2026 marks the 10th Anniversary for .ART Registry.
When .ART launched, it wasn’t merely offering a new web extension - it was inviting the art world to define itself in the digital age. The first adopters understood instinctively that a name online could hold as much meaning as a name on a gallery wall. Institutions like the Marina Abramović Institute (mai.art), the Louvre (louvre.art), and Fondation Louis Vuitton (fondationlouisvuitton.art) joined from the outset, recognizing that digital identity could itself be an act of authorship.
Whitewall (whitewall.art), a magazine dedicated to contemporary art and culture, was among the first to claim its space, as were innovators like Pixar (pixar.art), Facebook (facebook.art), and Amazon (amazon.art) - companies whose creative influence extends far beyond technology. Later came Porsche (porsche.art), which turned its domain into a platform for artistic collaboration, proving that a domain could be more than a destination - it could be a statement of vision and values.
.ART has evolved into a thriving ecosystem
Today, .ART has evolved into a thriving ecosystem of more than 300,000 artists, creatives, and institutions worldwide - a living archive of contemporary culture in all its forms. The diversity of its community mirrors the diversity of art itself: from celebrated figures like Sharon Stone (sharonstone.art), El Anatsui (elanatsui.art), Shantell Martin MBE (shantellmartin.art), and Sophia Wallace (sophiawallace. art) to pioneering digital creators exploring the frontiers of technology and creativity like Refik Anadol (Dataland.art).
The Technology Beneath the Canvas
Before there was blockchain, there were WHOIS records, a quietly powerful system of traceable digital ownership that predated decentralization. Building on that foundation, .ART developed Digital Twin, a patented technology that repurposes the Domain Name System into a secure, decentralized archive for cultural assets. Through Digital Twin, each .ART domain can carry verified information about a physical or digital artwork or object directly within its infrastructure. Provenance, authorship, and metadata no longer depend on third-party databases or disappearing web pages - they live
permanently within the domain record itself. Using an international standard developed by the J. Paul Getty Trust, creators can generate a trusted “twin” of any object, embedding details such as title, dimensions, and ownership history, or linking it to blockchain certificates.
Protected by international patents and authorized by ICANN
Unlike typical websites, these records exist independently of hosting, ensuring that even if a webpage changes or vanishes, the verified identity of the artwork remains intact. Protected by international patents and authorized by ICANN, .ART is the only domain registry in the world permitted to extend WHOIS domain fields in this way. In effect, names in the .ART zone can become a vessel of authenticity - an art object’s permanent digital home. This foundation set the stage for some of .ART’s most visionary collaborations.
“Names in the .ART zone can become a vessel of authenticity - an art object’s permanent digital home.”
Collaborations that Redefined the Digital Exhibition
When Ars Electronica (ars.electronica.art) - the Linz-based institution synonymous with the digital avant-garde - sought to expand its reach during pandemic lockdowns, .ART’s Digital Twin technology provided the solution. The result was the Ars Electronica .ART Gallery, the festival’s first large-scale online exhibition platform, where artists could certify and present their works using .ART’s infrastructure. More than 3,000 global visitors joined the inaugural edition, proving that art and technology don’t just coexist - they coevolve. That same year, the Contemporary and Digital Art Fair (cadaf.art) moved entirely online, with .ART as its innovation partner. Exhibiting artists authenticated their works through Digital Twin, reinforcing .ART’s mission to bring trust, transparency, and permanence to the digital art ecosystem.
14th Shanghai Biennale (2023)
At the 14th Shanghai Biennale in 2023, .ART served as sponsor and launched CosmosCinema.art-the exhibition’s official digital home-extending the Power Station of Art program into a weekly online series of screenings and discussions that link cinema history with cosmic exploration. Built around the “Cosmos Cinema” theme of light, shadow, and time, the site presented rotating film segments
with recorded introductions and context, turning each release into a curated learning experience. The partnership underscored .ART’s role as cultural infrastructure: giving a major biennale a living, public portal while advancing dialogue on our place in the universe and the narratives that shape it.
Expanding into Web3
If Digital Twin represents .ART’s archival backbone, Web3 compatibility marks its expansion into a fully connected digital universe. After launching .ART ENS name compatibility in 2023, in 2024, .ART introduced gasless Web3 integration, enabling creators to link their domains to crypto wallets or decentralized storage at no extra cost - making .ART one of the first domain zones to bridge traditional DNS and blockchain seamlessly. With a few simple steps, a .ART domain can now serve both as a standard website and a Web3 identifier - connecting to crypto wallets, decentralized apps, or IPFS-hosted content. The result is a new model of authorship: one name serving as both address and asset. A musician, film filmmaker, or painter can showcase, own, and monetize their work within a single identity, independent of platforms. In many ways, this development circles back to .ART’s founding principle: giving creators autonomy over their digital presence. Only now, that autonomy extends beyond Web2 into the decentralized, interoperable world of Web3.
