In “NFTs: Where Are We Now?” we discussed evolving uses of NFTs that are replacing early novelties like the Bored Apes Yacht Club series. In this vein, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has announced a program that evokes the old chain letter game (where each person in the chain adds something and sends it to a friend) and, more specifically, the 1950s phenomenon of “mail art” exchanges among artists. MoMA calls it “an experiment in collective creativity on blockchain.”

Each postcard is co-created by 15 stampers, each of whom creates a digital image according to MOMA specifications and confirms their stamp on the blockchain, sending it on to another person until the card is completed. Each completed card is co-owned by its 15 creators and buying or selling decisions can only be made collectively, thereby discouraging financial speculation and focusing on community-building and collaboration.

According to Sasha Stiles, a Kalmyk American poet, artist and AI researcher, one of 15 artists participating in the soft launch of the program, “[t]here are numerous historical examples of co-created artist and literary projects. But this one uniquely leverages technology as muse, medium and messenger.”

The postcard program is only one of MoMA’s explorations of the technology associated with Web 3.0, the newest iteration of the Internet, built on blockchain technology and controlled by its users rather than by a central authority.