Generative Blueprints for Human Experiences
written by fx(hash) team
The NFT boom of 2021 marked a turning point for generative art: blockchain tech did not only create new affordances for the commercialization of the art-form, it simultaneously created a framework for experimentation that would enable novel ways in which generative art could be experienced.
The massive transformation that generative art has undergone in the past couple of years, and the new freedoms that it’s consequentially generated, have ushered in an era that we can only define by a dynamic shift in how we create, acquire, and even think about art. As the dust settles, we now find ourselves at a point in time where it is more important than ever to understand how on-chain generative art is reshaping the way in which artists, audiences, and platforms are interacting, and how it is one of the premiere tools for mediating the artistic expressions of the future.
As a platform that has emerged and evolved throughout this renaissance, fxhash finds itself at the forefront of this digital frontier, time and time again reinventing the emergent paradigm to enabled novel interactions between artists and their audiences—tracing fxhash’s evolution offers a critical lens through which we can better understand the evolving landscape, identify emergent trends that have shaped our current conceptions around generative art, and the trajectory that we find ourselves on.
An Open-Access Platform for Generative Art on the Blockchain
During the height of the 2021 NFT boom, blockchain based generative art had begun to capture the imagination—and wallets—of the budding CryptoArt scene. While Larva Labs’ Autoglyphs introduced the novel paradigm in 2019, Art Blocks demonstrated that the idea could be streamlined in shape of a platform, providing the blockchain infrastructure for artists to publish their own generative artworks in a collectible manner. This proved to be a lucrative endeavor: generative art by the likes of Tyler Hobbs and Dmitri Cherniak have not only moved millions in volume, putting generative art on the radar of the larger NFT scene, but also received attention from renowned traditional art institutions such as LACMA and Sotheby's.
While Art Blocks’ curated model posited it as an attractive platform for collectors, it simultaneously created a barrier to entry for a broader wave of creators that were expressing an interest in publishing their works in a native “generative” manner on the blockchain. fxhash emerged at this crucial junction in time, when there weren’t really any other open alternatives. The budding platform tore down these walls and provided a framework for anyone to publish; artists of all calibers could now become part of the scene.
Towards the end of 2021, fxhash quickly garnered the interest of those that had already been experimenting with minting code-art on the blockchain: just a few months prior, Hic et Nunc had made it possible to directly mint HTML files as NFTs (that the interface would then present inside of an iframe). This happened as a consequence to a number of creatives demonstrating that it was possible to embed JavaScript code inside of SVG files—in a way “hacking” what was possible with the platform. Some of these SVG experiments would query the current holder’s wallet address to deterministically generate the graphics that the NFT would display.
Publishing code based web experiments on fxhash then only seemed like a natural progression, where the idea of unique, randomly generated, outputs became the de facto standard.
The creative community that Hic et Nunc had nurtured also arguably played a key factor in the explosive growth of fxhash—ingraining an experimental ethos in fxhash’s DNA right from the start. The months after can only be described as a sort of “goldrush”, making both new and established artists flock together on the new platform; consequentially quickly growing from simply a blockchain interface to a budding global community of people interested in generative art, enabling many artists to kickstart their careers, and simultaneously create a space in which generative art could flourish.
In his seminal essay “The Art of Radical Inclusivity” Jason Bailey (aka Artnome) describes the existence of open platforms, such as fxhash, as a necessity to the ecosystem:
I think it is absolutely critical that there exist open platforms that apply a bottom-up approach to curation. In my opinion, a decentralized and inclusive vision of art is much more efficient at showcasing a wide range of talented artists who might otherwise go unnoticed.
In the following months, fxhash would proceed to evolve with a community rallied around it, champion innovative approaches, continuously challenge the established paradigm, and provide a framework to explore the possibilities of blockchain based generative art.
Generative Art as Co-Creation: Flavors of a Novel Paradigm
fxparams is one of the earliest innovations that fxhash pioneered, and that put a creative spin on generative blockchain art. Released in March 2023, fxparams introduced a new way in which genart could be published and collected on the blockchain, and posited itself as a unique way for artist, collector, and algorithm to all converge as seamless collaborators.
