The Amoeba is a study of repetition, patterns, and harmony. The code repeats simple shapes in different positions and sizes until they build up to form a colorful and lively Amoeba. View in live mode to watch it dance. Press [1] - [4] to adjust rendering quality. Press [s] to take a snapshot of the Amoeba. Charity: 25% of sales for the first 24 hours will be donated to Meals For Unity, a nonprofit grassroots organization dedicated to reducing food insecurity among marginalized communities in the New York City area.

Amoeba

Inspired by Max Tegmark's book Life 3.0, we envisioned what it is going to look like when a general AI starts a media company for the first time. An AI able to create and stream unique content to every human watching. 

Soon though, we realized that there was something else going on.

As the work progressed it became clear that Supermental is a way to question and express much of the friction that we see in NFTs and Web3. Especially around mental health.

While we are firm believers in this new world we do have questions. And we do see red flags.

We often complain that some Web2 companies are causing depression and online addiction. And they are. But while the data and the assets might be free in Web3, are we better off when it comes to our mental health?

In the land of NFTs our online identity now consumes. Not only time, but money and assets. The mimetic status games are no longer confined to likes and followers. Now we deal in tangible value. This expansion of the mimetic scoreboard does not make it easier to live a balanced life. The benefit of being online has just increased dramatically for a lot of people. But it comes at a cost.

How do we ensure that we don’t recreate our mistakes of the past? How do we make sure that online addiction does not become worse? How do we make sure that our mental health is not sacrificed once again.

If we really do own the platforms, the assets, and the memes, it should be in our best interest to create an online environment where proactive mental health is the default UX. 

With Supermental we hope to draw attention to mental health issues in the Web3 and NFT space.

Supermental is made by a duo. My partner wants to stay anon.

Take care,
Jarl Rosenlykke

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Controls

- Click on the animation to change your mental state

- Press space to pause and take a deep breath

Supermental

A study of color in motion. Beams of light ebb and flow like ocean waves, their colors softly blending to form dreamy gradients.

Light Beams

Departing from generative art’s focus on the size and variety of algorithmic outputs, Coalition contains just 36 geometric creations. Every mint is composed of unique combinations of line, shape, and color, making them artworks unto themselves. However, just as significant as the individual mints is the larger series of which they are each a part. When viewed collectively as a 6x6 grid, the 36 tokens make up a larger, single artwork, the titular Coalition. Patterns and palettes that exist across different tokens come together seamlessly in the Coalition, allowing users to recognize their mint as an indispensable element of the coherent whole.

By highlighting the inextricable relationship between the single set and its 36 components, Coalition suggests that storytelling must play a vital role in the future of generative art. The medium’s current emphasis on long-form algorithmic exploration has come at the expense of narrative craft. While long-form algorithmic exploration has produced groundbreaking artwork and will continue to do so, our project urges practitioners and collectors to consider generative art’s capabilities outside of replicating the look of analog media. Instead of attempting a mimesis of old modes of production, Coalition foregrounds the stories about human experience that emerge when artists free their code from the burden of replicating paint and paper. We ask, does the “art” in generative art refer to the algorithm, or the outputs?

To encourage artists and collectors to value storytelling and limitation in their NFTs, Coalition doubles as performance art. While the set is limited to 36 mints, a 37th is available for purchase. The collector who buys the final token will find only an error message. The algorithm self-destructs after mint #35. Read about why we chose to do this [here](https://medium.com/@generativeartworks/from-reservation-to-coalition-the-stories-that-generative-art-can-tell-d5466e7ba15b).

There can be no avant-garde because everything has been done.
—Pedro Friedeberg

Coalition

This piece began as a formal study in composition using simple layered shapes, but when I started experimenting with animation it took on a life of its own. The final work visualises in form, colour, and motion the tension between social conformity and self-expression. At times all of us are required to keep ourselves under control, so that we can live and work together without having to negotiate a thousand tiny idiosyncrasies. Other times we are free to act as wild as we like, but even within this freedom we often find ourselves expressing different kinds of alignment and harmonisation. Negotiating our lives involves finding a balance between these forces: conformity and harmony on one hand, and expression and freedom on the other. As long as we share space with others, we must always think about how our actions fit in with those of the people around us.

LIA has been making [generative software art since 1995](https://www.liaworks.com), and her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide. This piece extends her signature process of overlapping simple shapes in complex ways, applying a new quality of motion to paint and re-paint the composition, forming hypnotic, shifting patterns of movement and stillness.

*Instructions*
Animation runs automatically - click/tap to pause and unpause

WARNING:
This art work may potentially trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy. Viewer discretion is advised.

Art Blocks Presents

Amoeba #62

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