There is something inherently challenging about writing an article about generative art from the perspective of a developer and artist. There are a few things that make it really tricky:
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Communicating technical aspects to folks that are not programmers
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Discussing the value of the art with folks who are new to generative art
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Getting across that the project has an identity beyond a bunch of tokens
Since the goal of this first article in a series is to provide some insight into what Iterative is about, I think it makes sense to start with the last point first, and work our way back to the technical bits the project is founded on.
The current state of the NFT market is bla bla bla
We don’t give a fuc̸͖̘͔͎̬̿̀̈́̀̔̔̀̂͝k.
While we’re not detached from the reality of market conditions, we are also first and foremost dedicated to a long term vision. Iterative is, and always has been about bridging the nostalgia of old tech with cutting edge tech - blockchains specifically. And a huge part of this is acknowledging that the cultures of the blockchain are wide and varied; a diverse set of interests have found their homes with NFTs and other crypto technologies.
So where are we in this sea of diversity? Well, we’re not a PFP project. We’re not trying to be the next chromie squiggles. We are in the business of creating meditative objects that exist spatially, and encourage the viewer to sit and spend some time with them.
Furthermore, these iterations of math and color are designed to be modifiable; you are not jpegs that can be swapped out for other jpegs later, but rather a set of code that can be modified so that your point clouds can morph into different shapes, take on different color values, and possibly even change their character sets. (More on this in the next article.)
Leaning into the beauty of interoperability that standardized token protocols afford us, our goal is to provide art that can also act as a tool, a toy, an artifact in a game, or even just a token of entry into other ecosystems and environments.
Ultimately, our vibe with the project is the most important part. Imagine an alternate timeline where the following things never fell out of relevance:
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BBSs // Usenet // IRC
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Text based MUD/RPGs
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Demo scene graphics
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Tinkering with your tech
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Hacking literally everything
And imagine that in this alternative timeline, the blockchain exists, and you can hook your consoles and hacked up devices to it. A world where you have autonomy over not just your finances, but your technology and art. A reality where everything is interoperable, and accessible regardless of your financial status, or geographical location in society.
And that is who we are as a project: looking back with fondness, looking forward with hope, and staying autonomous along the way.
What is the value of the art itself?
I did not initially set out to create Iterative as an NFT project. In fact, the reason I dove so hard into the p5.js behind it, was because it was a way of overcoming a crippling depression I found myself in. In many ways, the visual outputs of the iterations represent a form of healing.
There is a lot of literature out there on art therapy, and how colors, shapes, and different techniques can all contribute to self-betterment. However, there really isn’t much in the way of explaining, or exploring how generative art (outside of AI assisted therapies) can provide outputs that can initiate liminal states in observers. Liminality is crucial to introspection.
There are two ways to engage with art as therapy: you can make the art, and you can experience the art. For me personally, it was about getting lost in the sauce of writing the code, and getting to understand the math behind it. But soon, after making a few dozen of these, it became clear that watching the loops unfold were also mood boosters, and highly calming for the most part.
Some are not calming, and can feel a little jarring and intense, and that’s good too. Art is not always about looking at something beautiful; it can be thought provoking in ways that scare you, or make you uncomfortable. The intention with art like this can sometimes be to ask the question, “why did you feel the way you did?”
The answer to this question holds the true value of good art in my opinion. Art is personal. And in the case of generative art, levels of complexity, abstraction, unusual aesthetics, and a myriad of other variables come into play when questioning your appreciation of what you’re looking at. And it therefore made sense to me to make a matrix of different groupings for the “shapes” that make up the point clouds - not everyone will gravitate to the same shapes or intricacy. I hope folks will find ones that resonate with them more than others.
How does this runtime art stuff actually work?
Runtime art is pretty unique in the history of art, in that it has a significantly different canvas that it runs on, and it also requires a very different point of entry to see the art. Let me break down some basic comparisons.
