[Web3 not in the Books]AI Network’s Uncommon Initiative
See the original YouTube livestream with AI Network CEO Minhyun Kim here.
Uncommon Gallery is a staple of AI Network. An IRL gallery in Seoul, South Korea — Uncommon is a place where art, AI, digital creativity and blockchain technology intersect.
It may not be immediately obvious why Uncommon is integral to AI Network and its goals, but as we shall see, it forms a core part of the AI Network vision. In order to understand it, though, we must start by understanding tokens.
FTs and NFTs: Fungibility vs Non-Fungibility
We’ve spoken a lot about tokens previously on our Medium channel, including tokenomics, token velocity and tokenology. Today we’ll take it back to a simpler explanation — the difference between FTs and NFTs, fungible and non-fungible tokens.
Fungibility is a key feature of many tokens and currencies. All fiat currencies, for example, are fungible. If I’m holding a one dollar bill and you’re also holding a dollar bill, we can exchange our bills and we’ll still both be holding a piece of paper that represents the value of a single dollar. The bills we possess both contain distinct serial numbers, but which bill either of us is holding is irrelevant; they both still represent the value of one dollar. This is the core concept of fungibility. Fungibility is key to the vast majority of cryptocurrencies. AIN, BTC, ETH, ADA etc are all fungible tokens.
Non-fungibility is the other side of the concept. A thing is non-fungible when it has a unique value unto itself — it cannot be traded for something else of exact equal value. Uniqueness lies at the heart of non-fungibility, and is shown in the fact a non-fungible token cannot be treated as the same as any other.
Let’s go back to our dollar example. Each dollar bill contains a unique serial number. Where both our dollars hold the same monetary value, they may hold different values to different people depending on their serial numbers. If I find personal value in a particular serial number (maybe one happens to contain my birthday), then that dollar bill is specifically and uniquely valuable to me. No other bill would have that exact same serial number, and therefore no other bill would hold the same value to me. In my eyes, this dollar bill would be a non-fungible token.
The Value of NFTs
Fungible tokens on the Ethereum blockchain came under ERC20, whereas NFTs came under ERC721. You can think of these as the 20th and 721st proposal of the Ethereum network, respectively. Here we can see here how far after fungible tokens non-fungible tokens came, perhaps suggesting that non-fungibility isn’t as important as fungibility. This is quite far from the case, however, as non-fungibility exists rather deep down in the fabric of nature, which we can explain with the example of human cognitive development.
Humans are NFTs first, because each human is a unique entity that cannot be traded from one to the other. Each human possesses a specific collection of traits and characteristics that make that person unique. When a mother-to-be is pregnant, in the baby’s tiny developing brain, there is no difference between her and her mother, they are essentially one entity (one ‘token’). After birth, however, the first ‘token’ the baby will form in her mind is one of ‘mom’. Mom is unique to the baby — other people may look like mom, but no-one else will be mom, so the first token in the baby’s mind is an NFT. The second NFT she forms in her mind may be ‘dad’, and then ‘me’. Here we can see non-fungibility comes before fungibility. NFTs before FTs.
During development a baby will come across other concepts which will also take the form of ‘NFTs’ in her mind, but she will also come across fungible concepts, as well as concepts that blur the two. Say she watches a TV show about monkeys. Each monkey is fungible in her mind at first — they look and act very similar to each other, so one is exchangeable for another. However, after some time she may start to notice differences, perhaps in the monkeys’ features or separate behaviors, and they begin to take the form of NFTs in her mind (which, incidentally, we can somewhat liken to the Bored Ape Yacht Club).
After this point, though, the NFTs begin being assigned values in her mind. Each monkey may be an NFT, but the monkey’s cannot feed her, play with her or hug her, but her parents can. This makes her parents far more valuable as NFTs in her mind due to the utility they offer, the unique value they possess to her.
This is the essence of NFTs; unique value and utility. Each NFT’s value being very closely connected to the owner of that token.
Uncommon Gallery and NFTs
Blockchain-based NFTs possess multiple potential values due to their unique nature and are capable of many things. Among them, they can;
- Indicate and manage ownership of digital or physical items
- Manage memberships to groups or communities
- Contain code or various types of media files
- Contain various types of content
- Act as a unique wrapper for digital assets
For art in particular, which is the focus of Uncommon Gallery, NFTs have an obvious use-case. Every piece of art is different, independent and can be seen as a unique entity. One Monet is not worth the same as another Monet, and a hand-drawn picture may have a different value than an AI-generated image. NFTs can capture the unique essence of any piece of art, and record that essence, and ownership of that piece, on the blockchain.
