In this series of posts, we share excerpts of our White Paper, where we explain some changes we are implementing so that our artists can profit from the art they make on DADA.
DADA channels its unique collaborative digital art into a marketplace that redefines what it means to be an art collector.
DADA is the first visual conversation platform: a social network where regular people and artists speak to each other through drawings made on our site. Users from different countries who may have never met each other engage in spontaneous “visual conversations’ and, by doing so, they create collaborative art.
Currently, DADA has over 160K registered users and a collection of close to 100K digital drawings.
DADA is, on one side, an engaged network where people create art together and on the other, a marketplace for the collaborative art created by the community.
In our global community, content creators have full control of their work and their intellectual property, and collectors have the opportunity to invest in the artists by purchasing and owning the art they love.
VISION
At DADA, we envision a vibrant global community where artists speak visually, connect with each other creatively, and make collaborative art.
Thanks to blockchain technology, DADA will market its vast collection of digital artworks, with IP protection and proof of ownership. We will channel the collaborative art created on the platform into a marketplace that redefines what it means to be an art collector.
Because of its decentralized nature and the fact that it can safeguard attribution, provenance, and the whereabouts of digital assets, blockchain is a natural fit to market our digital content with safety, transparency, and fairness for both content creators and collectors. This will allow artists on DADA to take full control of their IP, and the community to self-govern and achieve economic independence.
We believe blockchain can help us achieve our vision of a self-sustaining community where anyone is an artist, every artist has a guaranteed income and anyone who finds delight and value in art can actively help artists make an impact in the world.
A COMMUNITY WHERE PEOPLE SPEAK VISUALLY
DADA is an online platform in which people talk to each other through drawings. These drawings are made by artists spontaneously with our simple digital drawing tool. Make a drawing on our virtual canvas, post it, and anyone around the world can reply with another drawing. This is what makes DADA unique. People who have never met each other, from different countries, create spontaneous visual conversations — a unique form of collaborative art.
DADA encourages artistic expression, solidarity, creativity, and understanding among people. It is an actively creative platform that fosters meaningful engagement that is far more profound than just liking or sharing. Because drawing is an act of creation that takes time, concentration and imagination, DADA inspires strong friendships and a spirit of true sharing, learning, and collaboration.
People from all over the world create visual conversations that turn DADA into a living, evolving work of art. In essence, DADA is a new way of making art.
A NEW TYPE OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM
We’ve all seen the potential of online social networks in creating powerful social movements: think the Arab Spring, or Black Lives Matter. However, we can all agree that certain aspects of social media also contribute to social problems, from bullying, to alienation and to the radicalization of ideological positions, among other issues.
In a social media world it’s become de rigueur for people to blog, tweet, post a photo, comment, sell themselves to death and yell as loudly and as frequently as possible — otherwise, they fear they simply won’t matter. We live in a culture where amounts of likes are more important that quality of content, where a high number of followers makes you into an influencer regardless of substance or proven expertise, where superficial connections are equivalent to social proof. Young people have to compete and perform in the virtual social arena, which oftentimes leads to depression and social anxiety. Trolls proliferate, and bigotry is amplified to dangerous proportions.
At DADA we have thought really hard about how to create a positive environment to foster true collaboration. DADA has been designed to reward contribution to the community above all. We define contribution as investing time, skills and effort to engage with and create value for the community.
Every design and voice decision has been made to discourage competition and self-promotion and to encourage collaboration, creative expression, diversity, inclusion and freedom. The result is pure delight, beauty and magic.
DADA is a safe space for the creative kid that later became an accountant. It’s a creative playground for commercial artists who long to do their own thing. It’s a spark of inspiration for regular people who think creativity eludes them. It’s a validation for the uncompromising, non-conformist artists who live precariously as a result.
Originally published at blog.dada.nyc.
