3. Theoretical Foundations

3.1 From Ownership to Experienceship

Traditional art circulation assumes ownership transfer: collectors buy objects, institutions borrow from collections, provenance tracks ownership chains. Nonterritorial operates on a different premise: experienceship.

What circulates is not ownership but the capacity to experience. Hosts license exhibitions; artists retain all rights. No property transfers. The economic model serves experience creation, not asset accumulation.

This shift has profound implications:

• Value creation: Revenue derives from experiences hosted, not objects traded

• Artist relationship: Artists are network participants, not asset originators

• Host relationship: Hosts are cultural producers, not temporary custodians

• Audience relationship: Audiences access experiences, not view possessions

3.2 The Cinematic Preview Framework

Physical exhibitions become circulating experiences through the Cinematic Preview:

Physical Installation → Cinematic Documentation → Global Circulation
    (singular)              (reproducible)           (infinite)

The documentation is not a recording of something else; it is the exhibition in its circulating form. High-quality audiovisual capture, spatial audio, atmospheric documentation create experiences that preserve and transmit the encounter.

This is not compromise but transformation. Just as a musical composition exists both as score and performance, an exhibition exists both as installation and cinematic form.

3.3 Archipelago Architecture

Édouard Glissant's concept of the archipelago—islands maintaining distinct identity while existing in relation—informs Nonterritorial's design philosophy.

Against Continental Thinking

Continental models assume unified territory, central governance, hierarchical structure. Platforms like Ethereum operate continentally: one chain, shared security, common governance.

Archipelago Principles

• Sovereignty: Each island governs itself

• Relation: Islands connect without subordination

• Opacity: Not everything must be transparent to participate

• Creolization: Interaction creates new forms without erasing origins

Implementation

The Cosmos ecosystem embodies archipelago thinking: sovereign chains maintaining independence while communicating through IBC. Nonterritorial becomes one island in an archipelago of cultural infrastructures.

3.4 Autonomous Infrastructure

Autonomy here means operational independence—infrastructure that runs itself through economic design rather than continuous external intervention.

Self-Sustaining Economics

Revenue from licensing funds operations. Commission funds generate new exhibitions. The system requires no permanent subsidy.

Governance Independence

No external platform controls protocol decisions. The Foundation's role diminishes to zero by Year 10.

Technical Independence

No upstream chain dependencies. Validators aligned with cultural mission maintain the network.