What makes Uncommon Gallery Uncommon
The Uncommon Gallery is so named ‘Uncommon’ for a reason. In order to understand why Uncommon is uncommon, we must first understand what a common gallery is.
Artists & creators offer their works for sale to collectors via common galleries. Consequently, one of the most important functions of a traditional gallery is to explain the work of the artist to a collector. Explaining this work can almost be seen as a prerequisite duty of the gallery. Each artistic work will have some form of meaning — there is a reason why the artist created the piece in the first place — and this meaning is given by the artist.
The meaning is interpreted by the gallery and conveyed to the collector. Sometimes collectors may delegate the interpretation of artistic meaning to the gallery because they like or trust the gallery. If the art resonates with the collector, they give money in the direction of the gallery in exchange for the art.
This displays the flow of artistic meaning. The meaning originates from (A) the artist, is then interpreted by (B) the gallery, and then conveyed to © the collector. As the meaning flows from A to B (artist to gallery), some of it will be lost or reinterpreted. When the meaning flows from B to C (gallery to collector), the meaning may get diluted or reinterpreted even further. Meaning warps and changes the more minds it flows through, and the collector may never know what was fully in the artist’s mind during creation, and so the meaning is different between artist, gallery and collector.
Uncommon Initiative
As an NFT gallery, Uncommon gallery flips this traditional approach and the common flow of artistic meaning from artist to gallery to collector.
In common galleries the artist creates a work and adds meaning which viewers must discern. At Uncommon Gallery, viewers discern their own meaning for the art on display. The direction of meaning flips from top to bottom — from artist to collector — and instead starts with the collector and their own perspective of the art.
We can describe this as;
‘Death of the author, birth of the reader’
This doesn’t mean the original author/artist died, but rather that they gave up on explaining. This is by design. The author leaves it to the reader to interpret, and that in itself can be rewarding to both sides. We can see this as there being no meaning in the art for the artist, and the interpretation is free and open, which gives us no author, only readers.
This is the essence of the NFT and Uncommon Gallery as a place to exhibit works of this nature.
It starts with readers and begins with a journey to find grassroots meaning. In the end, meaning gathers in one place and we form a community, so different grassroots meanings come together. As we come together, Uncommon and AI Network aim to become a place for the exchange of ideas without borders or national boundaries. This is the Uncommon initiative.
Uncommon Gift Programme
At Web3 events people gather, form communities and are sometimes gifted NFTs. These NFTs are called POAPs — ‘proof of attendance protocols’ — and are NFT badges digitized on the blockchain as proof of event attendance. These unique blockchain entities can act as souvenirs of events attended (and sometimes even confer membership or future event benefits). This is similar to keeping ticket stubs as mementos.
AI Network founder Minhyun Kim wanted to interpret this in a better way and wished to utilize it in a manner that connected visitors to each other, and not just to events. So using POAP NFTs, he created a method to connect people for the connection of grassroots artistic interpretations and NFTs riding with them between different people and events. For example, if you attended Uncommon Gallery and received a POAP NFT, you learned something after meeting a particular person at the gallery, and then after meeting another person you discovered another gallery, and this is all recorded through the NFT. Would this be possible just with NFTs, though?
Well, AI Network held Seoul Ai.P in 2023, a digital art and Web3 gallery tour through Seoul, and connected the physical and digital spaces using POAP NFTs and physical stamps. Multiple galleries and Web3 spaces took part and visitors could obtain free POAP NFTs, physical gifts and a physical Web3 passport which they could stamp at every venue and event they attended.
This reflects the essence of Web3 and NFTs — blending the physical and digital spaces into ‘phygital’ assets through gallery & event attendance, and connections of unique artistic interpretations of NFT art.
Uncommon Gallery flips the traditional flow of artistic meaning and puts interpretative power into the minds of collectors and art appreciators, all through the means of blockchain technology and NFTs. Uncommon and AI Network embody the spirit of Web3 in using NFTs and phygital assets to foster collaboration and promote grassroots connection in digital art, redefining how art is interpreted in the modern world.
AI Network is a decentralized AI development ecosystem based on blockchain technology. Within its ecosystem, resource providers can earn $AIN tokens for their GPUs, developers can gain access to GPUs for open source AI programs, and creators can transform their AI creations into AINFTs. The ultimate goal of AI Network is to bring AI to Web3, where everyone can easily develop and utilize artificial intelligence.
If you want to know more about us,
- Homepage: https://www.ainetwork.ai/
- AI Network DAO Discord: https://discord.com/invite/aindao/
- AI Network YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ainetwork_ai/
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