AOF Provenance Protocol – Manifesto & Preamble

v1.0 (2025)

AOF Provenance Protocol (APP) – Manifesto & Preamble v1.0 (2025)

Preamble

The Art of Faceless (AOF), founded 2012, has witnessed the collapse of platforms, theft of creative work, and the illusion of permanence sold by blockchain systems.

This document establishes the AOF Provenance Protocol (APP): an owned, non-blockchain minting standard for artists, writers, photographers, musicians, and creators in any medium.

The APP provides a verifiable, auditable method of recording creative provenance using analogue permanence, digital redundancy, and cryptographic fingerprints.

It is non-exclusive, medium-neutral, and open for personal use by creators. Commercial use requires explicit licence from AOF.

This protocol exists to protect the artwork, not the platform, and to survive systemic collapse.

Principles

1. Medium neutrality

- All creative outputs are valid: analogue, digital, film, AI, code, print, performance.

- The system rejects snobbery or hierarchy between media.

2. Resilience through redundancy

- Provenance requires at least two of three anchors: analogue artefact, digital record, cryptographic hash.

- Artefacts may outlive platforms; platforms may outlive artefacts. The protocol binds them together.

3. Open verification

- Anyone may generate or check a hash; no proprietary tools required.

- Ledger records may be analogue (physical notebook) or digital (PDF, Ghost, zine).

4. Artist sovereignty

- Ownership resides with the creator, not the exchange or platform.

- Transfers of ownership (collector to collector) are recognised by updating public/protected ledgers.

5. Legacy over personality

- The system never promotes individuals; it promotes the artwork and the archive.

- AOF remains faceless; the Protocol survives beyond its founders.

Protocol (APP-01, v1.0)

1. Artefact creation

- An artefact is completed in any medium.

2. Hash generation - A SHA-256 or equivalent hash is generated from the digital master file.

- Hash is recorded in both analogue form (print, ledger, zine) and digital form (time-stamped Ghost post, PDF).

3. Edition declaration

- Creator defines edition size (one-of-one, or numbered set).

- Edition declaration is recorded with hash.

4. Minting statement

- The creator publishes:

- Artefact title,

- Date,

- Location,

- Medium,

- Edition,

- Hash code.

- This becomes the “minting declaration.”

5. Ledger integration

- All minting declarations are logged in a permanent ledger (analogue + digital).

6. Ownership transfer

- On sale/gift/resale, ownership is updated in the ledger with date + transfer record.

Governance and Audit

- Version control: Each update to this protocol is published as a PDF, hashed, and time-stamped on the AOF Ghost site.

- Amendments are tracked by version number (APP-02, APP-03, etc.).

- Auditability: Independent auditors may validate that hashes match published artefacts.

- Public access: The Manifesto and all updates remain visible and time-stamped.

Licensing and Ownership

- This system is © Art of Faceless (AOF) 2025.

- Personal, non-commercial use is permitted without licence.

- Commercial adoption, reproduction, or integration into systems requires prior written agreement or licence from AOF.

- Any unauthorised attempt to enclose or monetise the APP system is a breach of copyright and voids authenticity.

Closing Declaration (2025)

The AOF Provenance Protocol establishes a counter-blockchain system of minting.

It is rooted in analogue permanence, digital redundancy, and open cryptography.

It exists to protect creativity from erasure, commodification, and systemic collapse.

It is not the property of any one individual or institution. It is faceless. It will endure.

Provenance Appendix

SHA-256 Hash of this document: 0c6d5840b5b4c62aa32cfe685216e0588994c920229c2860a922114da2907f94

This hash provides a cryptographic fingerprint of the file. Any verification against this value confirms the document has not changed

Document: AOF Provenance Protocol (APP)
Version: v1.0 (2025)
Date of Issue: 30 August 2025
Publisher: Art of Faceless (AOF)
Hash (SHA-256): 0c6d5840b5b4c62aa32cfe685216e0588994c920229c2860a922114da2907f94

Licence: © Art of Faceless 2025. Personal use permitted. Commercial use requires written licence.