Art throughout war.
Art has been used throughout history in response to war.
Some notable examples:
Rubens painted ‘Consequences of War’ in 1638 as a reflection on the atrocities of the Thirty Years’ War.
‘Guernica’ was Picasso’s response to the 1937 bombing of Geurnica by the Nazis.
‘Whaam!’, by Lichtenstein, was created in 1963 to raise awareness of the Vietnam War.
Now, during the war in Ukraine, art is being used in a different way.
Back in March the META HISTORY Project team created the first ever NFT War Gallery.
They released a series of NFTs to help fund the Ukrainian army, raising more than $600k in the first 24hrs.
Since then they’ve raised over $1M USD, with all proceeds going to the Ukrainian military.
And they’re just about to do their third release of NFTs called Warline, which recounts the course of the war so far.
Now, obviously it'd be great if this collection didn't have cause to exist - but unfortunately, it does.
...and in that, it's doing something new - something previous examples of 'art in response to war' haven't been able to:
It's not only informing viewers of the present situation, like those before it - it's creating tangible, real time / real world effects.
In the 1600's, 1930's and even the 1960's, 'awareness through art' was a valid and valued objective.
But in today's information age, to say 'war is a thing, and it's bad' feels obvious and a little short of the mark.
By raising and dispersing funds in real time, across a decentralized and incorruptible monetary network - the Warline collection is doing something new.
It's an exciting landmark, born out of a terrible situation.
Here’s hoping their third release is just as successful as the last.
(And that there'll be no need for a fourth).