Students in the Grade 11 Media Arts course at Trinity College School had a lesson in the real-world intersection of art and technology as they had the pleasure of hearing from guest speaker Jessica Svenningson ’09 on Thursday, January 12th.

An alumnus of TCS, Ms. Svenningson has a diverse background, including holding a B.A. in archaeology from Mount Allison University and M.M.St. (master of museum studies) from the University of Toronto, as well as working in the arts (both as a performing artist and in project/operations management of an independent arts organisation in Europe). More recently, she has combined her interests in the arts and history by working in the area of blockchain. Currently, she is co-leading the development of a digital department at Research Casting International, a legacy museum product and service manufacturer specializing in natural history.

Ms. Svenningson shared with students how the expansion of digital art has given rise to a new online marketplace for artists, and how blockchain can be used to ensure artists are credited for and compensated fairly for their work. She highlighted the role of provenance, the recorded history of a piece of art or an artefact, which demonstrates its authenticity. Many of the students have heard of NFTs (non-fungible tokens), but Ms. Svenningson demystified them by explaining how these digital assets, recorded in a blockchain, can act as a record of provenance. As she explained, “NFTs give producers traceability and transparency of their work, while earning royalties for present and future sales, and securing validity of origin and verified ownership and origin for future buyers.” While NFTs can be used to document any number of digital assets – from memes to concert tickets – for artists working in the digital realm they offer an opportunity to protect the author’s relationship with their own work throughout its life.

In addition to the presentation, students took part in a workshop with Ms. Svenningson that allowed them to put some of these practices into use for their own creations.

Thank you so much to Ms. Svenningson for sharing her knowledge and experience with students; her presentation was fascinating and illuminating for all.