The essence of all things digital is– the bit. One or Zero. On or Off. Where digital becomes analog. This piece pays tribute to our digital legacy of 8-bit color and 7-segment LED displays– technological limitations which are mirrored in the constraints of putting art on the blockchain. Although the image represents the art, the art of the token itself is the code– which renders everything bitwise, pixel by pixel, all contained within 27-bits of information.

27-Bit Digital

Our studio, Aranda\Lasch, was formed in the early 2000s to explore algorithmic systems and generative processes as a means to understand the world around us and make things within it. Whether encapsulated in physical or computational techniques, these processes act with their own degree of autonomy from our own biases and as a result, open up new ideas and sensibilities while dismantling traditional notions of authorship. They allow one to code the possibility of discovery and surprise into the creative process in a manner that can be widely shared and because of this transmissibility, algorithms frustrate the idea of a single author, inviting speculation on the shared nature of creativity. For this reason we have always understood our work to be a collaboration between each other, those who share with us and those who inspire us. 

Over the years, the studio has indulged in a number of obsessions. One is the conviction that history is a generative source with which to constantly entangle. Whether it is through stories, characters, techniques, or events, history acts as a medium active with properties that constantly reshape and transform our concept of the present. We look back to move forward, like hitching a ride. It is here that we encounter Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) and his masterpiece Melancholia I (1514) to inspire a deep dive into the process of engraving as a representational technique reinterpreted through the contemporary medium of code. By scratching metal away from a plate, an inversion of conventional drawing, engraving allowed a work of art to be reproduced and disseminated widely. In addition to the piece’s masterful delineation, its allegory resonates with us as well. In Dürer’s time melancholy was associated with insanity but also with creativity. In the engraving, the winged personification of melancholy -- the work is widely regarded to be a self-portrait of the artist -- is surrounded by the tools and elements of geometry. For Dürer, as for a handful of others who came before and after, who test the porous borders between art, science and religion, geometry is a vehicle for imagination, a shadow of the divine and a portal to the infinite. 

This work Primitives is a kindred meditation on infinity through an exploration of a novel geometric structure using algorithm and code, the tools of today's geometers and mystics, made visible through the anachronism of the engravers trade translated into pure 1’s and 0’s. Primitives grows through a single shape that can repeat and scale in specific ways that are never random, but rather tightly governed by geometric logics. It is about drawing infinity through a radical modularity; ordered but aperiodic. Unlike a regular crystal, whose molecular pattern is periodic (or repetitive in all directions), the distinctive quality of this quasicrystal is that its structural pattern never repeats the same way twice. Endless and uneven in aggregate, Primitive clusters can be described by the precise arrangement of a single modular part. As these small units aggregate together they form larger figures that themselves combine into ever larger movements, always a little bit different from any other. In this sense, quasicrystalline patterns have an infinite capacity to create and carry information. 

We are here because this is a medium for sharing in perpetuity. In the last couple of years, on the cusp of our third decade of practice, we have watched with awe and delight a renaissance in generative work as it's adopted by an entirely new generation around blockchain technologies. This inspired us to enter this new space with our own enduring questions of form and geometry, modularity and variability, historical continuity, and the thirst for endlessness. Primitives is what we selected as our primer into generative art on-chain because both the work and the medium grapple with these questions. 

Some Notes:
On the screen, Primitives is represented as a two-dimensional projection of a three-dimensional figure. Each invocation comes with a sequence of projections, or rotations, around this object. As Primitives spins, there are moments when its blocks snap into alignment with other blocks  revealing its underlying lattice and crystalline nature. Each projection can be saved as a high resolution image for printing. Primitives can also be saved in three dimensions as an .obj file for a variety of uses including the creation of a physical object through 3-d printing or fabrication. Below is a list of interface instructions:

'left' + 'right' arrow keys to rotate 
'up' + 'down' arrow keys to zoom in 
'g' regrows geometry 
'i' saves image 
'o' saves .obj

Thank you,
Aranda\Lasch
2022

Primitives

Unigrids are collectible digital art pieces 100% stored on the Ethereum blockchain. Each Unigrid consists of 421 individual Pure Javascript generated SVG grids, ensuring each Unigrid is entirely unique. Not only are Unigrids visually unique, but they also hide an ingenious animation and a generated beat to enhance your experience. Unigrids are an experiential piece of art, with a static image for printing, an animation, and companion beat - all generated and stored on the blockchain. You truly need to play around with Unigrids to understand the essence of them. Be sure to hold onto your favorite piece as we will be adding interactive easter eggs for art owners, giveaways, and other engagement with the community.

Unigrids

Sudfah (Arabic for "happy accident") is a generative collection celebrating the beauty that can emerge from chaos, mistakes, and accidents.

A single calligraphic line intends to tell one story (sometimes wandering and confused in its own right, but always meandering from one side to the other).

Digital liquid is spilled upon it and takes the ink in directions that are unexpected, uncontrolled, and tell a much more interesting story than the one the line intended.... and often more beautiful.

Sudfah

Screens have been at the heart of art mass production and mass consumption for ages. From screen printing techniques, first developed in China around 1000AD and later popularized in western art culture by e.g. Andy Warhol, to the screens on our devices used to consume both digital art as well as most traditional art we experience in our life.

The "Screens" series is a celebration of modern art. It is inspired by the aesthetics inherent in screen printing along with the compositions and colors of both Bauhaus, Constructivism, and pulp fiction sci-fi covers.

The compositions in "Screens" is based purely on strict geometries and plays with the tension, and symphonies that can be created from combining simple rules. The end result can range from chaotic non-figurative to strongly ordered isometric scenes.

The generative system underlying the rendering mimics the screen printing process by rendering and applying a single color at a time to a master image. Each virtual screen may be more or less aligned with the master, creating a lovely flawed balance to the precision of the rendered geometry.

25% of the proceeds from this project will be donated to Den Blå Planet, The Danish National Aquarium, in support of their work on preserving and restoring marine life and ecology.

Art Blocks Curated

Screens #960

Thomas Lin Pedersen

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Thomas Lin Pedersen

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