The rise of Web3 and AI has unlocked new possibilities for the generative art genre, from new artworks and art theories to increased financial viability. Learn more about generative art and our role in shaping its future in this article.

The intersection of art and technology has been a fascinating space to study and draw inspiration from. Each new innovation results in the unlocking of new ways to express oneself in the world. The Web3 industry is no stranger to this progression, especially given that the art space has become one of the most visible frontiers for Web3’s growth, through the rise of NFTs.

The new age of art, which some would call Art 3.0,  is characterized by the expansion of digital art and exploration of generative art. In this article, we provide a closer look at the impact of generative art, especially through the lens of the rise of new technologies such as Web3 and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as the key players that push it forward, including Artech Club.

Generative Art Origins: It’s Older Than You Think

Generative art is often defined as any type of art that is created algorithmically. When artists create generative art, they do it not through a completely conscious effort but via algorithmic codes or mathematical formulas. In essence, the artist surrenders partial or complete control of the creation process to technology.

While generative art is usually associated with modern technological tools of the past few years, the concept has been explored back in the 1920s, when art genres such as Dadaism to Surrealism started exploring elements of chance, unpredictability and automatic processes in their artworks.

But the actual birth of generative art can be traced to the 1950s, a few years after the creation of the earliest computers. During that decade, pioneers such as Herbert W. Franke created artistic oscillograms by using analog systems and cathode-ray oscillographs.

The first popular exhibit of generative art was launched in 1968 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, where computer‐animated films, plotter graphics and painting machines from artists such as Frieder Nake and Vera Molnár were featured prominently. Five years later, Harold Cohen, the first artist-in-residence at IBM, introduced AARON, a computer program that can draw images by itself.

With each release of a new computer, generative artists had created more sophisticated generative artworks, but two new technologies would mark the beginning of a new chapter in the genre’s history: Web3 and AI.

Generative Art Today: Web3 + AI

Today, most people would associate generative art with AI, driven by the virality of machine-learning models such as Midjourney and OpenAI’s DALL-E, which allows everyone to generate algorithmically-created art based on just a few keywords from the user.

In reality, AI art is a branch of the wider generative art genre. The AI tools being used by artists of today are a specific but increasingly popular segment among the whole ecosystem of computer-based tools used to make generative art. What AI did, in essence, is to democratize the generative art creation process further than previous technologies did before it.

Artists use AI to make art by training algorithms called generative adversarial networks (GANs). These networks are trained using datasets of existing images, including human artistic styles, to make unique art pieces. By leveraging GANs and the wealth of imagery available online, artists are able to further refine the AI algorithms in a way that each prompt entered in the AI tool and each new image being generated contributes to future outputs, both in terms of keywords and the art pieces themselves.

It’s not just AI per se that is unlocking new ways to make generative art. Another example of an innovation in the genre is called time-based generative art, in which audio-visual and motion-based art syncs and transitions with music and other interactive elements. Many modern art exhibits, such as those created by teamLab, would employ these techniques to provide a multi-sensory implementation of generative art. Other sources of creative inputs for generative art include nature-based elements, physics simulations, and crowdsourced data being fed into algorithms to produce new artworks.

Where does Web3 enter in the picture? The rise of NFTs in the late 2010s, first as novel blockchain-based projects, then the later commercial success of NFT sales in the early 2020s, would represent another frontier in the democratization of art. With NFTs, anyone can make, display, and sell their artworks under a blockchain-based system that ensures royalties and uniqueness of each output. Web3 technologies would have notable roles in the expansion of generative art beyond the commercial potential they generated. For instance, several NFT platforms would make it possible for artists to create interactive and dynamic NFTs that change over time or respond to input.

Together, Web3 and AI introduced new paradigms for creating, possessing, appreciating, and critiquing generative art, to the point that it has become an increasingly popular genre.

The Generative Art Market

Driven by innovations in Web3 and AI, the NFT industry is driving strong demand for generative collections and products. In 2022, the NFT market grew to $41 billion, putting it in a position to eventually match the total value of the global fine art market.

At the forefront of the growth in generative art are profile picture NFT collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club, which have proved to be wildly popular among both art collectors and the general public. Behind the scenes, tools like Art Blocks, fxhash, Revue, Ganbreeder have empowered artists to create and mint generative NFTs. Art Blocks, for instance, was one of the first NFT platforms to introduce the creation of generative art that is finalized and put on the blockchain permanently, without any ability to alter it further, introducing a new interpretation to the generative art concept.

Beyond individual generative art pieces, there are many other areas of opportunity for generative art to make its mark in more industries. Aside from digital art, other markets such as gaming and the metaverse are also opening up revenue possibilities for generative art. For example, various metaverse platforms have started using procedural generation for virtual architecture, clothing, artifacts, and other elements needed to build virtual worlds.

