This paper presents the design, deployment and qualitative study of a large-scale, public, generative art exhibition, through which passers-by could create artworks, and mint a non-fungible-token (NFT). Following the month-long exhibition, during which 229 anonymous participants produced artworks, 69 non-transferable NFTs were minted, we surveyed (33) and interviewed (14) expert and novice participants about their experiences. We explored contemporary challenges of owning digital things, and the extent to which NFTs, and 'Web3' technologies offer meaningful forms of ownership. Our findings describe how the inability to trade this NFT, and its unique circumstances of acquisition, made it meaningful in ways that extended beyond its immediate (limited) utility and offered participants something through which to construct identity. Reflecting on the aspirations, contradictions, and misconceptions of forms of ownership enabled by NFTs, we conclude with proposals for renewed attention in HCI to the nature of digital possessions, and the potential for 'ownership design'.@en

While the past decade has seen cuts to public funding to the arts, it has also seen the development of online technologies which have the potential to reach increasingly diverse and global audiences. As a result, individuals and organisations across the creative industries and performing arts have experimented and embraced more diverse, innovative, and direct approaches to engage and monetise tangible support from their audiences and communities. Prior work has identified the evolution of crowdfunding in the arts as a form of ‘crowd patronage’ – where platforms such as Patreon and Kickstarter function as new intermediaries that can radically reconfigure how and why creative work is funded. The ‘pivot to digital’ – which brought audiences and creative workers together in new online spaces throughout the pandemic – further reinforced the potential for direct communication and financial support from audiences of creative work. This chapter will reflect on how contemporary data-driven, monetary technologies have begun to decentralise how creative work is valued, supported, and paid for, with a particular focus on the performing arts.@en