THE KARMIC
FUNDING CYCLE

The KARMIC FUNDING CYCLE is a key initiative within THE SPHERE ecosystem. It is a web3 mechanism that allows to COLLECT LIVE ART through NFTs attached to performances and their derivative lineages. 
The first cycle was facilitated by the KARMIC ENGINE, a web3 tool developed by CURVE LABS; CYGNET, a consensus-building tool created by BLACK SWAN DAO; and METAGALLERIES designed by tymm novy and STEVE BACHELDER STUDIO.
The KARMIC FUNDING CYCLE works as a generative funding ecosystem that:
  1. accumulates capital around past performances;
  2. distributes funds to new artists through community-based voting and curation;
  3. have their future works pay back into THE SPHERE COMMONS POOL.
But where does this REVIVE & DERIVE LIVE ART cycle begin? 
In November 2021, The Sphere issued a call specifically targeting circus artists to participate in a collective Web 3.0 experiment. The call was extended to past laureates of CIRCUSNEXT, a European platform identifying and supporting creative emerging creators, encompassing around 30 partners from 17 countries.
THE REVIVE OPEN CALL
Six circus companies were ultimately chosen to become the first SEED PERFORMANCES, acting as foundational works for future derivative live artworks within The Sphere ecosystem. The selected participants were onboarded into two key processes: the ENRICHMENT PROCESS and the ANARCHIVING PROCESS.

  1. PLI

  2. Andrea Salustri – Materia

  3. ROOM 100 – C8H11NO2

  4. Defracto РCircuits ferm̩s

  5. EDO Cirque – Estetica dell’orso

  6. Collectif Petit Travers

THE ENRICHMENT AND ANARCHIVING PROCESSES

During the ENRICHMENT PROCESS, artists participated in expert-led workshops on blockchain technology, cryptoeconomics, and NFT-making, preparing their seed performances for integration into The Sphere’s web3 ecosystem. These workshops helped artists understand how their performances would function as EVOLUTIVE NFTs  – digital assets that visually transform with each derivative iteration. The workshops included:

  • → Recursive and precursive powers of a digital soul
    by Erik Bordeleau
  • → Introduction to the Karmic Engine
    by Curve Labs
  • → Cryptomedia and new media art practices
    by Pedro Victor Brandão
  • → Performative contracts and social choreographies of value
    by Lene Vollhardt

In the ANARCHIVING PROCESS, artists transformed their performances into open-ended scores designed to inspire future iterations. These anarchival “time capsules” included prompts and constraints to encourage reinterpretation, challenging traditional proprietary ownership models. Through collaborative discussions on Discord, artists reimagined their works as dynamic, evolving pieces, fostering a spirit of speculative generosity and collective authorship, laying the foundations for this emerging creative ecosystem.

THE METAGALLERIES

LAUNCH
METAGALLERY
LAUNCH
SEED EXPOSITION

Ahead of the funding campaign, each seed performance was showcased in two METAGALLERIES: a preliminary one created by tymm novy in collaboration with Anya Biarozka and a second, immersive version by Steven Bachelder Studio, showcasing the INITIAL SEED EXPOSITION. These galleries provided interactive environments for audiences to explore the performances. Each seed was associated with a web3 CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN hosted on the Mirror platform, enabling contributors to invest in their development.

Reviving & Deriving
Seed Performances

Contributions through the Mirror crowdfunding page were rewarded with NFTs processed through the KARMIC ENGINE. These NFTs would visually evolve to reflect the transformation of the funded performances, and would also grant governance rights in the Sphere’s DIGITAL SOUL. If a seed performance did not meet its funding threshold, contributors could either withdraw their funds or redirect them to THE SPHERE COMMONS POOL, ensuring that resources supported the broader ecosystem. Therefore, by investing in the KARMIC FUNDING CAMPAIGN campaign, you would not only support the work of artists you love: you became part of an expanding network of live art curation and production with built-in sustainability.

