DRL Working Session at NFC 2026
In June 2026, Digital Rescue Lab attended its first public conference at NFC Summit 2026, in Lisbon. Our aim: to open a broader conversation about preserving blockchain artworks, share the story of the Async rescue, and understand to what extent the wider community saw preservation as a problem worth solving. We also had the opportunity to meet each other in person after years of working remotely.
We didn't know quite what to expect, but by the end of the conference, we’d gained evidence that people care deeply about this work, that the community (particularly those artists and collectors associated with Async) is ready to participate, and that a shared language around preservation is beginning to emerge. Most importantly, we came away with a much clearer understanding of what Digital Rescue Lab might become.
THE WORKING SESSION
Around fifty people registered for the working session, but only around a dozen attended. This small group created an atmosphere that was intimate, thoughtful and conversational. The session integrated a roundtable discussion and collective brainstorming, and everyone had the opportunity to contribute ideas.
During the session, we introduced Digital Rescue Lab and the story of the Async restoration. Bard shared the technical journey of rebuilding the Async Classic viewer. Lou spoke about downloading and cataloguing Nifty Gateway data as part of her archival work.
I framed the discussion through the lens of conservation, drawing on the systems, ethics and practices that museums, libraries and archives have developed around stewardship. I suggested that digital art communities now face the challenge of adapting those ideas to decentralized environments.
Together, the group tried to address questions such as: “Why is this important?” “What should we prioritize saving?” “What constitutes successful preservation and conservation?” “Who is already creating solutions?” “How do we fund this?” We discussed the importance of creating solutions that would be as decentralized as possible. There’s clearly a lot of thinking and work to be done, but this session served to help us articulate a shared language around cryptoart preservation.
Metageist with the cryptoart platform graveyard spontaneously generated by visiting artists during the conference. We demonstrated Bard Ionson’s Async restoration on a big screen, showing the original First Supper and walking artists and collectors through their own rescued artworks.
Artists reunited with their artworks: Jaen, Skeenee, Defiant Squid, DatOgar with his Voxels build for the 105 Collective’s debut Async piece More Than Glass.
THE ARTISTS
One of the biggest surprises was discovering how many artists had never revisited their own restored Async works. We found ourselves sitting with artists individually, showing them how to find their works, explore the layers and report issues. Their responses were often emotional. People remembered Async not simply as a marketplace, but as a place of creative experimentation, collaboration and community. Several conversations suggested that the years following Async's collapse had left the community in a kind of suspended state of shock and grief, only recently replaced by a growing belief that recovery might actually be possible.
The experience also clarified the role Digital Rescue Lab could play. We arrived thinking primarily about restoring broken artworks. We left thinking more broadly about creating the conditions under which preservation can happen. That includes documenting methods, coordinating knowledge, supporting stewardship, educating people about practical tools, and continuing to build a common language around digital cultural preservation.
This felt like an important shift. While our work began with Async, the conversations in Lisbon often expanded into wider questions: why the cryptoart community should preserve its own histories, what methods might allow stewardship to remain decentralized, what other materials should be documented alongside artworks, and how knowledge can be shared. Those questions continue to shape the direction of Digital Rescue Lab as we develop a framework and practice for caring for our part of the digital cultural commons.
Digital Rescue Lab Visit Cult of Crypto Art (2) (3).pdf