Sociology of media: Communication in the new hybrid ontologies - notes, Appunti di Sociologia

Scarica Sociology of media: Communication in the new hybrid ontologies - notes e più Appunti in PDF di Sociologia solo su Docsity! Sociology of Media - Barile Book: Communication in the new hybrid ontologies: from platforms to the Metaverse Relationship between production and consumption in Marx’s vision: from production to consumption Frigital - fusion of virtual and physical. There’s no separation anymore Ecosystem in which the user is at the centre of all the processes Prosumers: hybridisation between production and consumption. Marx suggested 3 main interpretations/ ideas of the relationship between production and consumption: 1. First idea: hierarchical, Vertical. Production is more important than consumption, production is universal (at the top) while consumption is at the bottom (production = universal. Consumption = particular). This interpretation is based on the hierarchy between production and consumption: at the top of which is production, while consumption is at the base. Marx defines this “syllogistic” scheme because production corresponds to “pure universal” while consumption is “pure particular.” Consumption is particular, it depends on the individual needs. 2. Second idea: they’re equivalent. Horizontal position production=consumption. Production, then, is also immediately consumption, consumption is also immediately production. Each is immediately its opposite. But at the same time a mediating movement takes place between the two. Production mediates consumption; it creates the latter’s material; without it, consumption would lack an object. But consumption also mediates production, in that it alone creates for the products the subject for whom they are products. When you consume something, you also produce something 3. Third idea: Finish of the consumer (productive consumption). Finalizing in the sense that without consumption, production is useless, it’s a waste of money. The real protagonist is consumption, not production anymore. Consumption is the scope of production, the organization produces something with the aim to sell it and consume. Finish is the redefinition of the product. The product only obtains its last finish in consumption. A railway on which no trains run, hence which is not used up, not consumed, is a railway only potentially, and not in reality. Without production, no consumption; but also, without consumption, no production; since production would then be purposeless (Marx 1973). As in the idea of “finish,” meaning that the consumption phase is fundamental as it confers significance to production. The age of prosumers (productive consumption) The historic role of the consumer has been nothing more than a giant maw at the end of the mass media’s long conveyer belt (...). Mass media’s role has been to package consumers and sell their attention to the advertisers, in bulk. The consumers’ appointed role in this system gives them no way to communicate anything about themselves except their preference between Coke and Pepsi (...). They have no way to respond to the things they see on television or hear on the radio, and they have no access to any media on their own – media is something that is done to them, and consumption is how they register their response (...). In the age of the internet, no one is a passive consumer anymore because everyone is a media outlet. (Shirky 1999) Idea that the consumer in the past was not so important, consumption was just a passive element. In the past it was very hard to receive feedback, while today it is a central part of the consumption. We are not passive consumers anymore. Chapter 1 - Evolution of the communicative system Four main phases: ● Hosting (1850-51) ● Diffusion (1920) ● Profusion (1975) - idea of powerful media and branding, advertising based on seduction and fascination - increase of power of the media ● Dilution (1990) - the one in which we are still today. Less industrial, less masculine and more based on emerging values (such as authenticity, inclusivity, sustainability). no separation anymore between production and consumption, idea of the “prosumers”. (Today we are in the 4th industrial revolution) Before the industrial revolution, the 2 categories production and consumption were not clear and they were not connected, they were separated actually. 1. The age of HOSTING: Idea that all the traditional communities open themselves to the industrial society. (Also traumatic sometimes, like Charles Baudelaire). The city was changing very fast and the innovations were happening fast too. The role of art changes completely, with the introduction of photography. Innovations, media technology. Sometimes they can create a cultural shock, and be traumatic. The best mean to explain this sort of pedagogy of innovation are the Universal Exposition (a place designed to host innovations, media but also some traditional things and to promote the differentiation) The first exposition was made to celebrate the power of the English empire. Green house - the sun comes from the outside , to the inside through the glass, while in this case, the light goes from the inside to the outside, the light of innovation and technology, that’s to be spread in the city and change people’s mind. Fetishism of commodities - spiritual