What NFTs and the Cultural Renisance Have in Common and What You Need to Know

The cultural renaissance was a period of incredible scientific and cultural growth for human society. When you look at what the drivers of that growth were, you start to see many of the same drivers in the web3 space.

Instead of taking 300 years, this renaissance will take place over the next 25 years due to the compounding power of the network effect and incentives structure.

What were the main drivers for the 14th-17th century cultural renaissance?

The 14th-17th Century Cultural Renaissance

The cultural Renaissance was a period of significant cultural and intellectual growth that occurred in Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries.

It was characterized by amazing developments in the areas of art, literature, philosophy, and sciences. Many of the names and development of this era are names we are all familiar with...

• Artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael produced some of the most iconic and influential works of art in history, helping to define the visual language of the Western world.
• Architecture such as the Florence Cathedral and Basilica in Rome.
• The modern scientific understanding of the Solar system, Neuton laws of motion and the printing press!
• Literature & Philosophical achievements of Shakespeare, Dante and Michel de Montaigne.
• Other iconic names from this era include Francis Bacon, Galileo and William Harvey.

The impact of this era defines many of today's political, cultural and economic systems.

What led to this explosion of developments?

While the origins of the Renaissance are complex, several key factors played a role in its emergence. Mainly new economic systems and ways of sharing knowledge...

• Humanism was a philosophical and cultural movement that believed the pursuit of knowledge was essential for personal and societal growth.
• Technological developments allowed for new ways to understand the world, such as perspective art and biology. The printing press for the dissemination of knowledge around the world.
• Educational developments allowed forNew ways of learning via art, music and literature
• Centres of educational excellence were created with the first universities and coffee shops.
• Development of new subjects of study

• Market DemandThe growth of international trade created a new market for works of art. Demand by wealthy patrons and the general public allowed artists to make a living.
• Developments and crossovers in science, architecture and economic theory allowed for the creation of new revenue models for artists.

Where do NFTs come in?

When you look at what NFTs have already unlocked across the arts you can quickly see how we are on the cusp of a new cultural renaissance bigger than what we have experienced before in history including the impact so far of the internet.

If we look at what drove the cultural renaissance in the 15th to 17th century we can see the same drivers ready to take hold today with the NFTs and the blockchain.

The NFT Cultural Renaissance

Patronage

Patronage and the arts have always gone hand in hand, from the very earliest days of humanity where religion would be the patron of art and architecture, to the renaissance era when wealthy patrons would commission portraits.

With NFTs patronage takes the traditional models and adds new opportunities.

• By creating scarcity out of abundance with digital jpegs the blockchain opened up a new art market. Suddenly there was value to owning a digital art piece and being able to prove it was a 1 of 1 or limited series.
• This new art form attracted a new patron, the wealthy digitally savvy patron, who would have never invested in traditional art.
• The general public becomes patrons allowing them to support their favourite artists through new revenue modelsThey can buy a limited run of the art or music like Beeples Everyday art that sold for $69 million
• Create further collectables in music with album cover art
• Buy an NFT that gives royalty rights to future revenue like Harrison First
• Become a patron and co-creator of films and books like Niel Strauss and Jenkins the Valet with the co-created book Bored and Dangerous
• Before if you bought a piece of art or a limited edition album it would not mean you had access to my fellow collectors. Now artists are using the NFTs of their art as access passes to their private Discord communities. Such as Time Pieces artist community

Market Demand

As with the cultural renaissance, the new NFT renaissance will be driven by the opening up of new markets. We already discussed patronage, however, patronage is only really unlocked via the markets that they live in...

• With the emergence of ownable digital assets marketplaces have sprung up that allow for the immediate trading of these assets with a global audience and therefore global financial liquidity
• New market demand for digital artists to create work for NFT membership passers and profile picture communities
• Decentralised finance (Defi) allows users to borrow against high-value digital assets, unlocking new liquidity.
• These global marketplaces now allow patrons to find projects that align with their ethos, tastes and interest to connect.
• Through royalty payments hard encoded in the NFT smart contract, artists are able to earn recurring revenue from secondary sales. (This last point is in contention at the moment but I believe that for the right communities and artists, this will continue to be an option.)

Education

The new renaissance opens as before new ways to continue the pursuit of knowledge. In the 15th-17th century, we had the printing press, new ways of learning through art and places to gather via universities. In the 21st century, we have...

• New ways of learning via co-creation through ownership as with Bored and Dangerous.
• Learn2Earn model where tokens are awarded for the completion of tasks likeRabbit Hole, where you earn tokens for using and learning different elements of web3.
• New ways to prove on-chain what you have learnt through soul-bound tokens again like Rabbit Hole certification. This allows the ability to increase the value of project work and other elements that were previously hard to prove.
• The internet made the distribution of knowledge zero, which was a great unlock for knowledge. Sadly it also took the value of digital creativity to zero. With ownership, you create a viable career as a creator, thereby increasing the opportunity for amazing art.
• The rise of decentralised learning communities such as ZenAcademy, RISE and InPeak. Through the sale of NFTs and social tokens learning communities have sprung up across the internet. These new places to share ideas and knowledge have become the new universities and coffee houses of the NFT renaissance.

Humanism

As we saw in the 15th century, and we continue to see today art and innovation are a symbiotic relationship.

The development of one spurs the development of the other. Sadly over the last 14 years since the great financial crash, we have seen funding within the humanities to be continued to be cut. With the advent of the new business models allowed for by blockchain, a new wave of cultural art will follow with artists being able to profit from the huge distribution that the internet has allowed.

When we look at the unlock that ownership had on our physical world and the developments that took place due to the unleashing of human creativity we can't help but be excited by this next phase of humanity!

What are your thoughts on the future of culture in a new digital world?

Are you exploring the idea of entering into the Web3 space?

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