Previously, when collectors acquired an edition from a generative artwork, they’d obtain a randomly generated output produced by the artist’s code; fxparams redefines this idea, and allows the collector agency over shaping the artwork that they intend to acquire. Rather than publishing algorithmic art generators, artists could now equally create art interfaces that allowed collectors to configure their own digital artworks.
In the above image, the panel towards the left side of the artwork is the fxparams interface. The sliders and toggles seen are defined by the artist and allow collectors to modify the artwork prior to its acquiry.
Throughout the past decades there have been many examples of artists attempting to involve the audience in a more direct way — either as part of the artwork itself, or as collaborators in the creation of the artwork. Famous examples of this that come to mind are Yayoi Kusama's "The Obliteration Room" as well as Candy Chang’s “Before I Die” Walls, in both of which the final artwork is product of a collective effort, and the audience plays part in the creation of a lasting artifact.
fxparams enables this conception in a digitally native manner; turning the collector into a direct collaborator and co-creator of the generative artwork. The generative artwork thus evolves from being a designed, and finished product, to becoming a co-creative process, where both the collector’s and artist’s traditional roles shift. In this setting, two questions become pertinent:
- How does our understanding of authorship, agency, and creative expression transform if the artwork depended as much on the collector’s involvement as on the artist’s vision?
- What happens when the artist relinquishes some control, and the collector’s choices become a lasting part of the artwork’s DNA?
The answers here lie in examining how the artists have leveraged fxparams.
It wasn’t long before the creative entropy of artists on fxhash pushed the boundaries of what was possible with fxparams. Projects like Alejandro Campos’ Pensado a Mano and Piter Pasma’s Universal Ray Hatcher attempted to leverage the tool in a way that it wasn’t originally intended for, but revealed that there was much more potential to the notion than initially assumed!
Pensado a Mano for instance, allowed collectors to draw and record their very own hand drawn artworks, working around the limitations of fxparams by having collectors manually re-enter the code generated seed that ultimately determined the recorded pattern.
Pensado a mano #438 & #252 | Pensado a mano explores the intersection of Generative Art and Hand Drawing. The collector, by drawing a predefined number of shapes on canvas, creates a unique hand-crafted seed that generates the final artwork. That is the only customisable param, thought by hand, which interacts with various random attributes to produce a unique composition.
In The Universal Rayhatcher the collector quite literally becomes the coding artist, requiring the input of a shape defining piece of code that Pasma’s rayhatching framework would then visualize and trace out as a line drawing—Piter Pasma describes it as “the largest collab I ever did”.
Universal Rayhatcher #310 | This is 6942 characters of highly experimental code. This is a version of my rayhatcher framework that can do literally everything. Or, at least anything you can do within 512 characters of Javascript code. Which is slightly more than a mortal brain can comprehend. This is my answer to the question: What is the least restrictive set of parameters for fx(params)?
Together with Piter Pasma's Universal Rayhatcher […] we have now two speculative uses of fx(params) that transform fx(hash) into a real co-creating platform. I don't know if these can be called Generative Art, but they are definitely an interesting way for artists to collaborate with the fx(hash) community. ~ Alejandro Campos in Draw that Seed!
These attempts to hack the platform led fxhash to directly integrate these ideas as possibilities into fxparams, and provide a more refined toolkit. Now artists could create their very own minting interfaces and collector experiences, that were directly baked into the software artwork—and that without having to rely on the standard fxparams interface as an intermediary.
This was also the motivation behind the fxhackathon that took place later on in June of the same year. Titled “Co-Creation Interfaces” it was meant as a direct incentive for the artists and hackers on fxhash to explore these newfound possibilities. It brought forth a number of innovative projects that were not only visually stunning, but also revolved in their entirety around the collectors hand-crafting their own outputs.