experience Impact of workers visiting the universal exposition, who were shocked by what they saw, even if they’re the ones who produced that kind of things and technology, but they’re alienated so they don’t recognise them. The Great Universal Expositions 1851 “The Universal Expositions are places of pilgrimage to the fetish commodity” (W. Benjamin) Chromolithography In 1884 opened in Paris the first exhibition of posters, including the work of Chéret and others artists but also two publications on its history and artists—Ernest Maindron‟s Les Affiches Illustrées and Henri Beraldi‟s Les Graveurs du XIXe siècle—both appearing in 1886. Phillip Dennis Cate argues that these two publications “brought to the fore the immensity and brilliance of Chéret‟s career and, with that, the broader recognition of the colour lithographic poster as a developing art form in France.” (Weisberg 2007). Posters - produced by chromonitography Aestheticization of packaging The birth of advertising - more clear, defined, graphical, less writings and words connected. Universal Expositions as platforms of innovations The attribute that most characterizes the phase of Profusion is a blatant distance between company and customer, thanks to the spectacularization of electronic media, the effects of mass advertising, the explosion of a plurality of audiovisual languages including fiction, music videos, video games, manga, fashion etc. A performative culture that places the body, its installation, its movements, its pleasures, and its attitude at the center of collective attention. MTV as the postmodern medium? (Goodwin 1993) Mixing everything, creating a new language Conceptual music video (surreal) Home computers and New Consuming Culture - Apple Advertisement Apple advertisement to launch its new computer makes a reference to the book 1984 of Orwell, saying that 1984 will not be like 1984 (the totalitarian world described by Orwell) Crowd of homogeneous passive isolated alienated (the bullet theory mass of people) Then a woman arrives, she’s completely different from the mass of people, she wears colours, she’s running, full of energy, athletic Jean Marie flash suggested a model analysing this commercial. You don’t see Apple There’s a clear binary opposition of values: the negative and dystopian world (IBM) and utopian world, new, futuristic (APPLE) Sort of fordist organization (old, from the past, too rational) More creative classes use apple (new, creative, irrational) The storytelling is connected to the brand identities and the logo (IPM logo is much more boring ad traditional while apple is much more creative) Companies produce more or less the same products, so the differences are based on the communication, how the company presents its products through advertisements on the spectacularization of the brand. Spectacle - seduction (confusing someone) Comparison between the body and the product - you want to buy the body same as the product (even if it’s very sexist) Apple vs IBM: All these commercials, all this seduction is almost overwhelming, stressful for consumers 4. The age of DILUTION: Digital technology, organizations and branding Because of those overwhelming commercials, there was a passage from the age of profusion, to the age of dilution. 1. Technology, organization and branding Technology: The creation of theWorld Wide Web (WWW) New strategies, more democratic, familiar, horizontal communication were used by brands. The world wide web and the network are more horizontal and familiar to people, while mass media are more vertical and hierarchical. 2. Organization: Post-Fordism and Knowledge management (Nonaka Takeuchi 1991) Nonaka underlines how the innovation in organizations comes from a background of emotions and experiences - tacit knowledge - that must be valorized in the organizational processes. In a certain way the same process of “Dilution” that Levy presented theoretically, is analyzed by Nonaka on the side of the organizational process and by Rheingold on the side of the consuming practices. No separation anymore between workers. No separation between consumption and production (blurred) 3. Brand communication Sprite “Obey to your thirst” The turning point of the new communication is undoubtedly the formidable campaign "Obey to your Thirst" by Sprite trying to beat the myths of a hedonistic consumption and reaffirm the centrality of the person instead of the bombastic promises of seductive lifestyle: "the image is zero, thirst is everything”. Obey to your thirst". The zeroing of the brand symbolic capital serves to create a vacuum that must be filled by the consumer that is invited to return to the real sources of his experience, to the practical needs of his "real" life, to affirm his personality in the new communication space offered by the brand. Only one problem: the authenticity of a hyper-gassed and sweet soft drink in no way can satisfy the need of thirst (Barile 2009, 2017). More authentic communication Sex appeal is a lie, you and your needs are more Important than that The brand as a Semiotic engine A vector of meaning, a value, and a contract. The identity of the brand is the result of these three operations. From this definition, brands are created each time a certain system of o¤ers [products or services] manages to channel a meaning, make it inseparable from the