With fine art, you have a physical canvas. You pick out your fabric, you cut it to size, you stretch it out, and then you secure it to a frame. You then apply a primer to it to create an absorbent surface for the paint, and proceed to sand it down to a desired smoothness. Once it’s dried, and ready, you can paint on it.
With digital art, any screen or monitor is your canvas. Anybody, anywhere can view the art, without having to travel across the world to see “the_original_final” file. With non animated art, you also have the ability, like with photography, to print it out and present it physically (on a canvas of your choosing no less!).
In the case of JavasScript driven and browser based runtime art (which is what Iterative runs on), you have a that is rendered by a browser’s rendering engine; it is an HTML tag that acts as a drawable area. In our case, we are using p5.js to generate the canvas, and draw on it, or populate it with the shapes that you see. More specifically, we are using WebGL as our JS API for rendering 3D graphics.
The restriction with fine art is that you have to travel to experience the original, as that is more often than not, how it was intended to be seen. The restriction with digital media is simply that you have to own a device capable of displaying the media. As of October 2023, 65% of the world’s population had access to the internet, which is a significant number of people with the capability to view digital art.
The biggest restriction with the generative is that it is limited to being seen in a browser, or webGL compatible display environment, along with a GPU or CPU capable of rendering the output. Some generative outputs are static, and easy to load on most machines. Some, like Iterative, are live runtime loops that require more processing power, and thus can have an impact on performance (ie. turn old laptops into toasters).
On the flipside, there are some massive benefits to runtime art like this:
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Accessibility - anybody with a browser can view it
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Cross-platform - OS and browser agnostic
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Interactive - because it’s live code, it means we can build interfaces into the art
Essentially, Iterative is intentionally geared towards the beauty of running live. The notion of the art only being viewable when it is being run on the device you are using, makes it a kind of live art performance every time you load it. It is also in tandem with our love of autonomy; you don’t need to buy a ticket to see it, just load the link in any web compatible device, anywhere in the world, at a time that fits your schedule.
Lastly, this idea of autonomy extends to the code and the art itself. As I mentioned earlier, these individual iterations will all have upgradeable/extendable properties, so that you can modify it if you want to. Generally when you purchase art, it is societally frowned upon for you to throw it like a frisbee, paint over it, or display it in an active fire. We don’t give a shit. If it’s yours, do what you want with it.
From our smart contracts and code in the p5.js sketches, to the visual outputs of the iterations, every step of the way has evolved with one thing in mind: this project needs to be relevant to folks interested in all forms of art and behavior around crypto and NFTs.
Whether you collect and/or flip PFPs, 1/1 art, code based art, 3D rendered art, or even photography, the one thing you have in common with everyone else is that you are inhabiting a physical meat vessel that is equipped with sensory equipment allowing you to perceive and interact with light and sound.
On all of our venn diagrams of communities and interests across web3, we all are standing at the same crossover in the center. If you’re here solely to flip some NFTs and avoid connecting with new communities, it sucks that you have read this far into this article; this project is not for you.
If you’re interested in diversifying your assets as well as your interpersonal connections on web3, then you’re in the right place.
If you’re interested in art that encourages you to take a moment out of your day to stop and focus on being calm, then you’re absolutely looking at the right project.
If you’re interested in an NFT project that is designed to evolve over time, and requires you to interface with its community and art, then you may have found a new home.
In the next article, I will dive into a more detailed view of our mechanics and code. Even if the nerdy stuff is not up your alley, I promise there will be some cool graphics involved!
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As a reminder, this indie project is entirely funded by IMP sales leading to mint. Funds from IMP sales will help fund our contract array being deployed, as well as funding artists involved with the project, architecture enhancements, and more.
Our Iterative Minting Pass doubles as a presale purchase (you get one iteration airdropped from the main collection on day of mint), and triples as a perks booster. By holding an IMP, you get airdrops on the regular from our Sandbox creations, as well as having a say in the direction of the project.
You can pick up your own IMP here: