Time may be currency, but for 0xDEAFBEEF, it\u2019s raw material. The generative artist, in his short yet rich career, has worked with time-based media from sound to animation, while exploring ways to on-chain these multimedia concepts. His latest collection continues in the same vein, but also, reaches back through the eras to revisit a pioneering artwork that similarly bottles time.<\/span><\/p>\n 0xDEAFBEEF is the sixth artist to participate in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art\u2019s ongoing blockchain series, <\/span>Remembrance of Things Future<\/span><\/a>. Created in partnership with Web3 consultancy <\/span>Cactoid Labs<\/span><\/a>, the initiative asks digital creators to produce new work that reinterprets art and objects in the museum\u2019s collection. Its <\/span>first iteration<\/span><\/a> featured artists including Ix Shells, Emily Xie, and Sarah Zucker.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For his turn, 0xDEAFBEEF picked as his touchstone Eadweard Muybridge\u2019s 19th-century studies of human and animal motion. Through the ages, these groundbreaking sequential images have furthered scientific understanding and photographic techniques, and for 0xDEAFBEEF offered \u201ca wealth of themes and historical context.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Eadweard Muybridge, Animal Locomotion<\/em> (1886). Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI was previously aware of the horse images from my time studying computer animation,\u201d 0xDEAFBEEF told Artnet News. \u201cBut seeing his work now more deeply and broadly, I felt like there was an enigmatic quality of these images that was familiar and yet mysterious and engaging.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After diving into the life and legacy of Muybridge (\u201cthe maverick eccentric\u201d), 0xDEAFBEEF has conceived a two-part project titled <\/span>Noumenon <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Chronophotograph<\/span><\/i>, released on May 1 and May 4, respectively. Both are the products of the artist\u2019s attempts to \u201cdraw connections between photography and blockchain as time-based mediums.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The first, <\/span>Noumenon<\/span><\/i><\/a>, is a 16-part generative series of audiovisual works, in which abstract, origami-esque figures flit about what looks like a distressed film cel. A code-designed chorus of synth squibs accompanies the black-and-white animation, underscoring 0xDEAFBEEF\u2019s signature synthesis of sound and moving image.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNoumenon is meant to represent the unknowable reality beyond the capacity of our senses\u2014how to communicate that in a sensuous way?\u201d he explained. \u201cSound in combination with movement is a powerful medium in which to convey a feeling.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n 0xDEAFBEEF, still from Noumenon<\/em> (2023). Photo courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Chronophotograph<\/span><\/i><\/a> serves as a companion piece that collects \u201c<\/span>metaphorical observations<\/span><\/a>\u201d of a <\/span>Noumenon<\/span>. In other words, one could think of the Noumenon as object and Chronophotograph as a camera\u2019s eye. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Using a special blockchain transaction called \u201creleaseShutter,\u201d collectors can capture a sequential chronophotographic record of a Noumenon\u2014much like how Muybridge photographed a horse in motion\u2014which will be minted as a token on the blockchain. Each Chronophotograph taken of a Noumenon also increases in resolution, mirroring the development of camera technology.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 0xDEAFBEEF, Chronophotograph 3T, Epoch 4<\/em> (2023). Photo courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A further participatory element is built into this part of the project. An owner of a Noumenon token can delegate an individual to activate the \u201creleaseShutter\u201d function, which will then list the delegate\u2019s address on the blockchain as the \u201cphotographer\u201d of the Chronophotograph. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Such interactivity, said 0xDEAFBEEF, expands the use of NFTs beyond that of \u201can ownership tracking mechanism.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a great use, but only one use of the rich potential of programmable blockchains, which I see more generally as a means of structuring social interactions around a common reference point,\u201d he added. \u201cI think the participatory\/interactive dimension is a unique affordance of this medium and worth exploring, as it has been by many artists.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 0xDEAFBEEF, Chronophotograph 2T, Epoch 12<\/em> (2023). Photo courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Not that you or your delegate can hit \u201creleaseShutter\u201d an endless amount of times though: a \u201ctime lock\u201d ensures that collectors have to wait a block of time\u201412 seconds\u2014before they can create another Chronophotograph. That time block then doubles between Chronophotographs, so that \u201ceventually, you\u2019re going to be waiting a day, then two days, and then months, years, and millennia before you can do the next one,\u201d said 0xDEAFBEEF. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In theory, the increasing resolution of and the wait between Chronographs could extend infinitely. But, as 0xDEAFBEEF recognizes, reality imposes limits. There\u2019s the meager human lifespan, if not the ceiling on computing technology. Even if machines may be developed in the future to handle an image with many millions of pixels, the fact is, \u201cit\u2019ll probably break,\u201d he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn reality, you\u2019re going to run into a limit,\u201d he continued. \u201cThere\u2019s the heat death of the universe, the sun will run out\u2014you have practical limits that you will eventually run into.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Time, though, observed or unobserved, keeps chugging on.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.artnet.com\/app\/news-upload\/2023\/05\/noumenon-1.png\")
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