values and obtain recognition for it from other ac- tors implicated in the process, and in particular from the consumer (Semprini 1996: 112). Brands have to produce meanings, messages, and communication. When you stop communicating, you’re dead. Story Living Commercials focused on Story living. The structure of the music video is very similar to a video game (theSims) and it’s very contemporary, Consumption, technology, the statistics (the numbers) are some contemporary aspects that are present in the video. Story of the life of one person. (Microsoft commercial) idea that you are at the center of our attention, YOU as an individual and not as all the users. Google BIA Three main levels: deep level, semio-narrative level and discursive level 1. Deep level: Google’s deep level of meaning is base on only a few elements: simplicity, speed and usability are its basic values. The simplicity / complexity opposition differentiates Google form other search engine that have become information portals (Yahoo, Altavista) we can include other oppositions in our analysis: those which differentiate centrifugal webs from centripetal webs, characterized by opening its doors to its users and sending them to other sites: this is the classic function of search engines. The users are catapulted from its pages to other websites (Scolari 2008). 2. Semio-narrative level: in terms of the semi narrative level we saw how the companies of the real world propose narrations by means of their advertising enunciations. Digital interaction process can also be analyzed from a narrative perspective: The user needs to carry out a task and for this they need to manipulate a series of tools (the interface) which allows them to achieve the objective result (Object). The user is the hero of the folktale. The user is the protagonist, at this level 3. Discursive level: minimal interface and a clear identifiable logo. Idea that there are no limit in the invasion of social media Black boxed: you don’t know how the algorithm works. Transparency of users, revealing their emotions, feelings and life. The age of deglobalization ● Globalization can not anymore be considered as natural, irreversible and desirable. ● The Empire (Negri and Hardt 2000) today is split in two parts. ● The contrast between the intangible promises of the Metaverse and the tangible violence of an industrial military invasion. (On one side we still have the global utopia of Metaverse, on the other side we have the retro-topic of the nuclear threat/war) ● Polarization, propaganda and the Metaphysical War against the Netflix Society. The Netflix society - Platforms as cultural devices - Emerging values, habits and lifestyles (inclusivity, gender fluidity, etc) - The definition of a customer centric ecosystem (platform design). The user can select what to watch, but could also be overwhelmed by all the choices given. Stranger Things and the ontology of the Upside Down Differences between the generations Politician’s point of view Why is it so complicated to define a generation Stranger Things resembles many contents, scenes of the past, but also some aspects of Gen Z. Nostalgia or Newstalgia, for something that we’ve never actually experienced. The upside down is a new dimension, like a home place, empty. Different levels of power: the consumption, the URSS army and also the magical part of the upside down. It’s a hive mind, all creatures are connected. Tv series protagonists are the “new influencers” as they transmit more than actual influencers Queen’s Gambit: an Algorithmic Retro Mania. After this series there was a boom of interest for Chess. Chess is usually for men, but in this case she’s a woman. The automation of taste: a consideration of socials robots and mobile ICTs through a case of analysis of Shazam The automation of taste is the idea Taste was related to “cultural capital”, social behaviour in the past, more recently, taste dimension can be shaped by platforms. Individualised platforms. You interact more with platforms than with other people nowadays. Everything can be mediated by platform and shaped by the algorithm Smartphones ● Greater capacity for personalization with software and applications ● A way of interacting of our daily life, emotional dimension. ● Digital artefact such as data and a file become meaningful human experiences such as a song and a photo through algorithms and software (DeNicola, 2012) ● “technological system evolves from a hard and utilitarian conception to a softer ideal based on the emotional value of new devices” (Barile, 2009, 2013) ● Consequences of such recent mobile ICTs in our everyday life? ● Focus – How the smart phone is emerging as a powerful device that shapes and automates our emotions and taste ● Electronic emotions (Vincent & Fortunati, 2009) Techno-emotional circuit Social robots are becoming more human, they are sort of empathic media (they can recognise and understand emotions) Music listening and automation Music listening as a cultural and emotional experience Cultivation of taste through being part of a place, being involved in a community, adopting certain values, aesthetics, attitudes, etc. Subcultural capital - authentic self Music listening influenced by the mobile ICTs and their applications such as Shazam - algorithm, big data Guide to create personal taste Automation versus Serendipity: the effect of recommendation algorithms The technical limit leads to “cybernetic serendipity” that Razlogova (2010) discusses [39], yielding many cases in which the recommendation orients users to a band, a singer, and a genre that are not at the core of their taste. In this “not perfect” modality of functioning, there is a big possibility of discovering, by accident, something that the user could not find by following his/her personal coordinates. Even if the algorithm represents the most perfect face of a system aimed to manage the taste of consumers strategically, there is always space for uncertain and unpredictable choices. Chapter 4 & 5 - The fourth industrial revolution Social media was created to connect people, but actually nowadays there are many more things connected to it, than people. It’s the internet of things. Such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the internet of things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, nanothechnology, biotechnology, material science, energy storage and quantum computing 1. The first Industrial Revolution – spanned from about 1760 to around 1840. Triggered by constructions of railroads and the invention of the steam engine. 2. The second Industrial Revolution, which started in the late 19° century and into the early 20° century, made mass production possible, fostered by the advent of electricity and the assembly line. - age of electricity 3. The Third Industrial Revolution began in the 1960s...it is usually called the computer or digital revolution...mainframe computing (1969s), Personal computing (1970s) - age of computers 4. The fourth Industrial Revolution...began at the turn of this century and builds on the digital revolution. It is characterized by a much more ubiquitous and mobile internet, by smaller and more powerful sensors… (switchers that create a connection between digital and physical world) and by artificial intelligence and machine learning. - age of sensors and real time The main characteristics of the 4th Industrial Revolution are: ● Velocity ● Breadth and depth ● System impact Even the perception of daily life has changed System impact. Perception changes of life. Technology created a New ecosystem. (Cybernetic) serendipity - when you search for something but then you find / you discover something else. You discover something that you like, a new taste, you didn’t know I’d like. The way we are profiled is to perfect. It’s very general, so there are mistakes sometimes (they suggest something you don’t like). Three megatrends 1. Physical - There are four main physical manifestations of the technological megatrends, which are the easiest to see because of their tangible nature: autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, advanced robotics, new materials. 2. Digital - One of the main bridges between the physical and digital applications enabled by the fourth industrial revolution is the internet of things (IoT) – sometimes called the “internet of all things”. In its simplest form, it can be described as a relationship between things (products, services, places, etc.) and people that is made possible by connected technologies and various Platforms. Sensors and numerous other means of connecting things in the physical world to virtual networks are proliferating at an astounding pace. Smaller, cheaper and smarter sensors are being installed in homes, clothes and accessories, cities, transport and energy networks, as well as manufacturing processes. 3. Biological - As research into genetic engineering progresses (for example, the development of the CRISPR/Cas9 method in gene editing and therapy), the constraints of effective delivery and specificity will be overcome, leaving us with one immediate and most challenging question, particularly from an ethical viewpoint: How will genetic editing revolutionize medical research and medical treatment? The 1st experiment made on human beings. They’ve been genetically modified, in order to make them more resistant to some viruses and illnesses (such as HIV). Artificially modified. Biological market is a huge market. The technocratic society Also the covid-19 vaccines Logical separation / isolation - it’s always someone else’s fault if the virus spreads around the world. It’s the logic of the virus. Virality had a positive connotation before covid (going viral was something positive), while after covid virality has assumed a negative connotation, because of the spread of the virus. Language is a virus, the word is a virus . Spoken and written language is a virus. The virus has no identity, we don’t know whether it is biological or not. But it does infect and exploit the biological human body to Milgram and Kishino (1994) developed a spectrum called Reality-Virtuality Continuum, on which the real and virtual environments were placed on the extreme limits of the diagram. In this diagram, AR was in direct contact with actual reality, while Aug- mented Virtuality was symmetrically placed on the opposite side, the side of the Virtual Environment. Augmented Virtuality, for Milgram, mainly refers to virtu- al systems that simulate a specific set of characteristics of reality (Milgram and Kishino 1994). The union of the two was indicated by the more general concept of Mixed Reality. Augmented reality: you can see both the reality but also something