Web3 for the Arts and Culture (WAC) Lab, with contributions from the Tezos Foundation and led by We Are Museums, continues to transform cultural institutions into emerging technologies pioneers with their third innovation laboratory. The Château de Chambord, Swiss National Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, among others, joined a lineage of innovative cultural institutions who are shaping the future of museums, such as the Musée d’Orsay, LAS Art Foundation and HEK (House of Electronic Arts).
Harnessing the power of blockchain technology, generative AI, and immersive experiences, ten cultural institutions announce their upcoming projects engaging new audiences, preserving cultural heritage, and exploring new avenues for fundraising.
Museums today face numerous challenges, including engaging younger, tech-savvy audiences, securing funding, and staying relevant in a rapidly digitizing world. Web3 presents a promising solution to these challenges by leveraging blockchain technology, generative AI and immersive worlds. This new technological framework can transform how museums interact with visitors, offering immersive and interactive experiences that captivate a diverse audience. Additionally, Web3 enables new revenue streams through the creation and sale of digital assets, such as NFTs, and unique membership experiences, potentially providing a more sustainable financial model.
Since its inception in 2021, WAC Lab has been at the forefront of empowering cultural institutions with the knowledge and tools needed to thrive in the digital age. Through comprehensive training, mentoring, and practical application, WAC Lab has equipped more than three hundred cultural professionals with the skills to navigate the complex world of blockchain technology and unleash its potential in the cultural sector.
Over the past eight months, over eight hundred art professionals joined weekly discussions with international renowned cultural institutions on leveraging Blockchain technologies to understand the new shifts coming with Web3 [the third generation of the internet, emphasizing decentralization and blockchain technology]. With the wish of becoming more specialized and educating their teams, twenty-four museums followed an extensive training program provided by WAC Lab. As a final step, ten ambitious institutions embarked on a transformative journey with the support of seven technical partners, culminating in the development and launch of innovative Web3 projects that promise to reshape the art and culture landscape.
Over the years, WAC Lab witnessed and contributed to the fast adoption of new technologies by cultural institutions. While 2021 was all about fundraising, 2022 about NFT exhibitions and 2023 about acquisitions, it looks clear that cultural institutions want to explore new types of relationships with their audience in 2024.
“Taking the creative application of blockchain even further by blending museum culture with blockchain culture, this new season unveils the potential of decentralized governance and new types of loyalty programs,” said Diane Drubay, founder of We Are Museums and WAC Lab.
Here is a preview of the project highlights currently developed under WAC Lab Season 3:
The art organization 221A (Canada) is incubating the Node Library, a decentralized web node service for the arts and culture sector, designed to develop public prototypes for distributed storage, conservation and the validation of cultural assets. With the support of Nimi, they are mapping a token-based membership program to access their programs and services.
Château de Chambord (France), supported by Broken Egg and DANAE, is exploring innovative fundraising models to support the renovation of the castle and create a club of donors at the same occasion. The fundraising will focus on the restoration of the Francis Ist wing: by modeling the architectural elements of the wing, donors will have the opportunity to choose the part they wish to restore and to get exclusive information about the work. Donation after donation, element after element, the 3D wing will materialize. Donors will then own an NFT fraction of the castle.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (United States), supported by Broken Egg, is creating an immersive interactive woodworking experience for an upcoming experimental space in the galleries, with a potential NFT component. The experience will be focused on guiding users through different woodworking processes inspired by contemporary artists who are represented in the museum’s permanent collection.
Goethe Institut Lisbon (Portugal), supported by Nimi, aims to set up a token-based membership system using proof-of-attendance tokens, offering benefits to members and exploring the potential of DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations).
Museo de Arte Popular José Hernández (Argentina), in collaboration with HASHTAG and supported by fxhash and KERU, is integrating an AI-generated poem performance inspired by the famous Argentinian poem ‘Martín Fierro’ with an unique NFT souvenir that will be minted as a gift during The Night of The Museums in November 2024.
Museum Ulm (Germany), in collaboration with NRW-Forum/Kunstpalast Düsseldorf and supported by Nimi, is building the foundation of the future operational DAO for the nexmuseum.io platform starting with a token-based engagement system.
The Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico), supported by fxhash and KERU, is planning a live minting experience with the artist Gisela Colón for their 25th anniversary, featuring generative art and interactive displays.
Swiss National Museum (Switzerland), supported by Artifact Labs, is working on a proof-of-concept to explore the technical feasibility of a decentralized catalog system dedicated to collection related digital assets and digital-born objects, that could be used by and shared with several institutions, researchers and individuals.
The Royal Danish Collection (Denmark), in collaboration with the artist Martine Jarlgaard, supported by creative coder Aldrovanda, presents the art piece “Minimum Viable Human Nature”. Reviving a unique collection of historical royal porcelain and botanical prints through interactive generative mechanisms and NFTs, the installation will offer visitors a personalized, digital experience. The project is supported by playrecordmint and Manuel Lampert, and will be available on objkt.com.
XR HUB Bavaria (Germany), supported by objkt.com and KERU, uses blockchain technology to reify virtual creations and create a personalized digital souvenir in cooperation with Deutsches Museum in Munich.
To celebrate the achievements of the participating institutions, We Are Museums invites you to join the WAC Lab Season 3 Demo Day on May 30, 2024, at 4pm CEST. This virtual event will showcase the transformative projects developed during the program and provide an insightful glimpse of the future of museum innovation.
‘We’re thrilled about WAC Lab’s resumed success as Tezos Blockchain continues to lead the way in its mission to strengthen cultural institutions in exploration of new on-chain opportunities. Previous participants seamlessly integrated Web3 into their programs, such as Musée d’Orsay offering digital souvenirs and introducing live on-site collecting experiences by artist Agoria. I can’t wait to discover the creative projects from this latest cohort come to life.” comments Aleksandra Artamonovskaja, Head of Arts at Trilitech, the adoption hub for the Tezos blockchain.
As we look towards the future, We Are Museums remains committed to empowering cultural institutions with the knowledge and tools needed to thrive in the digital era.
Join us on May 30th at 4pm CEST for the WAC Lab Season 3 Demo Day and witness the future of art and culture unfold. Register here: https://forms.gle/P71uaLu49guYBGaFA For more information, please visit our website at https://wac-lab.xyz/
Ten Major Cultural Innovation Projects Released with WAC LAB: Château de Chambord, Swiss National Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and More.
Web3 for the Arts and Culture (WAC) Lab, with contributions from the Tezos Foundation and led by We Are Museums, continues to transform cultural institutions into emerging technologies pioneers with their third innovation laboratory. The Château de Chambord, Swiss National Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, among others, joined a lineage of innovative cultural institutions who are shaping the future of museums, such as the Musée d’Orsay, LAS Art Foundation and HEK (House of Electronic Arts).
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