Thread by @paintwifblocks

Generative art newsletter thread on:

1. @artblocks_io post-hype - first signs of volume pick-up
2. Spotlight: Trossets by Anna Carreras
3. NFT catalysts in Oct
4. PROOF podcast notes w Dmitri Cherniak

Read 9/14 issue
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1. While August marked a year-to-date high for Artblocks sales volume, sales volume & pricing slowed down across NFT platforms to a lull over the first 2 weeks of September (following a run-up in Ether price and a broader crypto market flash crash in early Sept).

In recent days there are early signs of a revival in the NFT secondary market, as seen in the txn vol & price floor charts. Part of the pick-up could have been spurred by the AB drop of Fragments by Monica Rizzolli on Sep 13, which initiated trading for other Artblock works.

While price floors for many Artblocks collections (both high-end or mid-end) have fallen considerably from their recent August peaks, price floors for some have held up better, such as CENTURY by Casey Reas.

It's reasonable to expect "blue-chip" or high-end NFT collections to see more resilient floors during periods of market contraction. With that said, during the recent correction, floors of even "blue-chip" Artblocks sets have similarly fallen by >50% in tandem w the market.

Topic 2. See newsletter on AB spotlight on @carreras_anna's Trosset.

I found Anna's comment on the push and pull between complexity and limitations imposed by system rules super intriguing.

"I’m interested in diversity. I’ve been doing some research on...

"...how generative systems can be built to foster very diverse outcomes.

How complexity can emerge by coupling a small set of construction blocks and using limited system rules.

It’s a way to look and try to understand our universe."

Topic 3. Upcoming market catalysts to watch for -

a) Upcoming Christie's auction on Oct 1 to feature Artblocks NFTs will mark a watershed moment for NFT gen art as the NFT works would be brought to the attention of TradArt patrons and a wider non-crypto audience.

b) FTX announced the platform will soon launch an industry first cross-chain NFT marketplace.

This should be a bullish catalyst as the high growth platform can bring on a wave of new NFT participants who up to this pt may not have been exposed to NFTs.

https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX/status/1434750019123523584

Topic 4. Worthy reads on appreciating generative art

This podcast interview with the creator of Ringers, Dmitri Cherniak @dmitricherniak by Kevin Rose is worth a listen for insights on Dmitri's journey in gen art and on his creation of Ringer, a defining generative art project.

proof.xyz/artist-spotlig…

Dmitri talks about the 3 waves in the gen art movement:

"the real innovators are the folks doing this in the 50s/60s - before they even had a computer they were imagining what it would be like if you gave instructions to a computer to create art..."

🤯

"...And they were the true innovators. They faced serious backlash even the idea of having a show with computers that made art..."

"the next wave - 80s, 90s, early 2000s. These are folks, some of them are doing Artblock drops, but these are the folks who found refuge in academia

"and built all of the tools that made these things possible...

Processing, open frameworks - a lot of these software that make generative art more accessible."

"The third generation is where we are at right now - very internet savvy, social media native, extremely prolific...

A lot of it exists because of what came before."

Dmitri dives into the technical aspects of creating the Ringer algorithm which is so interesting because behind the aesthetics there is also a lot of work in constructing a mathematical method to generate the Ringer design with code.

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This is a newsletter that highlights NFT market insights and shares discoveries on generative art, creators, and other cool stuff on blockchain-based commerce.

It would bring me joy to help more people appreciate generative art & blockchain markets and help creators win.

@santiagoroel @iamDCinvestor @kevinrose @ArtOnBlockchain @punk6529
@0x650d @krybharat @KeyboardMonkey3 @FluffheadChaser
@ac_collecting @Zeneca_33 @JaimeMusings @0xSisyphus @artnome @pythianism @SfTappy @ol_smoothie @ljin18 @Jiran_z

@jeffgdavis @carreras_anna @dmitricherniak @sofiagarcia_io @MonicaRizzolli @AlamedaTrabucco @VonMises14 @pet3rpan_ @galaxyRTK @xincdoteth @michaelspalter @artblocks_io

Sources for charts & data in this newsletter:

- Masterpiece.so
- cryptoart.io/data
- price floor trend analyses on @DuneAnalytics