Generative art also encompasses forms that go beyond the visual. This is evident in the growth of music apps like Endel that create adaptive soundscapes through the self-creation of music from an initial set of musical elements and behaviors and rules defined by composers, algorithms, or both working in tandem.

Even traditional art institutions have started playing a bigger role in growing the generative art market into a more lucrative one. In July 2023, major auction house Christie’s and luxury brand Gucci introduced an auction called Future Frequencies: Explorations in Generative Art and Fashion, where 21 NFTs that feature algorithmic interpretations of the iconic Gucci Bamboo 1947 handle were sold. In the same month, rival auction house Sotheby’s launched a generative art program powered by Art Blocks. For the first iteration of the program, Sotheby’s will sell digital art honoring generative art pioneer Vera Molnar.

What’s Next for Generative Art

With the increasing adoption of Web3 and AI technologies, as well as the acceptance of more major art institutions towards generative art, we will likely see more mainstream artists embracing generative art. The rising popularity of generative art will also likely result in the increase of the public’s use of AI-driven GANs and Web3-powered NFT creation tools to explore more ways to express their creative sides. In addition, this increase in popularity will likely result in interdisciplinary collaborations between coders, mathematicians, and designers, as more people take keen interest in the possibilities of this art genre.

Alongside this increase of accessibility for generative art to the general population, those who have been working in the art industry for years will be at the forefront of finding novel applications of emerging tech like quantum computing to generative art, unlocking new areas of specialization for these artists. There could also be new avenues through which generative art can be exhibited and capitalized upon, given the expectations for the future growth of new fields such as the metaverse, VR/AR, and ambient computing for dynamic and responsive environments.

However, as artists further define their specializations and intellectual properties amid the rise of AI in art, the growing art community will likely have substantial and debate-fueled conversations about the role of technology such as AI and Web3 in the future definition of art, as well as the ethics and boundaries of creativity.

But ultimately, the future of generative art will be shaped by active participants, including both traditional and Web3-based companies, collectives, and artists themselves. In this emerging space in the art world, there’s still room for newcomers to make an impact in this art movement, including startups aiming to help generative artists, such as Artech Club.

What Artech Club Does for Generative Art

Artech Club, an upcoming Web3 education and media platform, has recently launched its first event, called the Generative Art Incubator: Search for 1,000 Artists and Platforms. Through this campaign, Artech Club will provide generative artists and platforms, as well as artists, groups, and IP owners who want to explore generative art, with all-around support in incubation, marketing, and brand building.

Artech Club is composed of a team of initial builders in the development of the blockchain and fintech. We’ve witnessed and participated in the building of this industry by implementing our personal passions, forcast, inspirations, and efforts, values to previous projects and team. Our Initiatives in the promotion and incubation campaign for generative artists are in line with our values: unlimited possibilities (interdisciplinary), sustainability (conservation of energy and materials), collaboration (among mainstream artists, developers, NFT artists, designers, etc.), and creativity (new ways of creating art).

Our journey in the blockchain ecosystem started in 2015 with the rise in global popularity of Bitcoin. We are a team of pioneers in the Web3 space, all captivated by the technology’s potential to transform the world. When Ethereum arrived, it was like a lightbulb moment - suddenly smart contracts and dApps were possible. We dove headfirst into this new frontier, participating firsthand in the DeFi explosion of protocols like Uniswap. The thrill of innovation never ceased. As the ecosystem grew, we were there to explore every new twist and turn - from traders congregating on platforms like Binance to NFTs bringing blockchain into the arts. Through it all, our passion as builders and believers only intensified. We've been invested in this community from the genesis block to today.

Now, we look to the horizon for the next wave of evolution. Generative art represents an entirely novel collision of blockchain, AI, and human creativity. We are committed to being pioneers once again, supporting artists and collectors as they shape the future of digital art. - Our value proposition lies in the combination of art and tech, and generative art is undoubtedly an expression of our strengths as a club and our aspirations of growing the Web3 industry through tech-driven art.

About Us

We are members of Artech Club, a group that is dedicated to building a leading Web3 education and media platform. Artech Club is committed to contributing educational and valuable stories about the blockchain ecosystem and Web3. Our goal is to deliver value and wisdom in this fascinating area.

Make Yourself Heard

We welcome everyone to discuss any related questions with us, leave us comments on the topics you would like us to focus on, or join us in creating content together. We believe that asking the right questions and finding solutions are equally important. Thank you for reading our latest article.

Follow us on Twitter and Mirror to join the Artech Club!Sources:    Art Blocks, Artland, Christie’s, Coindesk, Decrypt, Forbes, Forkast, Jing Daily, Sotheby’s,

The rise of Web3 and AI has unlocked new possibilities for the generative art genre, from new artworks and art theories to increased financial viability. Learn more about generative art and our role in shaping its future in this article.

