Circulation
From early 2023 to late 2025, the TXT collective embarked on a historical survey and inquiry into persistent inequities in the art world, including artist rights, contemporary art practice, and market forces.
Their core research explored innovative and direct analogues between art transfers using the Siegelaub-Projansky Agreement in the 1970s and transfers in the 2020s using digital blockchain entries and NFTs with a built-in royalty option.
Comparing the two periods, some clear differences stood out: No equivalent contract existed to govern transfers in a contemporary context, and no clear name and definition existed for the type of art being transferred.
These findings set a path towards the start of two projects within TXT, a new artist contract for our time, and exploratory research for a name and definition of the artwork it would govern.
The projects soon formalized into the Artist’s Contract for Decentralized Art (ACDA), an open source legal agreement for the transfer of decentralized art, and a draft definition of Decentralized Art as an art form.
This work by TXT is interdisciplinary, channeling hybrid skills in art, law, economics, history, technology, and media theory; it is also built and layered on the work of artists and art movements that precede this time of decentralized art.
In early 2026, TXT released the first issue of Circulation, a journal documenting this work and exploring critical circulation of concepts, research, and ideation in the realm of decentralized art. The following sections feature three excerpts from the publication.
Decentralized Art
This excerpt features the latest draft definition of decentralized art on Wikipedia, written by Seth Indigo Carnes, under the auspices of the TXT collective.
This Wikipedia version of a definition aims to be decentralized, with many authors over time. However, since May 2024, a succession of Wikipedia editors have rejected the entry from being published and publicly accessible.
Links
Current live link to Decentralized Art draft on Wikipedia:
Artist's Contract for Decentralized Art
This excerpt features the latest version of the ACDA. It was drafted by Seth Indigo Carnes and Alfred Steiner, with key input from Neil Ramsay, under the auspices of the TXT collective, including review and feedback from artists, curators, scholars, and collectors.
Links
Finance as Social Practice
This excerpt features an economic conceptual flow, titled “Finance as Social Practice”. This work was created by Neil Ramsay, during the TXT residency in the winter of 2024 at Arts&Rec, in Stamford, New York.
Links
Circulation - Issue1 - Finance Social Practice - Excerpt3DRAFT
Circulation, Issue 001
Circulation, Issue 001 is now available at Printed Matter in New York City, Dalezine in Miami, and online at Metalabel.
Bio
TXT is a nomadic collective creating decentralized art, poetry, happenings and conceptual praxis.
Seth Indigo Carnes, also known as [sic], is an artist with a multidisciplinary practice, focused in language art, public art, digital art, cinema, performance, installation, research, and publishing. His projects are often led by concept, process, and inquiry, making use of both physical and digital media. Carnes’ artwork and projects have been featured in a variety of art venues, including PS1 MoMA, the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, the Emily Harvey Foundation, Microscope Gallery, Garis & Hahn, and many more; he has also performed throughout the United States, in Europe, and Japan. His past collaborations include work with Paul Miller (DJ Spooky), Shepard Fairey, Thierry Geoffrey, Simona Blat, and the TXT collective. Born in California, Carnes has a BA in History from Pomona College and a MS in Integrated Design and Media from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. He is currently based between New York City, the Catskills, and Lisbon.
Alfred Steiner, a founding partner at Meister & Steiner PLLC, is an attorney who has advised clients for over 25 years on legal matters related to technology and new media, from the earliest domain name disputes to the latest in digital assets and artificial intelligence. Alfred’s clients include artists and technology platforms who benefit from his thorough understanding of the law, technology, business, and culture of contemporary art. Alfred’s knowledge of the art industry is bolstered by his experience as an artist whose work has been discussed in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Guardian. Alfred graduated from Miami University with degrees in mathematics and philosophy before receiving his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Neil Ramsay is a systems thinker and lateral thinker who embodies an expansive combination of imagination, pragmatism, and aesthetics. Neil's expertise lies in identifying, developing, and leveraging synergies between creative professionals such as architects, artists, designers, futurists, urbanists, and business leaders who aim to build ventures with a more human-centered and life-oriented impact on people, places, and spaces. Neil is also a mentor at New Inc, an educator, and a practicing conceptual artist.
Institution(ing)s is a medium-scale collaboration project co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.