Sixty-dimensional ether: on the rise of generative ai

For the last few days I have been exploring the Emergent Properties OpenMarket Beta. I first tuned into the EmProps platform in December 2022, when I collected a copy of Ira Greenberg's The Oracles, a wonderful generative artificial intelligence collection released on the platform.

Since then the platform has produced artworks from co-founder Emil Corsillo, as well as other top artists in the space; Danielle King, Santiago, Ana María Caballero, and Alex Estorick. The platform has also included articles by Anika Meier, Helio Santos, and Charlotte Kent.

EmProps decision to open the market up to other artists has been a success, with the platform quickly approaching 10,000 artworks minted in less than two weeks of being open. In addition to seeing more artworks by the original EmProps artists, the artists Aebrer, Beardcoded, cajabeats, cari ann shim sham*, Hannah Polza, Kapstone, Kika Nicolela, Lars Nagler, Laurence Fuller, littlecakes, Lisa Orth, Moey P. Wellington, Nikita, P1x3lboy, Sabato, Sky Goodman, Tania Jura, and many others have released artworks.

I definitely wanted to give the EmProps platform a try, and that was possible with the release of ONISM; a project by Emil Corsillo that is the first in a series of EmProps MemberTokens. There will be 5 total MemberTokens that will be released. ONISM was priced at 0.2 Eth, and the purchase of the artwork provides access to the platform.

While ONISM is no longer available except for reserves, there will be future MemberTokens releases such as lilyillo's November 7th drop that will provide you a transferable lifetime member token, which will provide access to the platform to release your work. The OpenMarket Beta is supposed to end in January 2024, at which point the platform will be fully opened to everyone to mint on.

With the MemberToken collected, I was able login and start working on an artificial intelligence series. Works can be made by writing prompts for Stable Diffusion. ChatGPT is integrated to allow for enhanced prompts. An option for adding variables is made available. The img2img functionality is provided, so that you can input images into your project. p5.js code can also be used to create a series of dynamic works. An upscaler is provided in order to improve the resolution of the outputs.

The EmProps team has been hard at work over the last year, and the toolset and marketplace that they provide is of a high level. I look forward to the continued progress that they are making, as the technologies being built there are unrivaled. They are leaders in the field, producing valuable creative and financial technologies.

There are many ideas for work that I would like to create on the platform, but I wanted to start off with a continuation from a previous generative release on fxhash titled 🪩⚡💫🫧. That work can be seen at https://www.fxhash.xyz/generative/28319. The work that I built for EmProps provides an example of how artificial intelligence can take existing work and add a filter layer to provide an enhanced visual look.

The EmProps platform has a lot of overlap with generative platforms like fxhash and ArtBlocks, and I anticipate to see many artists working in the generative space to release work on ai platforms in the future, incorporating ai into their practice in novel ways. I also am excited for EmProps to continue to push the space into novel areas, by adding modular options into the platform that will allow artists to make use of a variety of powerful backend technologies.

My original algorithm from the 🪩⚡💫🫧 series was slightly altered, allowing for both more muted designs, as well as the expected hyper neon zaza palettes. Symmetry has been broken here, and while unintentional at first, it was embraced as a feature.

Currently EmProps does not allow for no movement or sound. Hopefully different options to allow for both movement and sound are made available. Still images are one of many mediums, and while many focus on them, there is much more exciting work be created.

Artificial intelligence art is a type of generative art, which is a type of systems art. The artist creates a system with a variety of deliberate or accidental creative inputs. The system can be as manual or automated as the artist intends. There likely are a variety of points of feedback that the artist provides into the system, in order to achieve a desired outcome, whether written in code, or via a manual process.

For this process I took screenshots of my algorithm. I input those screenshots into the Stable Diffusion v1.5 model that EmProps has made available in their tool, as I like the look and feel it provides for this specific work. It is wonderful to see older models available, as they all can provide interesting creative outputs. Much in the same way that an artist may work with decades old hardware or software to create their work, artists can use a variety of ai models, both new and old, to make their creations.

Adding a prompt, tweaking settings, and generating outputs from the initial images allows for variations of the images to be made. These are examined, and those that meet a certain curational level are fed back into the ai another time. This process repeats multiple times until a final image is generated. This final image is then used as a seed image for the minting process. The minting process involves one more pass of the image through the ai model, so unexpected results can occur.