Before you get aggravated by this large wall of text, run away and click Randomize Params, I urge you to reconsider. Randomize Params will produce a visual attrocity unless heavily constrained, since the project is designed for interactive collaborations via the editing / params interface. —
Sculpt, glaze, and fire your own virtual pottery, then mint it on the blockchain to share with the world. This interactive tool allows for an astounding range of expressive sculptures to be rendered in real time and saved in HD. It was written from scratch with vanilla JavaScript and WebGL. —
Enabling the browser camera when asked is recommended! Although it’s possible to mint without a camera, the minting experience is designed to be used with TensorFlow hand-tracking. The outputs are generated using the minter’s address and the seed parameter, which means that what you see is what you get! —
This manner of involving the collector also offloads part of the stress that generative artists undergo when releasing a project—types of stress that are particular to generative art. What previously hinged on the whims of randomly generated numbers, now collectors were sure to obtain something that suited their own subjective taste. In this setting there is not so much worry about meticulously designing an excellent output space, since it would directly be sculpted by the collectors—the result is a collective expression, where both artist and audience share agency in shaping not only the individual artworks, but the entire range of works.
Generative Art as Intimate Exchanges: Physical Instantiations of Digital Artifacts
Generative art doesn’t only exist on the digital canvas, but also frequently takes on a physical existence in form of pen plots, fine art prints, 3D prints, laser cuts, as well as several other creative mediums; ultimately art is something that needs to be felt, perceived, and experienced in the flesh.
For many artists a physical component is also an essential part of the practice, and provides a way for them to connect with their audience more directly—similarly to how fxparams facilitates a collaborative approach to the creative process, lasting physical artifacts represent a different kind of intimate exchange between artist and collector.
Redeemables is fxhash’s answer to this need; released in July 2023 it introduced a way for artists to couple their published projects with physical distributables—such that redeeming a physical counterpart for each digital NFT is facilitated by a blockchain transaction. The first project to leverage this feature was Joannie Lemercier’s Nuages Possibles, a generative artwork where beautiful cloudscapes are abstracted as stippled masses, with each individual edition coming to life as a 30x30cm precise mechanical drawing created by a pen plotter.
“Once created from code, the drawings are made by a plotter machine, a little robot that moves a pen over black paper to lay down dots of white ink. The robot is like an extension of the artist’s arm, allowing him to create infinite iterations and variations.” ~ Joannie Lemercier
Many others followed suite to leverage Redeemables and use fxhash as a sort of generative one-stop-shop instead of spinning up their own websites to handle the distribution of physicals—streamlining more than a few interesting hybrid digital-physical generative art experiments.
In Greweb’s Plottable Era: (II) Medieval, each NFT is a recipe to a physical plot (A4): redeeming it allows owners to unlock a physical plot directly produced by @greweb's pen plotter. Shawnkemp’s Mini Dahlias is an experience in co-creation designed to exist in both the digital and physical realms. Each edition has an embedded blueprint that can be exported and used to create a 3.5" x 2.0" pocket sculpture made out of 14 layers of laser cut alpha-cellulose mat board.
Anna Lucia is one of the artists at the forefront of these kinds of exploratory approaches to generative art on the blockchain. Her collaboration with the German hi-tech fashion lab Phoebe Heess, Spellbound, is a thoughtful exploration of wearable generative art.
In Spellbound collectors could upload an audio recording or sound file via fxparams—maybe their baby’s heartbeat, the voice of a loved one that has passed, or even their favorite song—then eternalize the visual pattern of the audio on the blockchain in form of a unique generative artwork, that then serves as the weaving pattern for a physical scarf made of merino wool. The project makes us consider how on-demand consumer goods might evolve when infused with generative principles—suggesting the possibility of a future fashion industry that emphasizes uniqueness and sustainability.
tl;dr: record a voice note, generate a scarf, redeem your scarf, and be cozy.
Anna Lucia has also pioneered one of the most creative ways that fxhash has been used to mediate a real life physical experience. In collaboration with tattoo artist Kyra Orbons, {yes, yes, no, yes} is a project where genart takes on a lasting physical shape in form of a tattoo.