The intersection of art and technology has been a fascinating space to study and draw inspiration from. Each new innovation results in the unlocking of new ways to express oneself in the world. The Web3 industry is no stranger to this progression, especially given that the art space has become one of the most visible frontiers for Web3’s growth, through the rise of NFTs.

The new age of art, which some would call Art 3.0,  is characterized by the expansion of digital art and exploration of generative art. In this article, we provide a closer look at the impact of generative art, especially through the lens of the rise of new technologies such as Web3 and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as the key players that push it forward, including Artech Club.

Generative Art Origins: It’s Older Than You Think

Generative art is often defined as any type of art that is created algorithmically. When artists create generative art, they do it not through a completely conscious effort but via algorithmic codes or mathematical formulas. In essence, the artist surrenders partial or complete control of the creation process to technology.

While generative art is usually associated with modern technological tools of the past few years, the concept has been explored back in the 1920s, when art genres such as Dadaism to Surrealism started exploring elements of chance, unpredictability and automatic processes in their artworks.

But the actual birth of generative art can be traced to the 1950s, a few years after the creation of the earliest computers. During that decade, pioneers such as Herbert W. Franke created artistic oscillograms by using analog systems and cathode-ray oscillographs.

The first popular exhibit of generative art was launched in 1968 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, where computer‐animated films, plotter graphics and painting machines from artists such as Frieder Nake and Vera Molnár were featured prominently. Five years later, Harold Cohen, the first artist-in-residence at IBM, introduced AARON, a computer program that can draw images by itself.

With each release of a new computer, generative artists had created more sophisticated generative artworks, but two new technologies would mark the beginning of a new chapter in the genre’s history: Web3 and AI.

Generative Art Today: Web3 + AI

Today, most people would associate generative art with AI, driven by the virality of machine-learning models such as Midjourney and OpenAI’s DALL-E, which allows everyone to generate algorithmically-created art based on just a few keywords from the user.

In reality, AI art is a branch of the wider generative art genre. The AI tools being used by artists of today are a specific but increasingly popular segment among the whole ecosystem of computer-based tools used to make generative art. What AI did, in essence, is to democratize the generative art creation process further than previous technologies did before it.

Artists use AI to make art by training algorithms called generative adversarial networks (GANs). These networks are trained using datasets of existing images, including human artistic styles, to make unique art pieces. By leveraging GANs and the wealth of imagery available online, artists are able to further refine the AI algorithms in a way that each prompt entered in the AI tool and each new image being generated contributes to future outputs, both in terms of keywords and the art pieces themselves.

It’s not just AI per se that is unlocking new ways to make generative art. Another example of an innovation in the genre is called time-based generative art, in which audio-visual and motion-based art syncs and transitions with music and other interactive elements. Many modern art exhibits, such as those created by teamLab, would employ these techniques to provide a multi-sensory implementation of generative art. Other sources of creative inputs for generative art include nature-based elements, physics simulations, and crowdsourced data being fed into algorithms to produce new artworks.

Where does Web3 enter in the picture? The rise of NFTs in the late 2010s, first as novel blockchain-based projects, then the later commercial success of NFT sales in the early 2020s, would represent another frontier in the democratization of art. With NFTs, anyone can make, display, and sell their artworks under a blockchain-based system that ensures royalties and uniqueness of each output. Web3 technologies would have notable roles in the expansion of generative art beyond the commercial potential they generated. For instance, several NFT platforms would make it possible for artists to create interactive and dynamic NFTs that change over time or respond to input.

Together, Web3 and AI introduced new paradigms for creating, possessing, appreciating, and critiquing generative art, to the point that it has become an increasingly popular genre.

The Generative Art Market

Driven by innovations in Web3 and AI, the NFT industry is driving strong demand for generative collections and products. In 2022, the NFT market grew to $41 billion, putting it in a position to eventually match the total value of the global fine art market.

At the forefront of the growth in generative art are profile picture NFT collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club, which have proved to be wildly popular among both art collectors and the general public. Behind the scenes, tools like Art Blocks, fxhash, Revue, Ganbreeder have empowered artists to create and mint generative NFTs. Art Blocks, for instance, was one of the first NFT platforms to introduce the creation of generative art that is finalized and put on the blockchain permanently, without any ability to alter it further, introducing a new interpretation to the generative art concept.

Beyond individual generative art pieces, there are many other areas of opportunity for generative art to make its mark in more industries. Aside from digital art, other markets such as gaming and the metaverse are also opening up revenue possibilities for generative art. For example, various metaverse platforms have started using procedural generation for virtual architecture, clothing, artifacts, and other elements needed to build virtual worlds.

