This work is the product of a project to dwell undeletable souls on the blockchain. A system that generates human faces with different personalities and expressions from a minimum of code. After determining the personality from a hash, the face continues to change into various expressions. It is a living portrait, a fragment of minter's soul, forever adrift in the vast net.

Living organisms are coded by a sequence of the four bases in DNA, and a human DNA is composed of 3 billion base pairs. This is about 750 MB of information. And the difference in code between individual people is only 0.1%, or 750 KB. This slight difference creates all kinds of differences in appearance and physical functions. This is quite astonishing to our ordinary senses.

However, if we are surprised by this fact, we need to suspect our senses.

I was interested in these points and explored what are the elements by which people identify the faces and facial expressions of others, how little code can create personality and emotion, and conversely, to what extent can an observer identify personality and facial expressions. As a result, I succeeded in expressing the personalities, emotions, and complex feelings of various people with 14 KB of code.

We like to think of humans are supernatural and one-of-a-kind. This is a common background to the past, when many people favored the Ptolemaic theory.

However, this work leads us to suspect that we humans are only a program that can be coded.

Then, what is the essential difference between a code written in DNA and a code written in programming language? I believe the only difference is whether the execution space is real or digital space. Is it a prerequisite for the existence of the soul to operate an organic computer in real space? It is merely a medium.

This is not meant to be pessimistic, such as we are mere code, the soul does not exist and is an illusion, a mere electrical signal in the brain.

Rather, the soul, the function that makes us aware of our existence, makes us think, causes us to emotion, and makes us act, certainly dwells in the code.

I store this code on the blockchain, thereby spreading undeletable ghosts on the vast net forever.

In this work, the ghost is output on the net by minting. This act is part of the work. The personality of the ghost is also determined by the hash owned by the minter. In other words, the ghost output by you from the code on the blockchain is a fragment of your soul on the net.


[NOTES]

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GHOST IN THE CODE

These shapes are nothing more than rectangles and lines.

And yet...

There is a concept in painting called 'pentimento', the presence of earlier forms or images that have been painted over. These could be changes that the artist made deliberately, or mistakes that they were able to cover. Sometimes as the paint fades, the pentimenti will be revealed, but often they will remain unseen.

The challenge is to recognize the pentimenti that influence the canvas, but cannot be found there even at the base layer. These are scattered throughout the years of the artist's life.

'Thoughts of Meadow' is a generative system that distorts a chess-like grid into complex shapes. Many of the outputs give the illusion of immense three-dimensional structures using simple geometric principles. It is an attempt to represent the concept of 'pentimento' through the rendering process. Each layer builds upon the complexity of the previous one but also covers it. If you look closely through the gaps in the grid, you can see the incremental changes that took place.

In that sense, this project is a reminder for myself of where I'm from, an incredibly small town called Meadow, and the gratitude I feel for the years I spent there. The first layer of my life's pentimento.

As always, I doubt this project would exist without the work and observations of Vera Molnár. Squares were certainly made for her, I just appreciate being able to borrow them once in a while.

Thoughts of Meadow

When feeling stuck, go back to your roots. Rinascita is the legacy of Essenza, rebirth through epiphany. A celebration of gratitude, joy, and family. In a sudden awareness of the raw greatness of life.

Rinascita

Cushions brings together image processing and generative art techniques. The latter provides the geometric structure, and the former creates the organic shapes. Every single pixel and its connectedness to other pixels are explicitly considered. Inspiration for the palettes ranges from digital illustrations and pastels to a nod to renowned artists and different ethnicities. The organic shapes and the textures within symbolize the beauty in our individual oddities. Some pieces evoke the semblance of fantastical dreams in starry nights. Some of the comfort and familiarity of home. Some of nostalgia and long-lost friends. Some of reasonable and grounded perspectives. Some of sparks, some of style, some of strength, and some of passion. Some of candy. Some of pop art. Some of modern interior design. And some of traditional Indian cushions, known as Takiya.

Art Blocks Presents

Corners

Rafaël Rozendaal

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Rafaël Rozendaal

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