Robert Alice’s On NFTs is the first major art historical survey text on the most compelling, disruptive area of contemporary art today. A rigorous and critical examination of all facets of the NFT ecosystem, On NFTs takes a multidimensional, artist-led approach, leaving its readers with a richer understanding of a topic often shrouded in misconception and pixelated mystery.
This book is one of the first major survey publications on blockchain-based art and the wider on-chain cultural ecosystem.
Robert Alice
The book, presented in TASCHEN’s iconic grand-scale BABY SUMO format, covers a wide range of essential information for both those new to or experienced with the modern medium. Featuring 10 essays from the world’s leading voices in art and the blockchain, including Hans Ulrich Obrist, On NFTs is a book that celebrates unlikely and thought-provoking connections from across art history. Expect illustrations of Rembrandt paintings alongside CryptoPunk avatars, extensive essays explaining the nitty-gritty world of NFTs—including Sol LeWitt’s influence on today’s artistic algorithms—as well as behind-the-scenes glimpses of the creative processes of pioneering artists from Beeple and Emily Xie to Snowfro and Refik Anadol.
Accompanying the 10 essays, On NFTs presents a co-curated survey of 101 key practices working in NFTs today. With each profile uniquely authored by handpicked experts, including curators, critics, artists, and AI, On NFTs embraces diverse and global voices to navigate this borderless movement. Perfect for both natives and newcomers, On NFTs features an extensive glossary of key terms, and a comprehensive exhibition history and timeline of the digital art canon.
Machine Hallucinations – Perennial Dreams (2021) is an AI Data Painting trained on a vast archive of 75 million perennial flower images, each meticulously collected and processed through custom software crafted by Refik Anadol Studio. Machine Hallucinations is Anadol’s ongoing research project into the aesthetics of data, drawing from collective visual memories of nature, cities, and outer space. This work challenges our conventional views of flora by simulating their existence beyond natural settings, accentuating the effects that floral pigments can provoke. Complex layers of AI-generated imagery connect us to a vast cosmos of data, while its natural pigments trigger a sense of belonging to the earth through a transformative experience.
Art Edition (No. 1–100) with the NFT Machine Hallucinations – Perennial Dreams (2021) by Refik Anadol and an accompanying print of the NFT, signed by the artist, and the book On NFTs in a stainless steel slipcase. PRE ORDER HERE
Also available in a Collector’s Edition, in The Hard Code Edition, and in three alternative Art Editions in a stainless steel slipcase with NFTs and accompanying signed prints from artists Dmitri Cherniak, Sofia Crespo, and Osinachi.
The editor
Robert Alice makes art, exhibitions, and books that explore blockchains and their histories. The first artist to auction an NFT at a major auction house, their work Portraits of a Mind (2019–) was pivotal to the NFT space’s growth. In 2023, the Monnaie de Paris held one of the first European museum solo NFT shows on their work. In 2022, Alice, who lectures globally, co-produced the first academic conference on NFTs at the University of Oxford. Alice’s work is part of the permanent collections of several institutions, including the Centre Pompidou, Paris.
The artist
Refik Anadol is an internationally renowned media artist and pioneer in the aesthetics of data and machine intelligence. Anadol delves into the innovative realm of human-machine collaboration, pushing the boundaries between art, nature, science, and technology. His site-specific audiovisual performances have been featured at iconic landmarks and museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Centre Pompidou, the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, and Casa Batlló.
On NFTs. Art Edition No. 1–100, Refik Anadol ‘Machine Hallucinations – Perennial Dreams’
Edition of 100NFT; pigment print on Hahnemühle paper, 55.8 x 55.8 cm, numbered and signed by the artist; hardcover volume in stainless steel slipcase, 36 x 50 cm, 14.6 kg, 604 pages, with a booklet, 21 x 29.7 cm, 24 pages ISBN 978-3-8365-9731-9. PRE- ORDER NOW
