Artists duo Operator transforms performative actions into collectible digital assets through NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens).
Harnessing the Power of NFTs: A Game Changer for Performance Artists
Say hello to the revolutionary Decrypt NFT marketplace, home to SCENENFTs - the key to monetizing digital artwork and expanding into untapped creative fields, as revealed by performance art duo Operator in a chat with Decrypt.
Like their digital artist counterparts, performance artists faced a similar conundrum. As Ania Catherine, one half of Operator, explained, they've been stuck in the service industry, working for advertising firms, the film industry, or "dancing behind a musician," while their digital art side took a backseat. Performance artists faced an even tougher challenge due to the ephemeral nature of their work, offering nothing substantial to sell.
Enter NFTs: Collecting Movement
This change is all thanks to NFTs that enable performance artists to create everlasting, monetizable art pieces. As Catherine pondered, "What does it look like if someone can own movement as an art object?" By establishing a new form of patronage, supporters can back artists using movement as a genuine form of personal expression, not just entertainment. Their collaborative project, "Human Unreadable," showcases this potential perfectly.
"Human Unreadable" is a visually striking three-act production combining choreography, generative art, blockchain, and cryptography that builds up to a climactic live performance scheduled for late 2026. Operator felt the digital art world was missing the human element when they first delved into crypto art. They wanted to rectify this by centering the human form in their artwork, with each of the 400 pieces in the collection representing an original dance generated by an algorithm. The work draws inspiration from computational choreography's fascinating history dating back to the ICA's earliest digital art exhibitions in 1967.
Storing human movement data on the Ethereum blockchain came with its challenges, but they persisted, leveraging a technology that wasn't meant for representing the body and dance. Their determination paid off, as "Human Unreadable" nabbed the Experiential Award at the Digital Art Awards, adding to their impressive collection of prizes that includes two Lumen Prizes, a S+T+ARTS Prize, and an ADC Award.
Beyond the Market
Despite the NFT art market's current downturn, with trading volumes plummeting from $2.9 billion in 2021 to a mere $23.8 million in the first quarter of 2025, artists are undeterred. Catherine pointed out, "Artists don't create for a market. They create because they have a curiosity or a question or a drive." Art will always endure, even beyond the whims of the market, as artists relentlessly push boundaries, fueled by more than just greed or the pursuit of fame.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Sources:
- Enjin (2021, December 3). A Complete Guide to NFT Royalties and How They Work
- NonFungible (n.d.). Perspectives: Blockchain for Art
- NFTStats (n.d.). What is NFT Art?
- Hyperallergic (2021, July 26). NFTs Are Shaking Up the Art World. Here's What You Need to Know
- The Decrypt NFT marketplace, home to SCENENFTs, offers performance artists a chance to monetize digital artwork and expand into new creative fields, as seen with Operator's "Human Unreadable" project.
- NFTs enable performance artists to create everlasting, monetizable art pieces, opening up a new form of patronage and recognizing movement as an art object.
- Operator's "Human Unreadable" project, a three-act production combining choreography, generative art, blockchain, and cryptography, showcases the potential of NFTs in the performance art world.
- Despite the current downturn in the NFT art market, artists remain undeterred, as they create for curiosity, questions, or a drive, rather than market trends.
- By storing human movement data on the Ethereum blockchain, Operator leveraged technology that wasn't initially designed for representing the body and dance, marking a new frontier for digital art.
- Performance artists, like their digital artist counterparts, have embraced cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins like ETH and have taken part in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and decentralized applications (dapps) in the crypto market, as well as venturing into Defi and Non-Fungible Token (NFT) trading.
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