On how to keep the knowledge in the information age

When it comes to mixing art and science, the results can be surprising. The various art projects that involve science-related research show us that the possibilities are multiple; artists take an interest in subjects that are little explored because they have no commercial interest, they dig into recognised fields to bring an alternative vision, or they create their own movements and mediums. We know that art has historically evolved in line with technological advances, and therefore with scientific discoveries, to the point of democratising the tools and methods to the general public. The best contemporary example would be that of digital culture, whose rapid but certain evolution has profoundly influenced the societies of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The use of the internet and the advent of the web has had a major impact on the whole world. In the 1980s, we entered the information age. It was only a decade later that the phenomenon gained momentum, so much so that today the influx of data has become so great that it is increasingly difficult to distinguish the real from the fake. Yet the storage function of the web still makes it an undeniably practical and useful tool. The same thing is happening with NFTs, which have become an artistic medium; they are a direct result of blockchain technology and ensure the protection of data through their immutable, transparent and unique character. These characteristics make NFTs interesting as a potential solution to the issue of knowledge preservation, an issue that has fascinated generations of artists and historians over the centuries.

So how do we keep the knowledge? Western history tells us of improbable dead ends and knowledge gaps from one era to the next. The Antikythera mechanism could be the symbol of this; up to then, invasions, wars and crusades have been the cause of disappearance of advanced technology. The further we go into the future, the more environmental disasters will gain a place on the podium of causes of cultural extinction. Archaeology plays a key role in the re-discovery of forgotten skills and ancestral cultures, but it is contemporary artist-researchers, such as Anna Dumitriu, who take care to intervene in the persistent problems associated with them. And generally, the answers to the problems of the past tend to vary with technological progress, in a long and evolving process, like a paradoxical cycle.

When artists enter the experimental phases of new technologies, they produce in abundance to test the limits and explore the drifts and results. These are always fruitful; the outcomes may be sometimes speculative but nevertheless give us a glimpse of a possible future solution or setback. Most of the time, experimentation tends to be trivialised into a new artistic practice, as the digital arts illustrate so well. Thus, it may well be that NFTs serve a much more important purpose than just a commercial one, and Anna is one of those who apply them to other areas of interest.

According to the artist James Bridle, we are living in a New Dark Age in which we are changing our thought patterns to incorporate more and more information blindly. Fortunately, artists such as Anna Dumitriu have been able to work their way through the digital jungle to make the best of it, and to get us thinking about constructive solutions. Working hand in hand with archaeologists and scientists, she ensures that we remember forgotten histories and our role in our common future, as a guardian of humanity.