Arcanum will be an archival app. Where everything uploaded to it (writing/audio/video/pics) will (eventually) be saved using Library of Congress/museum/auction house-esque standards, and (when we have the resources) preserved via blockchain.

The idea is to create a fortified vault of individual & communal knowledge for others to explore & learn from that can be forever protected from outside influence/pressures/those in power. 

It’s inspired by the fact that especially here in the US, there is this terrifying movement of people looking to erase history, ban books, and silence individual voices/experiences. 

There is a reason museums are destroyed in times of war. 

Every person you encounter knows something you do not; we can all learn from one another. 

We hope to eventually have tutorials from artisans across disciplines. The same concept of MIT’s Open Courseware- except it’s not just learning, but also a virtual museum that’s always expanding as well. 

I want Arcanum to be  a virtual Library of Alexandria. 

I chose the name it because it means ‘understood by few; mysterious or secret’, ‘information accessible or possessed only by the initiate’ 

But we won’t be gatekeeping. 

The ‘initiate’ would be available and free for anyone to access; all you need is a dash of curiosity. 

So if you live in an area where school budgets for art have been cut, or you can’t afford classes, or live in an art desert, you can still access creative knowledge. 

And as it grows, we will endeavor to make it  accessible to every person, in any way they need: languages, accessibility, media formats, and across proficiency levels. 

And once we have enough ‘data’, we can then create a closed AI system using only the material uploaded to the app. With ChatGPT and other AI systems, when you ask it a question, it gives you an answer, but no references behind the response. Whereas our AI will not only give you a response, but also give you supporting links and references substantiating the answer given from documents within our system. 

Where there is context of manifested pieces of art and events. Of the things made by human creativity and knowledge. A gathering place for curiosity and exploration. 

By taking care to archive this single Arcanum Salon event to start, and show how all these branches of possibility-from revisiting the experience to following those who you encounter at the event- we can show how much of a backstory there is to every piece on display, and every performance/speech that can all stem from a single evening. 

-Agnieszka/Ags