What generative artists can teach us about AI and NFT

The world of digital art is experiencing a monumental shift as new technologies continue to transform the way art is created, curated and sold. Non-fungible tokens, computer-generated visual art, and decentralized autonomous organizations are just a few examples of the diverse range of technological innovations emerging in this space.

Art creators and collectors give us a proving ground; setting a precedent for how blockchain can impact markets, humans can intersect with AI, and explore the community feedback process for customers and products.

The intersection of humans and computers has been top of mind for many recently with the release of GPT4, a powerful AI that can help with everything from writing emails to performing basic drug discovery. While we question what “human-centric” tasks can now be automated, there is one sector that has been leveraging code for years: the generative art world.

Combines generative art with NFTs

Generative art is a loosely defined medium that implies that at least part of the art was created by a non-human source. For many generative artists, this means they rely on computer programming to create visual results.

Some artists, like Tyler Hobbs, were already creating their work in the generative art space when fans encouraged him to start minting NFTs as well. NFTs are digital tokens that represent ownership of a digital object. They have opened up new possibilities for how artists sell their work and how provenance is traced.

Hobbs is a popular generative artist known for his mastery of textures and colors. He recalls receiving several messages a day encouraging him to embrace the “crypto art” scene. But he wasn’t excited about the idea until he came across the Art Blocks platform.

Now known as something of a generative art mecca on the web, Art Blocks has featured some of the most compelling generative art collections, including Archetype by Kjetil Golid and Ringers by Dmitri Cherniak.

“Generative art in particular has probably seen the greatest growth of any medium,” Melissa Wiederrecht said in an interview, “because blockchain provides the perfect distribution and sales mechanism that fits so perfectly into generative art.”

From digital to IRL

What’s exciting about any aspect of human life operating in the digital realm is a common desire to move it off the screen once in a while. Many digital-centric artists and collectors are attracted by “real life” opportunities to meet in person. A few events in IRL generative art stand out for artists like Stefano Contiero, an Italian-Dominican generative artist who creates his work using code.

One such event is a now annual Art Blocks gathering in Marfa, Texas that many refer to simply as “Marfa”. Bright moments started as an NFT art gallery in Venice Beach and now has outposts in several cities; they are known for creating inspiring personal events around the minting of NFT collections.

Many artists also strive to provide collectors with interesting physical ways to interact with their work. This includes everything from signed prints, polaroids, clothing and even woven versions generated using a computerized loom.

Tools of the trade

Stefano Contiero shared that his go-to tool stack includes two popular programs: Processing and p5.js. “I feel that these two can be the entry point for many generative artists. At least for me, the tool doesn’t matter. As soon as there is a coding language that can allow me to create output, I have been able to create generative art . I still use manual processing for quick sketches. Meanwhile, for the web, I just use plain JavaScript because I feel it’s a little more versatile, a little more powerful than p5.JS.”

Like many generative artists, Contiero stumbled upon the medium online. Reddit r/generative is a popular starting point for artists who want to dabble with software tools.

Wiederrecht shared that “I actually first learned about and became interested in generative art when I was in high school. I had been learning Flash and came across some artists making art with code in Flash and was instantly excited.” After graduating from university with an MS in computer science, Wiederrecht said he was determined to make a career out of generative art.

Botto DAODAO

But wait, the generation of generative art doesn’t necessarily require one human person. The artist can be an AI, which is true in the case of Botto DAO. The Botto art community documents say their AI tool creates “350 artworks a week.” These works of art are considered a “round” of art, with individual pieces designated as “fragments”. The Botto DAO community votes on the fragments and selects a favorite each week, which is then minted on SuperRare as an NFT.

“It is a completely autonomous artist. It is a closed-loop generative system. Botto gives its own messages,” Simon Hudson, an operator at Botto DAO, told me in an interview. “Broadly speaking, it’s an experiment in AI tuning of an AI system governed by a DAO.”

“The AI ​​system is this autonomous artist, but it doesn’t know what good art is. Only the most popular piece each week is marked as a canonical, genuine finished work of art by Botto. “Nothing else is actually considered a finished work until it’s gone through that process and won that voice contest and minted and sold,” Hudson said.

Proceeds from NFT sales go back into paying voters for their time. And that can be a significant sum, as these individual NFTs sometimes sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Half of that goes to the Treasury, which holds more than $6 million worth of Ethereum-based tokens, according to Etherscan. The state treasury is used to continue developing Botto and creating exhibitions.

The future of generative art

So what’s next for generative art? Establishing meaning, or “meaning-making” continues to be a crucial part of the artistic experience. Even with digital art, there is still an emphasis on the importance of tangible relationships and IRL opportunities to connect with creators. These threads feel essential to the human process of both making and collecting art.

Perhaps the art world will teach the rest of us how to create, act, and find alignment as we navigate all the new ways we intersect with our technological counterparts. As digital tools reduce the cost required to create art, and blockchain enables anyone in the world to collect it, the fundamental question of why it exists matters more now than ever.

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