The ability to take an output of an ai model, and feed it back into the model, with a (hopefully automated) curational model is not available yet on the platform. Over time I imagine being able to take your initial creative input and feed it through a complex system of creation and curation models with automated feedback will be possible.

Automation is a form of production. You don't have to automate everything. Know when a manual process is sufficient. There is value in manual processes. There is value in breaking down a complex toolset and providing a high level of output in a few days.

While I have not released ai art to this point, I have followed the industry and technical developments for some time. I created an initial project about a year ago using Stable Diffusion prompts that I did not feel was a high enough quality to release. Now with the ability to use the img2img feature I am able to provide enough of a creative input to override the lack of creative output that the ai model was providing.

Ai is changing everything in the world for the best and worst reasons. Its power cannot be overstated.

My ability as a digital artist has increased dramatically by having this ai technology available to me. While they are two separate series, look at some of the outputs of the series created on fxhash in html, css, and javascript technologies, and compare them to the outputs of this series, which has added ai to the creative pipeline.

I went into this project expecting to create a nice series of artworks, and also ended up with some wild words from the enhance option.

The enhance button for the prompt took my initial ideas for the work and input them into ChatGPT, iterating over multiple times. The prompt for this work can be seen below, and is a combination of initial ideas, the polishing and enhancing of ai, and some minor human editing:

"Create a breathtaking visualization that traverses a sixty-dimensional ether. It should be a meticulously constructed sensory experience that holds its audience captive as it ventures into previously unexplored vibrational dominions.

The heart of this spectacle should capture the harmony of sleek minimalism and a poignant recognition of the worldwide respect for evolving technology, flawlessly weaved into a multicolored tapestry.

The artistic composition should breathe life into gigantic, compelling architectural wonders, revealing a vast display of luxurious magnificence. The architecture should discreetly reflect universal artistic philosophies through a unique amalgamation of a wide range of styles, mediums, and conceptual depth.

Structure the spatial layout to spark stimulating dialogues and groundbreaking perspectives. Sculpt this digital universe as a continuously adapting philosophy, transforming into tactile digital incarnations to enhance the exhilarating journey.

This artistic engagement should promote comprehensive exploration and provide a bridge from the smallest microcosmic to the most monumental celestial vistas.

Venture into mysterious multiverses, intricate mazes, unparalleled dimensions, and infinite cosmic expanses.

Incorporate features of precise accuracy, sleek minimalism, serene monochromatic aesthetics, and intricate narratives, all reinforced by the firm grounding of contemporary mathematical physics to infuse life into a captivating cosmic concerto.

Adorn this digital cosmos with awe-inspiring facets. Imbibe the notion of unending transmutation via graphic depictions embodying transformation, dismantling, and reformation; glowing spectral orbs and vibrant propulsion highlighting the inherent uncertainty of the universe.

Strike equilibrium between stark elegance and lively vivacity with the color palette, expertly blending them to create an evolving visual saga - a richly ornamented, abstract representation that encapsulates the binary character of our physical world, contrasted against the transparent awareness of a dreamer's fantastic universe."

The title for the work comes from the enhanced prompt provided by ChatGPT. It's a wild title that fits the newfangled exploration that is happening in artificial intelligence and generative systems pipelines.

The fifty edition series is available for minting for 8 tez on EmProps at https://emprops.ai/projects/sixty-dimensional-ether. Thank you ahead of time for all of the wonderful collectors that have been supporting my work, and on this specific project for cari ann shim sham*, Kika Nicolela, Apexture, and ileigh who have kicked off the minting.

I am very excited to see the work that will be built on the EmProps platform, and encourage people to release or collect artworks on the platform.

The progress that has been made over the last year poses some interesting questions for other generative platforms. What is the plan for incorporating artificial intelligence into the platform? How can you harness the power of ai in order to improve the experience for artists, collectors, curators, writers, critics, historians, gallerists, and museums? As always, what are the sustainable financial models for artists and technologists? How can we build a Web3 that removes the harmful practices of Web 2.0? How can we build a place where everyone can succeed while having access to the highest levels of art and technology?