LAUNCH THE KARMIC ENGINE

Seed #1
PLI

In PLI, paper is material, subject, scenography and skin. Braided as rope, torn to scraps, floated up like a ship’s sail or crumpled down to rocky formations, it moves from one form to another, echoing the history of a material that has silently accompanied human expression throughout the ages.

Seed #2
Andrea Salustri – Materia

In MATERIA, the properties of polystyrene take centre stage as different shapes of it are animated by wind, buckled by heat, or shattered into fragments.

Seed #3
ROOM 100 – C8H11NO2

8H11NO2 is an intense, oppressive performance about schizophrenia and the body. Stretched between the visceral and the unreal, the artwork and the reality, past events rise to its surface and dissolve, slowly, in an air of peaceful horror.

TO SEED #1 KARMIC FUNDING PAGE
TO SEED #2 KARMIC FUNDING PAGE
TO SEED #3 KARMIC FUNDING PAGE

Seed #4
Defracto РCircuits ferm̩s

Circuits fermés – a work for two jugglers, an electronic score, a small mat (marked with tape), and some three dozen white juggling balls.

Seed #5
EDO Cirque – Estetica dell’orso

Welcome to the space of EDO Cirque, don’t worry about the mess. Here, the artists are working to develop a comprehensive strategy for getting away from tradition, normality, good sense, and all the usual ways of being a body.

Seed #6
Collectif Petit Travers

Collectif Petit Travers have been on a long journey into abstraction. Now, they’ve arrived at something like an art of live composition, where music is written in space, images appear in flashes only to float apart seconds later, and rhythm itself seems to take the lead.

TO SEED #4 KARMIC FUNDING PAGE
TO SEED #5 KARMIC FUNDING PAGE
TO SEED #6 KARMIC FUNDING PAGE

USERS JOURNEYS

SEE DETAILED JOURNEYS

POST-CAMPAIGN:
 SECOND OPEN CALL & LOVE LETTERS

THE DERIVE OPEN CALL

By the end of the Mirror campaign, two seed performances successfully reached their funding thresholds, enabling the further development of ANDREA SALUSTRI’S MATERIA and ROOM 100’s C8H11NO2. Contributors who funded unsuccessful seeds redirected their resources to THE SPHERE COMMONS POOL, strengthening the ecosystem. 

At this point, the Sphere turned into a DERIVATIVE ART INCUBATOR. We launched a SECOND OPEN CALL for artists across Europe to create derivative artworks inspired by the funded seeds. Anyone interested in our unique funding proposition had to write, not a boring declaration of intent, but inspiring LOVE LETTERS to win the heart of the Sphere community.

ANDREA SALUSTRI’S LOVE LETTER ANTONIA KUZMANIĆ’S LOVE LETTER

The community then used CYGNET to conduct a new QUADRATIC VOTING PROCESS, known as the MEGAVOTE, to select three derivative proposals from dozens of submissions. MARIJA BARANAUSKAITĖ, UTKA NEHUEN GAVUZZO, and CECILIA MANFRINI were the winners, and participated in residencies hosted by institutional partners, where they refined their ideas into fully realized live art pieces, showcasing The Sphere’s collaborative, participatory model for funding and co-creation.

LAUNCH THE MEGAVOTE ON CYGNET

PROOF-OF-CELEBRATION AND BEYOND

After the incubation of new derivative performances, the FIRST KARMIC FUNDING CYCLE was concluded, leaving a legacy that paved the way for the PROOF-OF-CELEBRATION event series. In these events, both seed and derivative performances were minted as LIMITED-EDITION NFT’s, creating opportunities for new cycles to blossom from potential revenue.

This cycle not only expanded the Sphere’s artistic ecosystem but also established new TECHNOSOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURES for funding and governance in the live arts. By integrating blockchain technology, collaborative decision-making tools, and evolving artistic practices, THE SPHERE demonstrated how art and technology can coalesce into a sustainable, participatory future for live performance creation.