{"articles":{"data":[{"attributes":{"slug":"true-on-chain-preservation-a-four-year-journey","title":"True On-Chain Artwork: A Four-Year Journey","author":"Erick Calderon ","content":"

When Art Blocks launched in 2020, we made a foundational commitment: every artwork's code would live on the blockchain. Not in cloud storage, not on servers, but directly on Ethereum. Critical components of every artwork would live permanently on the blockchain, while artists could leverage widely used, external creative coding libraries for their work.

This was innovative at the time, but we knew it was only the beginning.

The Evolution of Generative Art

In those early days, only the core artwork code was on-chain while artists still relied on off-chain tools and libraries to create their work. We were careful about this—limiting artists to widely used, well-preserved libraries like p5.js. But as the artworks released through our platform became increasingly important to art history, we realized we needed to go further.

Today, on our fourth anniversary, I'm thrilled to announce a major leap forward: 90% of all projects released through Art Blocks—across Curated, Studio, and Engine on Ethereum mainnet—can now be constructed entirely from the blockchain itself and rendered using a modern web browser. Every element needed to generate these artworks, including core dependencies like p5.js and three.js, now lives permanently on Ethereum.

Try the on-chain generator →

What's Changed?

Previously, while your artwork was secure on the blockchain, you still needed external resources to experience it. Now, everything needed to create and display these works—from the artist's core script to the supporting libraries—lives directly on Ethereum. Using any modern web browser with JavaScript support and access to the blockchain, these artworks can be constructed independently of Art Blocks or any other platform.

The artwork cannot be stopped even if we wanted to, it is immutably stored wholly on the blockchain. This step aligns Art Blocks' artwork more closely with our founding values, and hopefully more closely with artists who are working with these long-term technological considerations.

Some Considerations

We are very proud of the work done to facilitate this improved resilience of artwork created through Art Blocks, but it is just one step on the journey towards complete conservation. The HTML and javascript code to recreate the artwork is available directly from contract bytecode, and that HTML code can be rendered in a web browser, but those technologies are subject to change just like all technologies. There is still significant work to be done to address the many facets of software art preservation, and we are excited to continue our efforts there.

What This Means For Our Community

For Artists

Your work is now accessible as long as access to the Ethereum blockchain persists. Everything that makes your creation unique lives securely on the blockchain. Your code will remain as you intended, accessible to future generations through the same tools used to create it.

For Collectors

You own more than just a token—you have everything needed to generate and experience your artwork. While we'll continue providing a convenient way to view and interact with your collection, you're no longer dependent on Art Blocks or any other platform.

For Institutions

We're providing everything needed to pull the code that is used to render these works independently. Run your own systems, host your own interfaces, or build your own tools—the code that renders these works in a web browser will always be accessible directly from the blockchain, ensuring these pieces can be studied and experienced for generations to come.

Building on Our Foundation

From day one, Art Blocks has been about more than just NFTs. Throughout history, art preservation has been a constant challenge—works lost to time, disaster, or technological change. Today, we're taking a step towards building something different: infrastructure for a new chapter in art history. Looking back at our evolution over four years—from storing core artwork code on-chain to today's complete on-chain generation—I'm incredibly proud of how far we've come.

While this is only a step in a direction of ensuring permanence, I'm excited about what this means for the future of digital art.

Join Us

We're making all of this technology openly available—you can be part of ensuring these works live on.

To the artists who trusted us with their work, the collectors who believed in this vision, and the entire community that's supported us these past four years: thank you.

Here's to the next four years of pushing boundaries and preserving creativity.

—Erick

For those interested in the technical details, our engineering team has published a comprehensive overview here.

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