else, you add more information, you can operate in a more efficient way in the real world. It operates on real things. AR refers to a set of programs, applications, and interfaces that enhance the experience of real objects and contexts through overlapping operating schemes, synthetic images, infographics, and metadata. Virtual reality: it’s an immersive, parallel reality, it’s simulation (like video games). Alternative experience. (It comes from the psychedelic culture - immersive experiences, different from reality). It’s a responsive environment. If you do something there’s a response. Virtual Reality (effect of realism) ● Interactivity→ simulation responds to the user’s kinesics and proxemics movements ● Immersion→ produces a totalizing simulation, which invests the senses (sight, hearing, touch, etc.) and gives new centrality to the “body in action” without giving away the sensations experienced in the real world ● Sychornization→ aims to simultaneously invest a certain number of senses, so that the sensory system can register the coherence between all the virtual sensorial stimuli which, in this way, reproduce a reality effect. Cultural evolution of virtual reality - we can experience both virtual reality and augmented reality thanks to our smartphone. A.R. as a paradigmatic reversal? 1. The progressive replacement of reality by the electronic image in the 80s and then by the digital image in the 90s (The age of Virtualization). 2. The transition from the 90s to the new millennium is a sort of countertrend: from global to glocal, from strategic to tactical, and from utopian to pragmatic. The innovations around the newWeb 2.0 are more attached to people’s daily lives, to their practical needs of intervention, updating, entertainment, and consumption 3. The new visibility and promotion of Augmented reality in the FIR 4. The combination of VR and AR in the Metaverse Everything can be modified and fixed in the technological world (while you play you can die, but then you can start again from the beginning) From real to virtual influencer: the Mobile revolution According to Rainie and Wellman (2012), at the basis of the great transformation of our society, based on a new type of individualism that is “networked,” there is the so-called triple revolution, consisting of: 1. revolution of social networks; 2. internet revolution, or social media that allow users to become editors and broadcasters of themselves; 3. mobile revolution (of smartphones) that enables ubiquitous connectivity and become an integral part of our body. Immaterial work of real influencers - According to William Oliver and Susie Lau, blogs have dismantled the apparatus of the fashion system: Brands are strictly managed and correct representation is essential, with journalists, stylists, and editors who often work according to strict guidelines. To some extent, the blog has shattered this notion. (Best 2017, pp. 229–230) - Shaded View of Fashion” by Diane Pernet (accredited by BOF as the first fashion blog), “The Sartori-alist” by Scott Shuman, “Hypebeast'' by Kevin Ma and Bryan “Bryanboy” by Yam-bao (2004), up to what has been considered as the real catalyst of fashion blogs: the community The Fashion Spot (ibidem). This story obviously includes the blog The Blonde Salad which since 2009 has prepared Chiara Ferragni’s advent in the world of fashion and global showbiz. - Influencers are involved in the “immaterial work”, because they’re always exposed, they’re completely transparent. That’s an effective label, they’re not producing something tangible. They stage emotional, relational, and experiential elements (Barile 2017), in order to communicate the value of authenticity. In fashion, this strategy has accompanied the platforms for product personalization (mass customization) but also the campaigns of the most famous brands. The advent of Virtual Influencers ● The so-called “uncanny valley,” it’s a concept created/ theorized by scholars of robotics is the simultaneous effect of familiarity and disorientation suggested by these figures. These robots are somehow similar to us, but also different, so this produce a mixed feeling: empathy and also disorientation. ● their artificial nature represents the main barrier to identification and empathy ● from the marketing perspective it represents useful advantages. Above all, their “flexibility, plasticity and access to specific locations, products and collaborators” Michaela is a virtual influencer, she doesn’t have a real definition of ethnicity, she’s post-ethnical. Calvin Klein adv, with Bella Hadid and this famous virtual influencer, they kiss on the lips, so they blur the barrier between real world and the virtual world, and they also sustain the lgbt world. Chapter 8 & 9 - Omnichannel and future of retail - In the past retail was physical and communication was digital (If you needed something you just went to the store to buy it.) - Nowadays we’re moving towards the opposite: retail is more digital and communication is becoming more and more physical. What used to be a distribution channel is becoming a media channel and likewise, media channels (television, magazines, radio, print advertising, social media etc.) are increasingly becoming the “store”. Virtual storefronts are cropping up in all forms of media. It’s entirely possible to buy products from a tweet, a Facebook post, a video or TV show. And each day, new integrations and applications are allowing us to buy, in a friction-free way, directly from media formats. Media is no longer merely a benign messaging vehicle but also an instant distribution channel. We no longer need to rely on driving consumers to “the store” when we can now drive the store to the consumer – wherever and whenever they need that store to be (Stephens 2017). ● Single channel: retail is just physical ● Multi-channel approach. Channels are separated, they don’t communicate ● The customer centric dimension. The customer is at the centre in the fourth stage (the Omnichannel) Transmedia branding Integration online/offline: transmedia storytelling and transitional-spaces Yayoi Kusama is a visual artist from Japan, Kusama's most popular work consists of a solid neon colour or white background across open space paired with glob-like sculptures covered in dots creating the illusion of one-dimensionality and challenging a viewer's understanding of the given space. Recently, Kusama was tapped by Louis Vuitton to create a collection of handbags, and clothing featuring her signature polka dots and avant-garde minimalist approach . Transformation of the layout of stores - new visionary aesthetics. Transforming a store into a medium. The store becomes an amplification of communication. Digital involvement - challenges on twitter and other social media. Idea of entertaining are than selling. Authentic experience Story - like a store, like storytelling, like a (fashion) magazine, like an art gallery (special and limited products) changing every 2 weeks, and selling. Connect the online and the offline experience. Some stores are based on robotics - SoftBank Robotics' Pepper robot responds to shoppers’ basic questions and detects their emotional state. It is able to recognise emotions (he’s like a shopping assistant). Sensitive data. QUALI-QUANTITATIVE analysis. Huge amounts of generalized data, like statistics (quantitative analysis), but at the same time very specific data about people (qualitative analysis). Both. Different technologies: omnichannel From multichannel to omnichannel strategies: SOTF SOTF (acronym for story of the future) recently opened its doors in the historic city of Florence, Italy. Stocked with familiar names like adidas Originals and Y-3, as well as upscale sneaker labels. The interactive boutique is stocked with iPads that allow customers to shop, check size availability, and even The metaverse will be based on Voxels Pixel is a Bi-dimensional unit , but our physical reality is 3 dimensional. Voxels are 3-dimensional units. A picture, a photograph, or a painting is not the real world that it depicts. It’s flat, not full with three-dimensional depth like the real thing. Look at it from the side-almost edge on. It doesn’t look anything like the real scene view from an angle. In short, it is two dimensional while the world is three dimensional. The artist, using perceptual sleight of hand, has conned you into producing a three-dimensional image in your brain, but in fact the information just isn’t there to form a three-dimensional model of the scene. There is no way to tell if the figure is made of plaster or if it’s filled with blood or guts. The brain is providing information that is not really present in the painted strokes on the canvas or the darken grains of silver on the photographic surface. (Susskind 2006) Homeostasis and cognitive stability Some experiments are inspired by the fact that “cognitive stability and homeostasis are important for effective service in the Metaverse” (Park & Kim 2020, p. 9). Much more scientific than the fashionable notion of resilience... the notion of homeostasis is also connected to the idea of permanence: the creation of a cogent reality that is stably “out there.” Homeostasis: when a system is in a sort of balance, a sort of resilience. It’s a cybernetic notion. The metaverse remains stable, you can always have the same experience, when you enter again. Nowadays there’s a sort of obsession for the young generation (the gen Z) The Metaverse theme is taken up by global brands to intercept the central interests of the so-called generation Z. This new hybrid environment attracts the members of the Z generation sometimes in a non- critical mode. Media and journalists find it difficult to understand the logic of NFTs and consider the young generations “hooked” by the new trend (Oi 2022). The interest of young generations in this new world are justified by several reasons: the decentralization of value and creativity, the gamification that turns everything into a form of entertainment, and the hybrid ontologies of that content producing a new phygital fetishism. Millennials don't care about metaverse, NFTs and these things. While Gen Z seems to be very interested in such things. The cult of collection, it’s a bit controversial, because you want to collect more, but at the same time you want to finish your collection, but when you finish, you have to start a new one, because you want to keep collecting. The utopia of the blockchain in the Fourth Industrial Revolution Blockchain is the decentralised infrastructure behind the crypto values and NFTs. Neoliberal anarchism, a utopia where you can create your own chain, but it’s also still mediated by money. It’s