Algorithmic Crypto Art Changes Appearance to Reflect Bitcoin Volatility

A San Francisco-based experimental art movement has created what they describe as an ‘autonomously programmed art piece’ that changes appearance as the price of Bitcoin fluctuates.

Asynchronous Art revealed Matt Kane’s “Right Place & Right Time” today, an artwork that evolves dynamically in response to BTC price action. As the value of the cryptocurrency changes, so too does the artwork, explained Kane:

"Each day, a new look for the Master is generated using a data feed of Bitcoin's last 24 hours of price action. Each hour's price programmatically controls rotation, scale, and position of a correlating layer."

The complete piece is referred to as the Master in async.art’s parlance, because individual Layers — discrete aspects of the piece — are independently controlled.

In a previous instance of this unusual artistic collaboration, the thirteen layers of “First Supper” were individually auctioned to different collectors. So while one collector owns the Master (which was sold for 103.4 ETH, a crypto art record), the owners of the Layers themselves can update and change them whenever they see fit.

First Supper, by thirteen artists, rendered on March 23rd at 8:23am ET

Some of the elements that can be changed include characters, walls, and the table in the artwork. Some Layers can change outfits, others can substitute faces, and still others can change size or orientation. async.art notes that this enables over 54 billion distinct state changes in the piece.

The individual Layers were sold for a total of 263 ETH, suggesting that collectors value the opportunity to have direct input into the appearance of the Master artwork.

In the case of Right Place & Right Time, the artist retains control of the Layers, which are controlled by API calls.

Kane explained that "I want to keep the artwork fresh and surprising for both collector and viewers as price volatility is visualized – and maintain this as a living work-in-progress. Additionally, when Bitcoin's price reaches key levels, that achievement is recorded as part of the artwork that day."

async.art founder CEO Conlan Rios said that “We are now truly on track to impact the art world… it reinforces the fact that the entire NFT community believes in this movement.”

The new piece will be unveiled at a virtual gallery showcase event, Citadel 6.15, hosted by crypto artist Coldie and opening on March 27th in the Cryptovoxels world.

Cointelegraph Magazine has been focusing on the crypto art movement this week, in a series of features exploring ephemerality, art communities and collaboratives, and censorship. 

Original artworks by Cointelegraph artists will be on display at the exhibition, alongside works from noted crypto artists including Coldie, Hackatao, AlottaMoney, XCOPY, Josie Bellini, Shortcut, BlackBoxDotArt, MLIBTY, TwistedVacancy, Matt Kane, Rutger van der Tas, Vans Design, and Connie Digital.