The project has grown significantly since its inception, Anna and Kyra have hosted tattoo sessions in various locations around the world, including an impromptu studio in a rooftop apartment in Venice. In this manner each tattoo produced through the generative system carries a unique story, creating meaningful connections between the recipient, the algorithm, and the artist. — Excerpt from Responsive Dreams
It's important to recognize the impact that the technology has had in a physical, tangible, and human setting—ultimately, art is about human connection, experience, and emotion. These contemporary explorations all boil down towards this in one way or another; as a form of connection between two or more individuals, whether we take on the role of the artist or the collector.
Generative Art for Mediating Human Experiences
Human-centric experiences can bring the digital art-form closer to a broader audience that might not tread in the same digital sphere that most of the discourse happens in.
There’s unarguably a steep barrier to entry to these novel ideas in art, technology, and what lies at the intersection thereof. Introducing all of this to newer audiences by directly bringing the art to them seems a much more sensible approach than waiting for anyone to stumble into these digital circles of ours — IRL events are still a much more direct way to have a lasting impression.
Over the course of the past couple of years, fxhash has brought generative art to over 2 dozen IRL events. In many of them fxhash facilitated a live minting component; a physical install where attendees and visitors could directly collect the art at the venue, taking home a digital souvenir and at the same time kick-start their digital collection—maybe also leaving them curious to learn more about it all.
Live Minting Events fxhash facilitated in 2023 at Unit London, NFC Lisbon, and Proof of X Tokyo
A notable event in that regard is the annually re-occurring Responsive Dreams festival in Barcelona. Organized by TGAM (The Generative Art Museum) the week-long event revolves in its entirety around celebrating all kinds of art made with code. TGAM’s founder Xavier Hernandez is in this manner making considerable efforts for bringing generative art, and code art as a whole, into the mainstream.
I quickly realized that to truly promote the art and artists, we needed in-person events. Twitter and Discord reach a limited audience—it’s the same people over and over. We needed to reach those unfamiliar with generative art, which is difficult to achieve purely online — Interview with Xavier Hernandez
Fast forward to September 2024—fxhash finds itself coordinating arguably one of the biggest generative art installation at the Wintercircus in Ghent. The gigantic historic building that was once a place for spectacle and entertainment, has now been transformed into a gigantic modern technology hub, and for the duration of a week its large atrium became center stage for Bjørn Staal’s Entangled, a unique kind of blockchain based generative art project.
Over the course of the week-long exhibition, hundreds of visitors came to see the installation—maybe intentionally, or just in passing by—but always stopping for at least a brief moment to observe the installation. In the aftermath the exhibition even made headlines in mainstream media, reinforcing that these kinds of installs can have a broader impact.
Bringing generative art into the mainstream continues to be an open challenge however; ultimately it’s not entirely certain whether or not these kinds of events have a lasting impact on visitors, leaving them more interested afterwards, or if it is just entertainment for an afternoon. With all of the context that one requires to get into this niche artform, it can often quickly get overwhelming to newcomers, and maybe even feels like this distant abstract conception of art, rather than being something that one can engage with.
Hence, the key difficulty lies in shaping these experiences in an approachable manner that leaves visitors intrigued and curious to learn more.
As more and more factors come into play shaping the course of generative art, the discourse has shifted, and evolved significantly. While blockchain technology continues to create new avenues for artists, collectors, and enthusiasts to engage in meaningful exchanges—be it in a digital or physical setting—we’re pushed to re-evaluate the relationships between artist, audience, platforms, and the art itself, positioning us at the precipice of a radical transformation in how we think about creative expression.
The next frontier lies not just in technological and artistic innovation, but also in the profound epistemological shift these technologies enable—other, alternative approaches for creating, collecting, and experiencing generative art might just be as valid as the current ones that we are familiar with. In this setting, art becomes more about the continuous, collaborative narrative that reflects our increasingly networked and interdependent human experience.