paradoxical. The promoter of the Fourth Industrial Revolution considers blockchain and its power of decentralization one of the tipping points of the so-calledWeb 3: “Bitcoin and digital currencies are based on the idea of a distributed trust mechanism called the ‘blockchain’, a way of keeping track of trusted transactions in a distributed fashion. Currently, the total worth of bitcoin in the blockchain is around $20 billion, or about 0.025% of global GDP of around $80 trillion” (Schwab 2016, p. 143). NFT artwork depicts Elon Musk on a cross, wearing an astronaut suit, with a group of monkeys playing at the bottom of the cross. The image is a cultural link between the famous opening scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrik, 1968) and the final scenes: the invention of technology and the culmination of civilization: Musk dressed as astronauts and hanging from a cross like Bowie in the video Ashes to Ashes (1979). The aesthetic of NFTs - everything can be turned into an NFT (a picture I took of my sandwich can become a piece of art) It's all about reputation economy Aesthetics of ruins in the NFT art (Let’s get digital at Palazzo Strozzi) The re-auratization of art leads us to rethink the classic “authenticity of the work" (Benjamin 1966) that is now made possible by the coding procedures of the machines. “Daniel Arsham unites in his research figurative art, architecture e performance. In the work Eroding and Reforming Bust of Rome (One Year] a sculpture inspired by a bust of the Louvre coming from the Borghese Collection, it forms and destroys perpetually in what appears to us as the cycle of the four seasons of the year. If marble was used by the masters of past to model and fix a gesture according to an idea of presumed eternity, Arsham uses NFTs to create works that change over time with a sense of dynamic perpetuity. In his practice artistic and exhibition, generally show NFTs along with real sculptures and three-dimensional... the series will come to an erosion complete with all the sculptures in the course of the next thousand years”. W. Benjamin’s theory today “The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction” is a book he wrote The aura means the “authenticity of the artwork”. Firstly overwhelmed by the mechanical reproduction of media and now made possible by the coding procedures of the blockchain. (From authenticity to authentication). Art is based on the here and now, if you reproduce art, you kill the aura. Cryptopunks: pixel art, lo-fi and Zombie media The company RTFKT, acquired by NIKE in December 2021, works with the CryptoPunks series to guarantee itself an access point to the new business. RTFKT has created together with the LarvaLabs team (Kolbrener 2021), a series of 10,000 NFT sneakers, each designed in the style of each single CryptoPunks and available only for their owners. Recovering a key concept of J. Parikka's media archeology (Hertz, Parikka 2012), we could define CryptoPunks as "zombie media”. Pixels were sold for an enormous amount of money. Now it is important that art is imperfect. Zombie media: 80s video games for example, because no-one plays those games anymore, but now they live in an art form Dead media: floppy disk, polaroid (but now is coming back). Are media that are noticed anymore Old media inspiring the NFTs Aesthetics: Stickers, LP Covers and Music Videos The vinyl records also influenced the NFTs. The stickers collections, old music videos, with Lego bricks, which are similar to pixels. Postmodern Condition J.F Lyotard (1979) Knowledge will always be a part of the circle of exchange Everything is monetised, even knowledge We moved from free services to monetised services ● Lyotard applies the model of "language games" developed by the philosopher L. Wittgenstein to the information society. ● The truth no longer corresponds to universal values but pragmatic: from truth to system efficiency (input /output) ● Knowledge - writes Lyotard: "is and will be produced to be sold, and is and will be consumed to be exploited in a new type of production: in both cases to be exchanged" (ivi. P. 12). ● If the Californian utopia of the Nineties (Barbrook & Cameron 1996) and the "open source" culture affirmed a pseudo "digital socialism" (Kelly 2009), based on the free access to online content, the new world of the Metaverse instead aims to monetize any content that can be used online and offline. ● This additional commodification of creativity passes through the use of bitcoins which, originally conceived by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto as a sort of decentralized utopia (Greenfield 2017), come to fully exploit subcultural, alternative and DIY aesthetics. ● The CryptoPunks series, cleared in the art world thanks to the listing of Christie's in May 2021, merges the logic of the new digital with that of Street-style (Barile 2022) and represents perhaps the most advanced point of the so-called Punk Capitalism (Mason 2008). Truth, to Ideology, to Simulacra (Hodkinson 2016) Baudrillard (1995a: 6) locates media saturation as part of a four-phase transformation in the cultural role of images and representations – or more precisely, signs. In the first two phases, signs are counter-posed with ‘a profound reality’. In the second two, the signs have proliferated to such an extent that they replace reality.