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2. Problem Analysis

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2.1 The Gallery System's Structural Failure

The contemporary art market operates through a concentration model that systematically excludes the majority of artists and audiences:

Geographic Concentration

  • New York, London, and Hong Kong account for 82% of global auction sales

  • Gallery representation clusters in 15 cities worldwide

  • 95% of humanity has no access to contemporary art institutions

Economic Gatekeeping

  • Gallery representation requires existing wealth, social capital, and geographic privilege

  • The median professional artist earns €8,000-12,000 annually from art sales

  • Over 70% of art school graduates abandon artistic practice within 10 years, primarily for economic reasons

Speculation Dominance

  • Artworks function as financial instruments for wealth preservation and speculation

  • Aesthetic and cultural value subordinates to market performance

  • Secondary market dynamics create perverse incentives (artist death increases prices)

Circulation Constraints

  • Shipping costs: €5,000-50,000 per international exhibition

  • Insurance: 0.5-2% of declared value annually

  • Crating, customs, courier travel multiply expenses

  • Result: only wealthy institutions can program internationally

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2.2 The NFT Experiment's Failure

The 2021-2022 NFT phenomenon tested blockchain's potential for art. It failed for structural reasons:

Financialization Over Function

  • NFT platforms optimized for trading volume, not cultural circulation. Royalty structures incentivized speculation. Platform fees extracted value without building lasting infrastructure.

Architectural Assumptions

  • ERC-721 and similar standards assume transferability as default. "Non-transferable" implementations fight the architecture rather than embody values. This creates perpetual tension between intent and infrastructure.

No Physical Connection

  • Digital-only focus ignored the embodied experience of art. The "metaverse" promised virtual galleries but delivered speculation on JPEGs.

Collapse

  • NFT trading volume fell 97% from peak. Major platforms face insolvency. The experiment demonstrated blockchain's potential while proving that speculative architecture serves speculation, not culture.

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2.3 The Infrastructure Gap

Neither galleries nor NFT platforms solve the fundamental problem: permanent infrastructure for art to circulate independent of institutional gatekeepers, resistant to speculative capture, accessible regardless of geography or wealth.

This infrastructure must be:

  • Sovereign: Not dependent on external platform decisions

  • Anti-speculative: Architecturally, not just contractually

  • Sustainable: Self-funding through operation, not external subsidy

  • Accessible: Economically viable for hosts worldwide

  • Permanent: Designed for decades, not platform lifecycles

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