Whitepaper • June 24, 2022
Democratizing ownership of fine art masterpieces
Who we are
Art is a reflection of humanity’s genius — created by people attuned and inspired by the world and context in which they lived — yet the world of fine art is filled with gatekeepers. A select few – an elite group of curators, collectors, and tastemakers – are the ones that can actually enjoy the fine art experience as a whole.
Society has largely accepted that imbalance because for centuries physical and economic constraints have prevented most people from meaningful participation in this ecosystem.
We’re changing the game. Particle is leveraging the blockchain to radically reshape the way people collect and experience art.
The Fine Art Experience Puzzle
The fine art experience can be defined as a four-piece puzzle. One that many are able to enjoy one or two pieces of, but only very few are able to experience as a whole.
- The Art: What it all starts with. Nothing beats experiencing it like as the artist intended (whether physically or digitally, in its appropriate setting), or even in context as part of a larger body of work, or curated show.
- Knowledge and education: In order to appreciate art and train one’s eye, knowledge around the craft, the respective worlds the artist creates, and the art market in general is essential. This is not something that is acquired overnight and many undertake years of study to attain proficiency. Many others however attain that level through collecting, and the other pieces of the fine art puzzle.
- Access: Access is what unlocks the previous two, and the last piece of the puzzle. Access to private collections, to experts, advisors, artists –to this very much gated community which has been thus far the traditional art world.
- Ownership: the final piece of the puzzle, the chemical reaction that occurs in a collector's brain that really ties the whole experience together. Ownership enhances the enjoyment of art, and has done so since the very beginnings of fine art. Very few experience this final piece, and that is where Particle comes in.
Why Particle?
Historically the only way to enjoy fine art was through private collections and museums, where access and innovation are restricted by physical limitations. To most people, the idea of owning a masterpiece, much less knowing how to define what is quality art worth collecting, is out of reach. But blockchain technology and the metaverse are changing that reality.
We’ve developed a model that transfers a piece of art’s value to the blockchain – without destroying the masterpiece itself. By creating a legal structure to support the conversion, we can preserve the original artwork and fractionalize its ownership, democratizing fine art masterpieces for the masses.
We believe more expansive ownership will give rise to a new generation of art collectors, catalyze greater interest in fine art, and introduce countless opportunities – IRL and in the metaverse – to build connection and community.
How does it work?
Particle leverages its team to source some of the world’s great works of art and enables the Particle community to use its collective purchasing power to add them to its collection. Every piece of art is ‘particalized’ into a subdivision of unique NFTs called Particles –representing minority ownership in the works in question. The physical works are then transferred to the Particle Foundation, a non-profit public trust and physical museum whose purpose is to maintain, preserve, and display the collection on behalf of the Particle community.
Some works are transferred temporarily until the community of their respective Particle collectors decide they would like to part ways with it, others are forever placed in the Foundation –creating the basis of one of the world's greatest art collections governed by the community.
- Collect: Particles, like any piece of art, are collectible expressions of our identities. They can be hung on walls, experienced via our platform or through VR, and traded openly on secondary markets. Each one comes with a unique collectors card and certificate of ownership, as well as access to a variety of one-off drops and art pieces to further grow your collection.
Experience: Owning a Particle gives people a voice in how the collection grows, access to real-life art world experiences, and admission to the world’s first DAO-powered museum. Each holder becomes part of a robust community of artists, experts, and other collectors, empowering them to dive deeper into their art journey and experience masterpieces like never before.
The Particle Museum
The Particle Museum will exist IRL and in the metaverse. It will be a community-powered space where Particles act as tickets and decisions are made by the collective. Instead of a select few, a community of thousands is determining how we value art, how we experience it, and what it means to own a masterpiece.
One of the great disconnects in fine art is that its mechanics don’t often reflect the spirit of the artists themselves. Does Banksy make art hoping that his pieces can be sold to ultra-wealthy individuals for millions of dollars? Did Basquiat? Or Frida Kahlo? Probably not.
Our vision is to bring art closer to the people – and to the human conditions that inspired the art in the first place.
Each work of art in the Particle Museum will be governed as a subDAO by its collective of owners. Decision-making at the highest echelon of the art world will be put at your fingertips –from which institutions may be loaned the art, to where to hold exhibits, all the way to whether a bid for the physical painting should be accepted.
Painting Governance
In order to truly democratize fine art ownership, Particle has structured its governance process in a unique way via the ParticleDAO. By having each painting act as a subDAO, the community will be able to make painting-specific decisions based on their ownership, while at the same time be able to govern the Particle Foundation via an umbrella token down the line.
This mammoth undertaking represents distinct innovations in law, technology, and governance. Permissionless physical ownership is the next evolution of DAO capabilities and ParticleDAO exists at the bleeding edge of that innovation.
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