01 / 11On NFTs, edited by Robert Alice and published by TASCHEN in 2024. Zak Group's cover combines the title with oversized, overlapping letters and numerals; Fernando Gutiérrez designed the book's interior. This copy is no. 90 of 100 in the Osinachi Art Edition, issued with The Other Pool Day (2023).
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On NFTs
2024Edited by Robert Alice, this illustrated survey places NFT art within the broader histories of digital art, cryptography, and collecting. Essays, artist profiles, a timeline, and an exhibition history trace the practices and communities shaping art on the blockchain. Limited Art Edition, housed in a stainless-steel case designed by Zak Group.
- Author / editor
- Robert Alice (editor)
- Publisher
- TASCHEN
Cologne - Format
- Hardcover in sculptural stainless-steel slipcase; complete set with accompanying print, NFT, and 24-page booklet. Printed in Italy.
- Pages
- 604
- Language
- English
- Edition
- Osinachi Art Edition no. 90/100
Published by TASCHEN in 2024, On NFTs brings together artists, curators, writers, and technologists to examine the emergence of blockchain-based art. Its ten thematic sections address subjects including crypto art, algorithmic art, on-chain practice, artistic process, avatars, decentralized organizations, collecting, and virtual worlds. Profiles of 101 artists and practices are interwoven with these discussions, while a timeline, exhibition history, glossary, and bibliography provide reference material for further study.
The book is particularly relevant to the Güerita Art Library for the connections it draws between contemporary NFT practices and the longer history of art made with computers. Its contents place Vera Molnár and Herbert W. Franke alongside Casey Reas, Erick Calderon, Dmitri Cherniak, and later generations of generative artists. The opening of Jason Bailey and Alex Estorick's “On Crypto Art” includes Caroline Csuri's recollection of her father Charles Csuri's emotional response to the renewed attention surrounding computer art. Her account gives a personal dimension to the question of how a new market changed the visibility of a much older artistic field.
Other sections situate NFTs within histories of cryptography and digital collecting. The volume reproduces Hal Finney's January 17, 1993 message “Crypto trading cards,” and its timeline places technical developments alongside artistic projects. The chapter “On Collecting,” by Michael Bouhanna and Jehan Chu, includes a section on digital-art collecting from 1969 to 2010, acknowledging the public and private collections that preceded NFTs. Together, these materials make the book useful both as a survey of blockchain art and as a record of how its participants understood their historical antecedents.
The artist profiles reveal the diversity of practices gathered under the NFT designation. Kate Vass's text on the Bulgarian artist Iskra Velitchkova, illustrated with Hypothetically Macro (2021), a work also held in the Güerita Art collection, considers the expressive possibilities of programmed form. Elsewhere, the contents extend from Kevin McCoy and early blockchain projects to internet art, generative systems, AI, and figurative digital image-making. The volume records an attempt to bring these different practices into a shared art-historical discussion.
This copy is part of the Osinachi Art Edition and is numbered 90 of 100. Acquired directly from TASCHEN, it is held as a complete set with the accompanying booklet, print, and NFT of Osinachi's The Other Pool Day (2023). Fernando Gutiérrez designed the book, while Zak Group designed its cover and sculptural stainless-steel case. The case's overlapping letters and numerals echo the printed cover, giving the volume a distinctive physical presence.
Contents
Editorials:
On Quantum - Robert Alice (p. 56); On Crypto Art - Jason Bailey and Alex Estorick (p. 98); On Algorithmic Art - Sofia Garcia (p. 174); and On Chain - Rhea Myers (p. 256). Preliminary sections are Index (p. 6), Introduction - Robert Alice (p. 10), NFTs Are… (p. 16), Timeline - Robert Alice and Adam McBride (p. 22), Contributors (p. 27), Sections: On Process (p. 320), with Beeple, Refik Anadol, Brendan Dawes, Emily Xie, Erick Calderon, Harm van den Dorpel, and RY David Bradley; On Avatars - Robert Alice (p. 394); On DAOs - Aaron Wright and Serena Tabacchi (p. 440); On Collecting - Michael Bouhanna and Jehan Chu (p. 484); On the Metaverse - Outland in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist (p. 518); On Building - María Paula Fernández, Simon Denny, and Adina Glickstein (p. 546); Exhibition History - Robert Alice and contributors (p. 568); Glossary (p. 594); Bibliography (p. 600); and Credits (p. 603).
Artist profiles:
Kevin McCoy (p. 32); Sarah Meyohas (36); Terra0 (40); Rare Pepe Cards (44); Curio Cards (46); CryptoKitties (48); EtherRocks (50); DADA (72); XCOPY (74); Sarah Zucker (82); Robbie Barrat (84); ROBNESS (88); Hackatao (90); Coldie (92); Ailadi (94); Fewocious (96); Arclight (110); Osinachi (114); Robert Alice (120); Kevin Abosch (122); Matt Kane (126); Erick Calderon (130); Daniel Calderon (136); Jeff Davis (140); Casey Reas (144); Vera Molnár (148); Herbert W. Franke (150); Fingacode (154); Emily Xie (158); Anna Carreras (162); Dmitri Cherniak (166); Iskra Velitchkova (196); Darien Brito (198); Tyler Hobbs (202); Matt DesLauriers (210); Zancan (214); Qubibi (218); William Mapan (222); LIA (226); Rafaël Rozendaal (230); IX Shells (234); Jan Robert Leegte (236); Yoshi Sodeoka (240); Aaron Penne & Boreta (242); 0xDEAFBEEF (244); Harm van den Dorpel (248); Rhea Myers (250); Divergence (254); Sarah Friend (274); Mad Dog Jones (278); Pak (280); Andreas Gysin (p. 286); Joshua Davis (290); Ezra Miller (292); Pixelfool (296); Nicolas Sassoon (300); Sara Ludy (304); Brendan Dawes (306); Ash Thorp (308); Beeple (310); Lorna Mills (352); Auriea Harvey (354); RY David Bradley (356); Katherine Frazer (358); Cibelle Cavalli Bastos (362); Mario Klingemann (364); Anne Spalter (366); Sofia Crespo (370); Helena Sarin (374); Refik Anadol (376); Morehshin Allahyari (382); Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst (384); Rimbawan Gerilya (388); Riniifish (390); LaTurbo Avedon (392); Larva Labs (420); Linda Dounia (454); Dada Boipelo (456); Pussy Riot (458); Damien Hirst (460); Urs Fischer (464); Jonas Lund (468); Yatreda (472); Justin Aversano (476); Kenny Schachter (478); Andrés Reisinger (480); David Rudnick (506); Etherpoems (508); Afroscope (510); Keiken (512); Lawrence Lek (514); Serwah Attafuah (534); Oseanworld (538); FVCKRENDER (540); Simon Denny (542); Dom Hofmann (558); Nate Alex (564); and Kudzu (566).