Pekao Bank from Poland, the country’s second largest bank, is taking a bold approach to preserving art. Using blockchain technology, it has kept some of its most valuable artworks in an Arctic vault, and less exposed to the elements.
This is just one of the latest developments from a growing practice: slowly but surely, more and more institutions are coming to realize that protecting cultural heritage against environmental damage and degradation is long overdue. Therefore, Pekao Bank created digital representations of art with a focus on being able to withstand the environmental catastrophes of climate change for longer periods of time.
Blockchain technology is set to revolutionize the mindset of owning and preserving art. In contrast to physical measures, an artifact would always be at the mercy of decay and damage, which has marred museums and collectors in the past. But with NFTs and digital forms of representation, the artworks can be tokenized and safely placed on blockchain networks. This does not only preserve the piece but also goes out to create a transparent and immutable record of ownership and provenance.
Under modern 3D scanning technology, Bank Pekao is digitizing well-known Polish artworks including those by Jan Matejko and Stanisław Wyspiański for this project. Then kept on the environmentally friendly Aleph Zero blockchain as non-fungible tokens, these digital copies guarantee their long-term survival.
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
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