Elena Carbajal

is a curator, writer, and researcher focused on contemporary art, digital culture and emerging technologies. Her work explores the cultural, aesthetic, and philosophical implications of artificial intelligence, computational systems and emerging media.

She currently works with Onkaos, the digital art department of SOLO Contemporary, where she develops projects at the intersection of art and technology. She is also part of 邊界/bianjie.systems, where she assists in the curation and production of research-driven projects, exhibitions and interdisciplinary programs.

Alongside these roles, she collaborates with artists, institutions, and researchers on exhibitions, public programs and cross-disciplinary initiatives focused on emerging technological culture.

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How can we truly speak of blockchain-native aesthetics?

For a moment, the promise of a new cultural formation derived from a distinctive visual and symbolic vocabulary native to blockchain technologies, cryptographic economies and digital subjectivities seemed possible and desirable. But can we truly speak of blockchain-native aesthetics? Can such aesthetics be meaningfully integrated into the history of art, media theory, or social formation? We propose the term "web3 aesthetics” to interrogate and articulate a theory of art that would operate specifically on NFT markets and link it to the current discussions on digital art.

We understand aesthetics not as “decoration,” nor as that which is simply “beautiful,” but as the systematic production and critical analysis of sensation, value, and cultural consensus, as well as the study of the mediums that constitute the narratives and discourses attached to our understanding of the world.

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邊界 Team
ian margoalexandre montserratelena carbajal