Platforms of Innovation
Beyond individual creators, the .ART ecosystem connects to a constellation of platforms shaping digital culture. DATALAND.art, founded by Refik Anadol, is the world’s first museum of AI arts - a living neural space where data, nature, and algorithmic imagination converge. EXPANDED.ART continues this curatorial momentum, offering a marketplace and publishing platform that legitimizes digital art through thoughtful curation and scholarship.
Refik Anadol - Media artist and pioneer in the aesthetics of data
Another important voice in the .ART community is CIRCA (circa.art), the public art platform known for transforming global cityscapes into open-air galleries. Best recognized for its daily artist commissions broadcast on London’s Piccadilly Lights - and since expanded to cities including Seoul, Lagos, New York, and Tokyo - CIRCA merges art, activism, and public space at a monumental scale. Through its #CIRCAECONOMY initiative, it reinvests proceeds from print sales into funding future commissions and supporting social causes, creating a circular model where culture directly fuels community impact. With artists like Ai Weiwei, Marina Abramović (herself a .ART adopter
with MAI.art) and David Hockney participating, CIRCA epitomizes how digital infrastructure and physical urban screens can work together to broaden access to contemporary art and amplify urgent cultural conversations. (Refik Anadol's website)
Ai Weiwei - Contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist
A vibrant force within the .ART ecosystem, WoW.art reimagines what a digital community can be. Born from the groundbreaking World of Women NFT movement, WoW has evolved into a global sanctuary for learning, growth, and purpose-driven creativity. Guided by CEO Vi Powils, the platform blends Web3 innovation with a human-centred ethos, building an ecosystem where belonging,
personal development, and collective empowerment are core values. Its milestones - from a blue-chip NFT sell-out in 2021 and a record-breaking Christie’s sale to cultural collaborations with Madonna, FC Barcelona, Billboard, and Reese Witherspoon - mark WoW as one of the most influential cultural engines in Web3. Today, WoW. art stands not just as a community hub, but as a blueprint for how digital identity, creativity, and shared ambition can move another key innovator within .ART ecosystem is Pika (pika.art) a rapidly growing AI video platform that has redefined what it
means to create moving images. Founded by Stanford-trained researchers Demi Guo and Chenlin Meng, Pika empowers anyone - from casual creators to film professionals - to transform text, images, and existing footage into cinematic, anime, or 3D-style videos through intuitive generative
tools. In just its first six months, the platform attracted over half a million users and secured $55 million in funding to expand its vision of democratizing professional-quality video production. By
lowering the barriers to visual storytelling, Pika extends .ART’s mission into the realm of motion - giving every creator the power to direct their imagination. (Ai Weiwei).
The Future of Art & Technology
Looking forward, .ART continues to honor the innovators shaping tomorrow’s cultural landscape through the Digital Innovation in Arts & Culture Award (DIAC). Now in its eighth year, the award - founded with GP Bullhound’s Allstars - celebrates real-world impact across arts, heritage, education, and emerging media. Finalists such as Verisart, Artivive, ArtCentrica, ArtCrush, and WHATCLASS have shown how technology can make culture more transparent, interactive, and accessible. Each edition of DIAC charts a new frontier where art, AI, and infrastructure converge, proving that technology, when guided by creativity and ethics, deepens rather than dilutes cultural experience. The award’s juries have included leaders from MoMA, the Getty Museum, Sotheby’s, the American Alliance of Museums, GoDaddy, and the Shanghai Biennale - a cross-sector dialogue that keeps DIAC’s vision grounded, credible, and forward- thinking.
Equally aligned with this vision is the AI Hokusai ArtTech Research Foundation (aihokusai.art), whose recent publication AI Hokusai: Reflections on Art, AI and Legacy explores how artists use artificial intelligence not merely as a tool but as a collaborator - a generator, analyst, and even a reimagined spirit of Hokusai himself. Combining research, residencies, and virtual exhibitions, the project reframes authorship and heritage in the digital age. A collaboration between .ART and AI Hokusai is now in development, continuing this shared pursuit of understanding how technology can both preserve and propel creativity.[...]
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About the Author: Jeff Sass (.ART)
CMO at .ART Domains. With a rich 40-year background in tech and entertainment, including co-founding and serving as CMO at .CLUB Domains, Jeff brings a wealth of experience as a creative professional. His extensive career includes writing and producing for film and television, as well as authoring a published book.