Welcome to DiB’s ChainChat podcast. I’m Natassja. 

Thanks for having us, my kitty is here and will probably be very vocal!

Great! For those who don’t know, we ask each guest to leave a question for the next guest: What’s your favorite Web3 use case? The one you tell your friends and family about.

I try to engage people in general, specifically artists. Not so much family, perhaps. I try to get them involved in NFTs, publishing them and learning about them. Some people are crazy about Web3 like we are! It’s like a bubble for us. It’s a big bubble, but if you’re outside of that, you don’t know anything about it. Or maybe you just hear the bad press that crypto gets. I try to get people engaged in this world so that they see the opportunities and the beautiful work that is out there. I try to get them to see that it’s not a money-making scheme and that even if they work really hard, success is not guaranteed. I try to help them see the reality that they won’t be able to live off their work through NFTs. But to introduce them to the community. I read somewhere and think it’s true: You get in because you’re interested or intrigued, and then you stay because of the community you find. 

Nice. How did you get into this Web3 world?

It’s an excellent question because whenever I ask somebody else, they have their ‘Aha!’ moment. I had mine when I started looking into it, but it was a natural progression because I pride myself on being a pioneer. Back when the internet came out, YouTube, I always believed that everyone has the right to express themselves without being gated by the big media. It was natural, but I guess I was late because it wasn’t until the summer of 2022 that I started looking into this world. I remember a specific space that I did with H.E.R. DAO LATAM. I was going crazy because they were saying, ‘Pin this, pin that,’ and I was like, What do they mean? I knew nothing about Twitter, but people were so kind. I went in like an elephant in a pottery shop, even asking how to pin things. The people in the space were kind, and they explained it all. I’m a tech person, but I didn’t understand how that worked. I met Monica Talan in a Space, she founded WAGMI LatAm, and from then on, I was hooked.

What’s your background?

I’m an artist, and I always think of myself as an activist through art. Activism. I studied fine arts and film and video in London. I’m from Madrid, but I went to London to study. I also went to Sacramento State University, of all places. I wanted to study black studies, which I also did at Middlesex. Afro-Caribbean studies, and yeah, I didn’t know how to pin a post on Twitter, but I’ve always had an interest in tech. I also have this community, my DAO. I founded Ashé. 

What projects are you working on?

I dabble with lots of bits. Video and image generation, mostly. I have a project to use machine learning and bring an avatar to life with some stuff I’ve written throughout the years, and I want to train that avatar with the things from my subconscious. Then see how my digital twin reacts. I’m into humanizing technology and researching what happens with sci-fi and Afrofuturism and what the industry is trying to do — to get this digital human to do things for us or with us. I’ve been working a lot on Afrofuturism. Producing images, augmented reality, and exhibitions.

Do you think the Web3 scene is big in Spain?

It isn’t, but there is interest. For instance, in terms of machine learning, if that can be included, AI and other technical stuff, I’ve seen a lot of people graduating and working on PhDs in my circle, so in terms of technical academia, there is a lot of interest. There are startups, I’m involved in a council project called Madrid Innovation. The regional government wants to challenge Barcelona in that, so they've been creating centers. They seem to look at it from a startup support standpoint. But again, I’ve been the elephant in the room, bringing up conversations about art and activism and getting BIPOC and diverse communities involved. So, there is a scene. Many people work in the gaming in Web3 industry, and interest from big corporations like Telefónica and Movistar. There’s a campus, and they encourage women to study. It’s not huge, but it’s growing. In terms of artists, the opportunities still haven’t sunk in. There seems to be a bit of resistance there.

I have a friend who’s a brilliant painter, and I started talking to her about the NFT world. She was like, I don’t want to hear this yet. What is the importance of diversity in what you do?

It’s huge. It’s my inspiration. I am bi-racial. My dad was from Haiti, my mum is Spanish, it forms me. It’s my rock. Bringing visibility to people who work from diverse communities, including the LGBTQI+ community, which I also belong to. I’m interested in mental health and neurodiversity and how people go through life. For me, diversity is not a word. It’s my being. 

Is that what you portray in your art? I’d like to see some of your work!

You can look me up on Instagram or other social media — shall I name them?

Go ahead!

If you type my name, Paloma Etienne, it will come up. On voice.com I have some NFTs.

Diversity in the industry as a whole, how do you see the situation currently? The state of diversity. In any conference I’ve been to, there’s a minority of women, I feel like there’s still a lot of work to do.

Gosh, OK. I try to focus on the stuff that interests and inspires me, so I see a lot of things I adore — women pushing forward to create communities, I see people in LatAm forging networks and pushing through incredibly, so I think that diverse communities have taken the Web3 world by storm. I’m in my bubble, the influencers I follow have a BIPOC origin, and I try to see how they see the world and how we can use technology to be pioneers and change the algorithm. It’s a huge opportunity, the right time for us to be here. A lot of artists from the global south, from Africa, and different communities are getting together and bringing their beauty to the world. In terms of activism, we need to produce work so that it will be part of the algorithm and the foundation. A friend from our DAO has been working with Midjourney for a long time. Yesterday through one of his prompts, something very ugly happened when he typed ‘African,’ something racist. He has the opportunity to talk to the CEO from Midjourney to tell him what happened, that a monkey came out, so he needs to tell him to check the algorithm. 

There was an almost identical story in 2015; we’re now in 2023. We’ve had time to check what goes in, so it shouldn’t still happen. That’s one of the aims of DiB — while this technology is in its nascent stages, we need to get everybody on board to make sure that these ‘errors,’ for want of a better word, don’t happen anymore.

In terms of AI and face recognition, there have been studies about the biases against BIPOC. Because it’s nascent, it’s the right time to research. It’s not only about that but also about creating our images and our representation. If it’s out there, it will shape the base that AI builds from. And thousands of artists are producing beautiful work. It’s really exciting. 

I will ask you to leave a question for our next guest.

Ok, let me think. I’d like them to tell us about the latest exciting thing they’ve seen in Web3 and why they find it exciting.

What would your answer be?

There’s a French-Afro artist. His name is ExploEst. His work is beautiful. We’re going to feature both his music and his AI in our next exhibition in the Metaverse.

Also, you told me about Nifty Club, they run events or meetups for those in Spain, and I’m going to go!

Nice!