Digital truth

Artwork ➢ Digital truth Artist ➢ Domenico Barra Text ➢ hex6c and Domenico Barra

Time's glory is to calm contending kings, To unmask falsehood, and bring truth to light, To stamp the seal of time in aged things, To wake the morn, and sentinel the night, To wrong the wronger till he render right. William Shakespeare - The Rape of Lucrece

The technical specification of blockchain was proposed in 1991 by Stuart Haber, a cryptographer, and Scott Stornetta, a physicist. They published their work in The Journal of Cryptography in 1991 under the title How to Time-Stamp a Digital Document.

Haber and Stornetta were trying to deal with the epistemological problem of truth in the digital age:

The prospect of a world in which all text, audio, picture and video documents are in digital form on easily modifiable media raises the issue of how to certify when a document was created or last changed. The problem is to time-tamp the data, not the medium.

In particular, they started from two questions:

1. If it is so easy to manipulate a digital file on a personal computer, how will we know what was true about the past?

2. How can we trust what we know of the past without having to trust a central authority to keep the record?

In "Who the Fuck is Dom Barra" Domenico Barra crafts a captivating exploration of paradoxes of truth in the digital space of crypto art and NFTs. Barra merges a juridic declaration and the artwork into a unique narrative. His non-work of art challenges norms, weaving conflicts that delve into the heart of artistic intention.

Key Aspects

Digital Signatures: Barra's declaration carries both a simple digital signature within the text and a digital signature via a cryptographic wallet on the NFT. This deliberate mix prompts a rethinking of traditional authorship and ownership.

File Duplicity: Acknowledging a copy of the declaration on his computer, and of the artwork, Barra introduces a commentary on authenticity, navigating the challenges of defining 'original' in the digital age.

Blockchain Dynamics: The NFT, digitally signed via a crypto wallet, adds complexity. Despite a URL link, the file of the non-artwork and its NFT exist independently, questioning the coexistence of the blockchain's non-fungible nature of the NFT with file duplication.

Intellectual Property Recognition: Amidst these paradoxes, Barra formally recognizes the legal framework, acknowledging that all rights, ownership, and authorship belong exclusively to the original creator and owner of the artwork, leaving a veil of doubt regarding the author and owner of the NFT.

"Who the Fuck is Dom Barra" is a captivating journey into the evolving nature of digital art. Barra's non-work invites viewers to engage with the intricacies of digital authenticity, intellectual property, ownership, and artistic intent, marking the digital canvas of contemporary conceptual art in the age of blockchain.