a few weeks ago we launched the closed beta of @perdotma in berlin.

here's how it went... (stay to the end for an invite code):

a photo exchange network where new friendships are formed

Per.ma 

you're probably wondering...

what is perma?

perma is a photo exchange network where every camera becomes a node within the network, and every photo taken becomes a digital asset that is owned, shared, and authenticated across the internet.

building @perdotma /perma and /tokenbound prev. cryptokitties, dapper labs, nba topshot

perma will begin as a mobile app where you can easily develop photos onchain and instantly share it with three random people within the network.

the three random people was inspired by the 1970s movement of mail/correspondence art, where a network of artist sent images, art, and letters to each other via the postal system 🤯

this is reprint of the original book in the 70s called the 'international image exchange directory'

it was an entire book of 1000s of artist names, addresses, and a request for images.

the image bank (1969) were the main facilitator of this artist network: https://vincenttrasov.ca/index.cfm?pg=archive

the image bank has an incredible history with nearly 60+ years of postcards/images/objects exchanged an lifelong friendships that were formed across the globe.

the co-founders of the image bank michael morris (1942-2022) and vincent trasov (1947-present) basically built a 'proto-blockchain' without even knowing it.

we went to visit vincent... he lives in a small village new berlin!

vincent was in his early 20s when he started the image bank. he's now 77 years old and is still a practicing artist and an avid gardener along with his wife.

here he is showing us a few of the gardens around the village! he was so welcoming and friendly!

along on this trip we brought 100+ copies of the 'international image exchange directory' books for him to personally sign (we will be giving some out to artists/designers)

we also got a chance to sit down and learn about the early days of the image bank and how the network started and the challenges him and michael faced in the early days

vincent had so many amazing stories to share (will upload the full interview at a later time). a few days after this visit he would actually do a talk at ETHBerlin about the image bank.

in preparation for his talk he wanted to go over some of the photos and slides he had prepared.

highly recommend watching vincent's full ETHBerlin talk here:

highly recommend watching vincent's full ETHBerlin talk here: https://youtu.be/3eQ4pPmacvU?si=nngWRVE3qk77sx0Y

after an incredible morning and afternoon with vincent, he was kind enough to give lift back to the train station.

he would share stories about his village, the surrounding towns, and of his time in berlin when the wall came down in 1989.

back in berlin at a flea market there were a bunch of vendors selling antique/vintage photos. i probably spent several hours digging through all of these crates looking for photos that had a story behind them.

it also put into perspective how many photos there are in the world. it's only of the recent decades where most of the photos are uploaded onto a social media platform. 

but photos themselves had a different type of ownership structure in the past. this is something we're deeply fascinated by and continue to dig into with @perdotma

as a continuation of our launch plan in berlin, we hosted an intimate gathering of photographers, builders, and artists at a local cafe. 

we had the chance to onboard the first few people to the perma and it was incredible being able to see their excitement!

we also sponsored a local street photography meetup. nearly 30+ photographers showed up and participated in the photo challenge.

the meetup was led by dave who is an incredible human who recently moved to germany from australia to kickstart his photography career.

over the past year, we have spent hundreds of hours collecting, shooting, and developing photos and mixtapes using analog tape and film. 

perma has been in the making since 2019 and is still evolving everyday. 

what we know to be true... perma is 'the place' where human empathy is captured, developed, and exchanged through the medium of photos (and more).

see some of the closed beta photos here:
https://testnets.opensea.io/collection/perma-photos-1

PERMA

@perdotma is currently in closed beta. therefore there are still a lot of things we need to improve. it might glitch out here and there but that's part of the mvp!

as of right now it's invite only! if you are interested in becoming a tester for this prototype please DM me!

also join /perma fpr updates!