Community. “Everything starts and ends with the community.” What that means exactly, we don’t have a clue. But we certainly know we should be putting it first.
Community has been touted as the be all and end all to 99% of NFT projects, from $5 Billion BAYC to low effort rug pulls. These PFP projects has tapped into our very human need to find our own tribe, to belong, and be part of a bigger thing; all the while, expressing our identities as unique individuals. This dichotomy of human nature is what we want to explore by creating a visualisation of this abstract concept.
Overview
We are building a collaborative and living artwork, where collectors not only have true ownership, but meaningful participation and visible influence over the art piece.
This art piece is composed of 2048 NFTs - Nodes , each blinking in a unique rhythm set by its individual owner. Together, this mosaic of pulsing Nodes form the Canvas, creating an ever-changing pattern. The artwork can manifest natively in both the digital and physical world, connecting directly to the on-chain data at the base layer - Reflecting the changes made to it by the collectors in real time.
In this collaborative project, everyone contributes to the greater work as a whole, with no individual that can control the overall piece. Each Node is simultaneously a whole in and of itself, and part of a larger system; Influenced by, and influencing the work.
Structure
Layer 0 - Node
This layer is about individual expression. Each of the 2048 Nodes are ownable as an NFT, with its own unique generative art, and influence over the Canvas - via a property that is controllable only by the owner.
The Nodes have 3 properties:
- Token ID: Randomly assigned at time of mint and defines the position on the Canvas. For example, Token #0001 is positioned at the top left corner, and Token#2048 is at the bottom right. This property cannot be changed.
- Token Seed: This is a unique hash string randomly generated at the time of mint. This is fed into the deterministic generative script, to create a unique a set of trait and appearance for the Node. This property cannot be changed.
- Pulse: Controls how the Node dims and glows on the Canvas. This property is stored on-chain, and therefore publicly readable. Can only be set by the NFT owner. (We will go into the details of the mechanism in a separate post.)
The Nodes’ visuals are generated using a p5.js script stored immutably on the Ethereum blockchain (just like Artblocks). The features and traits will reveal themselves as the Nodes get minted. Note that changing the Pulse will not affect the appearance of your Node’s generative art, but it will change the way it behaves on the Canvas Layer.
Layer 1 - Canvas
This layer is about the collaborative outcome. The Canvas is where the individual expressions of all 2048 Nodes come together to form a greater artwork.
All the Node properties (including the Pulse) are stored on the blockchain and publicly visible, hence, anyone can take this data to build their own interpretation of the Canvas - Promoting free distribution of the artwork, while adding yet another layer of creativity.
This allows us to construct canvases natively in different mediums: whether it takes a physical form as a light installation, or built virtually in the metaverse, or exists as a separate generative art NFT in its own right. All these canvases can exist simultaneously, changing with the on-chain data in real time. Imagine a wall of 2048 light bulbs, all pulsing to their own unique rhythm set by their owners; while the same collection of Nodes are represented in Decentraland as a gigantic mosaic of floating blocks.
We are most excited about the possibilities that this layer will bring, so we will dive in to more details in another post, and layout what we have planned..
The Community
At the core of this project are the people and the democratic approach that allows the playing field to be equal to all. Therefore, we want to keep clear of unfair practices that favours certain individuals and squeezes out others. We have opted to experiment with free distribution of WL token in an attempt at a fairer launch.
For the next few weeks, we will be putting out a daily Tweet. The first 20 people who respond will be entitled to claim a token. Hopefully, this will give people enough time and opportunity to be part of the community.
Endnote
Ultimately, this is an experiment. We created this project to explore the abstract ideas of ownership, and to leverage the endless possibilities enabled by this a decentralised infrastructure. With you, we want to push the boundaries and test the limits of conceptual ideas in NFT and see what we can achieve with this new intersection of art and technology.
Things on the blockchain are permanent. That means whatever we do, will be cemented in digital history. With this profound sense of responsibility, we are trying to create work at the start of this technological revolution that would last through generations. There’s no going fast here, we’re here to think critically, plan strategically and explore possibilities. We’re in it for the long haul.
We invite you to join our collaboration. Together, we can give art a new stage and presence in the ever-evolving world of crypto.