Precedents & Lineage
Decentralized Futures is not the first time artists and technologists have come together to reimagine infrastructure.
It draws inspiration from historical movements where the systems of art were questioned, rewired, and rebuilt—often through collaboration, chance, and resistance.
Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.)
In the 1960s, artists like Robert Rauschenberg and engineers at Bell Labs, led by Billy Klüver, launched Experiments in Art and Technology. E.A.T. wasn’t just a platform, it was a protocol of possibility.It invited artists and engineers to collaborate on unpredictable terms.
It treated failure as discovery.
It refused institutional gatekeeping and favored distributed experimentation.
Fluxus
Fluxus was an art movement from the 1960s that focused on play, participation, and everyday life. Instead of making traditional art objects, Fluxus artists created simple instructions — called scores — that anyone could follow. These scores turned ordinary actions into performances.The idea was that art didn’t need to happen in a gallery or be made by professionals. It could happen anywhere, and anyone could take part.
Fluxus wasn’t about creating permanent works. It was about process, experimentation, and inviting others to join in. Its spirit still lives on in art that is open, playful, and meant to be shared.
Looking Forward
Decentralized Futures inherits this ethos, recontextualized for a world shaped by AI, algorithms, and Web3 logic.
Like E.A.T. and Fluxus, we are building to learn, provoke, and rehearse new cultural logics.
Decentralized Futures
is a collaboration between
Columbia DSL & the Solana Foundation