Re: <nettime> Can an on-chain record become artistic material?

[Felix Stalder via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>]

On 16/10/2026 11:00, Robert Cline via nettime-l wrote:
> What interests me is the distinction between preserving an instant
> and preserving the meaning attached to a particular date. Catch-22
> seems to use the blockchain's unambiguous record to make that
> distinction visible, rather than presenting it as a technical problem
> to be solved.
>
> And yes, the tension is arguably constructed, though I wonder whether
> that construction is precisely where the conceptual gesture lies

The distinction and the resulting tension is fundamental to all 
computing, which is never concerned with meaning (signs), but only with 
data (signals) and the logical and/or statistical transformations of 
these signals. There is no easy way of going from signal to the sign, 
even if everyday practice suggest otherwise (because we usually 
experience the world simultaneously through interrelated signals and signs).

The jaggedness of AI (sometimes great in terms of making sense, 
sometimes terrible with no internal mechanism to differentiate between 
the two) is where this become most visible at the moment.

What this gestured you propose does, though, in my view, is to highlight 
the existence of different conventions within even within seemingly 
technical domains (time keeping), UTC vs localized time.


all the best. Felix







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