benefit from these initiatives as well. GLITCH creates initiatives that embody the ethos of open-source collaboration and the promotion of public goods. For instance, the NFT Token-Bound Licensing supports the principles of permissionless innovation, by embedding Creative Commons-like licensing into NFTs to foster a culture of remixing and collaboration.
  3. GLITCH bridges the gap between crypto and traditional art, which is a community that Nouns has thus far struggled to reach. GLITCH is at the source of groundbreaking projects that explore the creative potential of blockchain technology in the artistic domain. Supporting GLITCH will strengthen the connection between the Nouns community and the traditional art world, attracting new artists to the Nouns ecosystem and thereby reinforcing its influence in the art world.

Building on Major Nouns Initiatives

Nouns has successfully ventured into spaces beyond the art world, spearheading innovative projects like Nouns Esports, Gnars, Nounish, and Quack, which have expanded Nouns’ influence into esports/gaming, skateboarding, YouTube-focused creative audiences, and Instagram-focused meme audiences respectively. These initiatives have demonstrated the power of the Nouns community in shaping diverse industries by aligning them with Nouns’ values of openness, collaboration, and public good creation.

However, the art world still lacks a fully realized initiative that embodies the Nouns ethos. GLITCH offers an opportunity to fill that gap by injecting the Nouns’ values into the traditional art world, and beyond. By leveraging the funding model of Nouns and building on the success of our past residencies, GLITCH has the potential to create lasting change within the art industry, much like these previous initiatives have done in their respective domains.

Additionally, just as the https://www.nouns.camp/proposals/620 (N.O.U.N.S.) proposal fosters a creative, media-driven initiative for Nouns, GLITCH can serve as a long-term incubator for artistic and technical innovation that reshapes how we engage with art in the blockchain space. By supporting GLITCH, Nouns can expand its reach into the arts, building a bridge between creative communities and the core Nounish values.

Previous relationship with Nouns:

Last year, following a successful proposal to Nouns, we received a 25 ETH allocation from Nouns: 10 ETH were intended to fund the GLITCH3 residency, and 15 ETH were allocated to a Prop House to fund the production of artworks within the GLITCH collective, and beyond. A summary propDate was posted to provide an overview of what happened during the GLITCH3 residency, along with another propDate to describe the outcomes of the PropHouse. The GLITCH PropHouse was very successful, with 294 votes cast for 33 props.

The 5 artists selected by the PropHouse have each designed a NFT that will be minted through a Droposal. 20% of the proceeds will go to Nouns, 40% to GLITCH4 and 40% to the artists. Please support this endeavor by purchasing the collection ! :)

Through this proposal, the Droposal's NFTs will be transferred to the Glitch Residency address temporarily before being transferred to Nouns. This is because the Nouns DAO treasury address is not compatible with the onERC721Received() function used by Foundation for mints.

Given last year’s success, we would like to repeat the experience with another round of funding. This time, however, we would like to raise funds to foster and promote the activities of the GLITCH ecosystem as a whole, rather than just a single residency. The goal is for the GLITCH community to use these funds to become self-sustainable, so that no more grants are required.

Future involvement with Nouns:

We will deepen the engagement of the GLITCH community with Nouns and create opportunities for collaboration and co-creation. Here's what’s coming next:

  1. Becoming Nouns Ambassadors: GLITCH artists have had firsthand experience with Nouns tools and governance. As such, they are in a strong position to act as ambassadors for Nouns in the broader blockchain and art communities, showcasing how the Nouns ecosystem supports creativity and open-source projects. By spreading awareness and engaging new artists, the GLITCH community can help expand the influence of Nouns in the traditional art world and beyond.
  2. Collaborating on Nouns Projects: Moving forward, GLITCH artists can propose and collaborate on Nous projects, leveraging their skills in art, design, and blockchain to contribute to the creation of new NFTs, public goods, and cultural projects that align with the values of the Nouns community.
  3. Creating Droposals: One natural progression is for GLITCH artists to design and launch new NFT collections on Droposal, inspired by Nouns aesthetics and values. These collections will contribute directly to the Nouns treasury, and a portion of the proceeds will be reinvested into supporting future GLITCH initiatives.

Estimated Budget

| Expenses | Amount | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------ | | GLITCH 4 Art / Tech residency: Organization of the fourth edition of the GLITCH residency, from November 15 to 29, 2024 at the Chateau du Fey | 40k | | Grants for the production of collective GLITCH artworks: We will support artists from the GLITCH community and beyond to create artworks that push the boundaries of crypto-art by promoting more open and collaborative practices | 30k | | Sustainability efforts: Tech and marketing efforts for the creation and promotion of NFT collections that will contribute towards funding a variety of future GLITCH initiatives | 25k | | Organization of collective exhibitions in the traditional art world: Fey Arts 2025 | 20k | | Collective GLITCH exhibition at https://linktr.ee/artverse.paris in Paris | 20k | | Miscellaneous: Funds for travels, communication, participation in conferences | 10k |

Team

Primavera De Filippi Research Director at National Center of Scientific Research in Paris, Faculty Associate at the Berkman-Klein Center at Harvard Author of “Blockchain & the Law” (2018) by Harvard University Press Author of “Blockchain Governance” (2024) published by MIT Press Founder and coordinator of the U.N. Internet Governance Forum’s dynamic coalitions on Blockchain Technology (COALA).

Will Papper Co-founder of Syndicate Nouns holder and delegate Core Team of Constitution DAO, Creator of Adventure Gold

Colborn Bell Founder and Director of Museum of Crypto-Art (MoCA) Co-founder of ZeroOne NFT Platform

Isaac Patka Security Alliance (SEAL) Co-founder of Shield3

Jake Hartnell Founder of Juno blockchain Founder of DAODAO Co-founder of Layer