Envisioning museums on-chain: a designerly inquiry on blockchain-based digital transformation

Blockchain technologies have been referred to as potential drivers for paradigm shifts in the arts and cultural sector. Their multiple applications in the cultural and creative industries have recently started to be discussed by scholars, mainly coming from social and computer science disciplines. From crypto-collectibles for archiving and documentation purposes (Valeonti et al, 2021), to virtual exhibitions (Franceschet et al, 2020), rights management and digital protection, fundraising (De Filippi, 2015), and decentralization purposes: the potential use cases of blockchain technologies are varied, so as are varied the actors in the cultural and creative ecosystems that have started experimenting with these disruptive technologies. Nevertheless, despite the turmoil experienced from the practitioners’ side, cultural institutions, and museums, in particular, remain largely skeptical about the expected benefit. Museums refrain from engaging with decentralized technologies like blockchain due to their perception of the numerous risks involved (Del Vacchio and Bifulco, 2022), as well as to the inevasible barriers to entry and managerial implications. The present Chapter relies on the hypothesis that design knowledge, methods, and tools may foster the envisioning of valuable applications of blockchain technologies within cultural institutions, and museums in particular. We aim to reckon on design knowledge, and the intrinsic principles of a designerly approach, to stimulate reflection on alternative, and future-oriented ways of experiencing culture and cultural assets, providing museums and their stakeholders with a fulfilling cultural experience and with novel revenue sources. Since speculative approaches necessarily pervade any current discussion happening on blockchain technologies (Patrickson, 2021), the objective of the present work will be pursued by delineating possible (Jégou and Manzini, 2006), near-future design-orienting scenarios, in which cultural institutions and museums could engage with and proactively manage to inform a blockchain-based digital strategy