For Spike #70, we’re getting technical. Come wade with us into the OpenSea: the Web3 issue is all about the blockchain, aka the latest digital innovation that promises to either wreck or revive the art world (and world-world), depending on who you ask. Our deep-dive into this wild new frontier features everything from debates on NFT aesthetics to the feminist case for crypto; generative art as anticapitalist; skepticism at digital currency’s volatility; a polemic for the blockchain as ecological salvation; and a glimpse into Web3’s status behind the Great Firewall.

Decentralized, or degenerate? Genuinely liberating for creators, or just another PR stunt pulled off by capital? Any way you slice it, crypto is taking us by storm, and we’d be mistaken to look away as new possibilities and protocols crystallize. And if you’re feeling hesitant, fear not: we’ve included a glossary walking you through all the relevant lingo, illustrated by an original selection of fresh-pressed memes.

With Holly Herndon, Rhea Myers, Charles Broskoski, Constant Dullaart, Jerry Gogosian, Ruth Catlow, María Paula Fernández, Wassim Z. Alsindi, Damien Hirst, Miao Ying, Harm van den Dorpel, Sarah Friend, Kenny Schachter, Mónica Belevan, Rafaël Rozendaal, Toby Shorin, Mark Alizart, Primavera De Filippi, Elie Ayache, Simon Denny, and many more. - Spike Magazine