Daïm Aggott-Hönsch (DaimAlYad) is a Hungarian-Canadian Muslim algorist, Apeirographer, AI artist, and archivist based in Toronto. He works primarily with custom-coded algorithms and workflows, sometimes integrating AI media generation as a component, to create both abstract and thematic works meant to evoke moments of wonder, reflection, and contemplation. His works were among the first to be showcased in a Museum of Crypto Art solo exhibition in Somnium Space, and have also been featured internationally at the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro, United Kingdom, and Hungary’s 2023 Digital Art Biennial. Ancestral Memory, a contemplative GAN audiovisual slow artwork, was an NFT Awards 2020 “Most Innovative NFT” finalist. His first release on Art Blocks, Cryptoblots, was released as Curated in 2020, followed by Thereidoscope in 2022. 

Mad Pinney: Thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview. A lot has changed since the release of Cryptoblots in 2020. Let’s start from the beginning, can you share how you first started your artistic practice? 

Daïm Aggott-Hönsch: My artistic journey began in my childhood under the nurturing influence of my art teacher, the late Jenő Zaszlavik. Under his guidance, I had the opportunity to experience a broad range of mediums from pencil drawing, painting, clay sculpting, and pottery.

One of my fondest childhood memories involves a summer art camp outing, in which he took us around our beautiful hometown of Szentendre, and encouraged us to find beautiful things to sketch from real life.

Though my journey as a manual artist has arguably found itself arrested, my aesthetic sight I unquestionably owe to my beloved childhood teacher.

MP: That sounds like a beautiful entry into art. How did you go from physical mediums to digital and generative art? 

DAH: I first ventured into digital and generative art driven by an enduring fascination with mathematics and its inherent beauty, which had come to seem to me a pure, uncreated reality, existing independently of human invention. My interest was particularly piqued during the time surrounding the birth of my daughter, which was a period rich in personal growth and new perspectives.

Exploring fractals and fractal art was my initial gateway. I was simultaneously entranced by their visual allure and somewhat dismayed by the commonplace approach to their creation—often generated en masse via software designed to make beautiful complexities accessible without genuine engagement with or understanding of the underlying mathematical entities. This accessibility, while democratizing, seemed to strip the art of its wonder and its ability to arouse the profound thoughts and emotions that were its rightful due.

This reflection led me to a deeper exploration of mathematical art through my own custom programming efforts. My approach was not to use mathematics as just another tool in an artistic arsenal but to allow it to guide the creation process, revealing its own intrinsic aesthetic structures. This method, which I later termed Apeirography, seeks to elevate mathematical art by insisting on its unique capacity to disclose the timeless yet unseen reality of the mathematical realm through aesthetics that seek to faithfully present various aspects of its underlying subjects.

My forays beyond purely mathematical art came later, though not by much, driven by my realization that the software tools I was developing in support of my Apeirographic work could be utilized in broader, more freeform ways to generate abstract and generative works.

MP: How did you discover the blockchain as a medium for art?

DAH: It was in 2019 that I started having crypto art Twitter pop up intermittently on my timeline. I didn’t quite know what to make of it all back then, but the energy and enthusiasm of the scene was captivating as a spectacle if nothing else.

Later in the year, I had my works shown in their first international exhibition at the Royal Cornwall Museum in the United Kingdom, and this accomplishment gave me the confidence to seek to become part of the movement by applying to SuperRare and KnownOrigin, the two most prestigious crypto art platforms of the time. I was accepted by both platforms in short order, and so my cryptoart journey began.

MP: It sounds like a natural progression from mathematical and programmatic art into blockchain and generative creative practices. How has your creative process evolved over time?

DAH: The earliest focus of my artistic practice was narrowly on mathematical, Apeirographic art.

Over time, my desire to exercise creative expression beyond the artistic reification of mathematical entities led me to explore a wider array of algorithmic and generative techniques, which facilitate the incorporation of more overt thematic elements. 

Some of these approaches were natural functions of the custom tools I coded for my mathematical works, while others arose through the striking advances in artificial intelligence image generation in the past years.

MP: Please tell us a bit about Cryptoblots?

DAH: Cryptoblots is an exploration of pareidolia, the human inclination to perceive patterns even where complexity merely fools us because none genuinely exist.

My early interactions with Snowfro, prior to him launching Art Blocks, were the serendipitous result of our mutual friend and fellow crypto artist Fabin Rasheed deciding to encourage me to take part in Eric’s early beta testing of the UI-light skeleton of what would become the platform some months down the road.

When later in the year, Art Blocks exploded onto the scene, I was quick to reach out again, and seeing the initial launch projects’ aesthetic range, I sought to adapt an existing grayscale algorithm of mine into something more vibrant and colorful, fine-tuning the concept through discussions with Snowfro, and letting his enthusiasm for the evolving series affirm and influence my approaches to polishing and finalizing it to become the Cryptoblots that would eventually launch.

It brings me endless delight when collectors share what they see in their Cryptoblots mints, and thereby giving them names. 

Perhaps my favorite of these is “In the times of COVID,” Cryptoblot #240, named by AJ (@A_is_A), who had pointed out to me that the central figure gives the striking impression of a stylized person wearing a facemask. Given the excessive trials my family and I experienced during the pandemic, this Cryptoblot has come to have particularly deep significance to me.

MP: It’s very powerful when collectors engage with the work as intended. Is there anything further you would like to share?

DAH: This year, 2024, is a year of consolidation for me.

I am, with few exceptions, focused on projects that are aimed at refining and enhancing the foundational pillars of my practice.

One of these projects that I am most excited about is a Cryptoblots book in the works that will document and annotate my early Art Blocks curated series in the fullness of its considerable breadth and depth.

More than a mere physical catalog, the book will aim to contextualize the series through its experiential existence in the hearts, minds, and pareidolic interpretations of its collectors and fans.

Still in the early stages, publication is planned at the beginning of 2025, with a significant portion of 2024 dedicated to collecting stories, experiences, and insights for inclusion from Art Blocks’ Cryptoblots community.

MP: Can’t wait to see it! What is the best way for people to follow your work?

DAH: I am on X as @DaimAlYad and Bluesky as @daimalyad.bsky.social, and intermittently update my portfolio website daim.art.