Generative art also encompasses forms that go beyond the visual. This is evident in the growth of music apps like Endel that create adaptive soundscapes through the self-creation of music from an initial set of musical elements and behaviors and rules defined by composers, algorithms, or both working in tandem.

Even traditional art institutions have started playing a bigger role in growing the generative art market into a more lucrative one. In July 2023, major auction house Christie’s and luxury brand Gucci introduced an auction called Future Frequencies: Explorations in Generative Art and Fashion, where 21 NFTs that feature algorithmic interpretations of the iconic Gucci Bamboo 1947 handle were sold. In the same month, rival auction house Sotheby’s launched a generative art program powered by Art Blocks. For the first iteration of the program, Sotheby’s will sell digital art honoring generative art pioneer Vera Molnar.

What’s Next for Generative Art

With the increasing adoption of Web3 and AI technologies, as well as the acceptance of more major art institutions towards generative art, we will likely see more mainstream artists embracing generative art. The rising popularity of generative art will also likely result in the increase of the public’s use of AI-driven GANs and Web3-powered NFT creation tools to explore more ways to express their creative sides. In addition, this increase in popularity will likely result in interdisciplinary collaborations between coders, mathematicians, and designers, as more people take keen interest in the possibilities of this art genre.

Alongside this increase of accessibility for generative art to the general population, those who have been working in the art industry for years will be at the forefront of finding novel applications of emerging tech like quantum computing to generative art, unlocking new areas of specialization for these artists. There could also be new avenues through which generative art can be exhibited and capitalized upon, given the expectations for the future growth of new fields such as the metaverse, VR/AR, and ambient computing for dynamic and responsive environments.

However, as artists further define their specializations and intellectual properties amid the rise of AI in art, the growing art community will likely have substantial and debate-fueled conversations about the role of technology such as AI and Web3 in the future definition of art, as well as the ethics and boundaries of creativity.

But ultimately, the future of generative art will be shaped by active participants, including both traditional and Web3-based companies, collectives, and artists themselves. In this emerging space in the art world, there’s still room for newcomers to make an impact in this art movement, including startups aiming to help generative artists, such as Artech Club.

What Artech Club Does for Generative Art

Artech Club, an upcoming Web3 education and media platform, has recently launched its first event, called the Generative Art Incubator: Search for 1,000 Artists and Platforms. Through this campaign, Artech Club will provide generative artists and platforms, as well as artists, groups, and IP owners who want to explore generative art, with all-around support in incubation, marketing, and brand building.

Artech Club is composed of a team of initial builders in the development of the blockchain and fintech. We’ve witnessed and participated in the building of this industry by implementing our personal passions, forcast, inspirations, and efforts, values to previous projects and team. Our Initiatives in the promotion and incubation campaign for generative artists are in line with our values: unlimited possibilities (interdisciplinary), sustainability (conservation of energy and materials), collaboration (among mainstream artists, developers, NFT artists, designers, etc.), and creativity (new ways of creating art).

Our journey in the blockchain ecosystem started in 2015 with the rise in global popularity of Bitcoin. We are a team of pioneers in the Web3 space, all captivated by the technology’s potential to transform the world. When Ethereum arrived, it was like a lightbulb moment - suddenly smart contracts and dApps were possible. We dove headfirst into this new frontier, participating firsthand in the DeFi explosion of protocols like Uniswap. The thrill of innovation never ceased. As the ecosystem grew, we were there to explore every new twist and turn - from traders congregating on platforms like Binance to NFTs bringing blockchain into the arts. Through it all, our passion as builders and believers only intensified. We've been invested in this community from the genesis block to today.

Now, we look to the horizon for the next wave of evolution. Generative art represents an entirely novel collision of blockchain, AI, and human creativity. We are committed to being pioneers once again, supporting artists and collectors as they shape the future of digital art. - Our value proposition lies in the combination of art and tech, and generative art is undoubtedly an expression of our strengths as a club and our aspirations of growing the Web3 industry through tech-driven art.

About Us

We are members of Artech Club, a group that is dedicated to building a leading Web3 education and media platform. Artech Club is committed to contributing educational and valuable stories about the blockchain ecosystem and Web3. Our goal is to deliver value and wisdom in this fascinating area.

Make Yourself Heard

We welcome everyone to discuss any related questions with us, leave us comments on the topics you would like us to focus on, or join us in creating content together. We believe that asking the right questions and finding solutions are equally important. Thank you for reading our latest article.

Follow us on Twitter and Mirror to join the Artech Club!Sources:    Art Blocks, Artland, Christie’s, Coindesk, Decrypt, Forbes, Forkast, Jing Daily, Sotheby’s,