In 1999, programmer Alex Galloway, artist Mark Tribe, and researcher Martin Wattenberg built an all-encompassing online archive for Rhizome. The platform had launched three years earlier as an email list for discussions about new media art, and the trio\u2019s approach to logging its dialogues was suitably visual, hinging upon digital technology. Titled <\/span>StarryNight<\/span><\/i>, the resulting interface allowed users to navigate a constellation of stars across a digital night sky, each of which was linked to a keyword and associated emails.<\/span><\/p>\n Alas, despite its significance as a piece of Net art, <\/span>StarryNight <\/span><\/i>would end up nonfunctional, its text corpus lost for more than a decade\u2014until now. Rhizome, now affiliated with the New Museum, has <\/span>resurrected the interface<\/span><\/a>, partially recovering its text content and enabling it to run on operating systems later than Windows 1998. And in a further move, the team has brought the work up to date with the Web3 era.<\/span><\/p>\n Postcards From StarryNight #100. Courtesy of Rhizome and TRLab.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n On June 28, Rhizome, in partnership with Web3 platform TRLab, launched \u201c<\/span>Postcards From StarryNight<\/span><\/a>,\u201d a now sold-out collection of 151 NFTs minted from museum-quality screenshots of the restored version of <\/span>StarryNight<\/span><\/i>. Each of these still images relates to a distinct keyword\u2014from \u201cmeme\u201d to \u201cperformance\u201d to \u201csocial space\u201d\u2014making them unique, one-of-one pieces. Proceeds from the sale, now totaling 5 ETH (about $9,848)\u00a0in volume, will go toward supporting Rhizome\u2019s archival and commissioning work.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat project is very significant in our history,\u201d Michael Conner, co-director of Rhizome, told Artnet News about <\/span>StarryNight<\/span><\/i>. \u201cWe\u2019re very proud to be sharing it in this way to tell the story of our preservation work and our history to a broader community.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The NFT drop inaugurates Rhizome and TRLab\u2019s new joint venture Seed, positioned as an educational journey through the history of generative art or more broadly, creative coding, which <\/span>StarryNight<\/span><\/i> deployed. Visitors to <\/span>Seed\u2019s website<\/span><\/a> can dig into a brief history of the generative space as seen through Rhizome\u2019s archive of Net art, throughout which are scattered \u201cSeedlings\u201d or digital collectibles that can be added to their digital wallets.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Screenshot from Seed\u2019s history of generative art. Courtesy of TRLab.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As a born-digital organization, Rhizome is itself no stranger to the NFT space. Its flagship event Seven on Seven notably incubated Kevin McCoy\u2019s <\/span>Quantum <\/span><\/i>(2014), widely regarded as the first art NFT. Seed, however, marks its deeper engagement with the Web3 space that took some deep consideration, according to Connor. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn 2021, we were watching the boom happen with a lot of knowledge and perspective on it, but not necessarily an understanding of how we could best engage as an institution. We were taking it slow and I think we still are,\u201d he explained. \u201cBut we\u2019ve seen a lot of really lasting communities forming in crypto that we want to engage with as Rhizome.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In this, Rhizome has leaned on TRLab to craft an NFT experience backed by an educational aspect\u2014just as it did<\/span> for <\/span>The Calder Question<\/span><\/a>, a project launched with the Calder Foundation that aimed to teach visitors about the American sculptor, while inviting them to purchase NFTs. With Seed, the subject matter goes deep into the heart of the digital art space and marketplace, which have embraced<\/a> the generative medium<\/a> in a big way<\/a>. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWithin the digital art collecting community, there are many newcomers not yet familiar with generative art\u2019s long history or how it relates to Net art,\u201d Audrey Ou, TRLab\u2019s co-founder, told Artnet News. \u201cAs the term becomes more commercialized, it\u2019s an ideal moment for Rhizome to share its educational and visual content with those who want to learn how the foundational artists got us to this moment, and where it might go next.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This fall, following the release of \u201cPostcards from StarryNight,\u201d Seed 2 will feature a generative art collection that serves as Rhizome and TRLab\u2019s genesis artwork, before Seed 3 unveils a series of artist commissions likewise focused on generative forms. The point, added Connor, is to further underscore \u201can incredible community of practice\u201d that\u2019s here to stay.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPeople sometimes say, \u2018oh, this is a hype cycle,\u2019 but in my view, there\u2019s so much strength and so much passion [in generative art],\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s clearly people that care about software and code, and are going to be supporting this practice over the long haul. That\u2019s what I really respond to.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.artnet.com\/app\/news-upload\/2023\/07\/SEED-Journey_Rhizome-x-TRLab-1024x582.jpg\")
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