GALLERYAI-generated art and the 'Babes': A Chat With Petra
*This article is part of our editorial series, GALLERY SELECTS, where we showcase the diverse artists, collectors, and curators who are creating and sharing their NFTs on GALLERY. The ever-ongoing fervor surrounding AI-generated art has hit again, igniting passionate debates reminiscent of controversies about art mediums throughout history. At the heart of the latest episode of “AI artists vs. the rest of the world” stands Petra Voice. Petra's innovative approach and relentless pursuit o...
GALLERYRoope Rainisto: Challenging Perception Through AI Photographs
*This article is part of our editorial series, Gallery Selects, where we showcase the diverse artists, collectors, and curators who are creating and sharing their NFTs on Gallery. Roope Rainisto, a Finnish artist and former designer, intentionally evokes a sense of unease through his work. His images often blend the absurd, the deeply personal, and the strikingly surreal. His transition into AI photography is quite unique, positioning him as a prominent figure in the NFT and AI art communitie...
GALLERYGallery raises $2.69M to build the curation and social layer for NFTs
NFTs are on a meteoric rise. Today, more than two million wallets own NFTs. The industry has surpassed $10B in transaction volume this year. The most influential creators and brands are piling in and there are no signs of slowing down. For those who have been watching closely—it's no surprise. We are in the midst of a monumental shift: we now spend more and more time online, our digital identities matter more than ever, and for the first time in history, we are able to truly own digital ...
Share **your** collection.
GALLERYAI-generated art and the 'Babes': A Chat With Petra
*This article is part of our editorial series, GALLERY SELECTS, where we showcase the diverse artists, collectors, and curators who are creating and sharing their NFTs on GALLERY. The ever-ongoing fervor surrounding AI-generated art has hit again, igniting passionate debates reminiscent of controversies about art mediums throughout history. At the heart of the latest episode of “AI artists vs. the rest of the world” stands Petra Voice. Petra's innovative approach and relentless pursuit o...
GALLERYRoope Rainisto: Challenging Perception Through AI Photographs
*This article is part of our editorial series, Gallery Selects, where we showcase the diverse artists, collectors, and curators who are creating and sharing their NFTs on Gallery. Roope Rainisto, a Finnish artist and former designer, intentionally evokes a sense of unease through his work. His images often blend the absurd, the deeply personal, and the strikingly surreal. His transition into AI photography is quite unique, positioning him as a prominent figure in the NFT and AI art communitie...
GALLERYGallery raises $2.69M to build the curation and social layer for NFTs
NFTs are on a meteoric rise. Today, more than two million wallets own NFTs. The industry has surpassed $10B in transaction volume this year. The most influential creators and brands are piling in and there are no signs of slowing down. For those who have been watching closely—it's no surprise. We are in the midst of a monumental shift: we now spend more and more time online, our digital identities matter more than ever, and for the first time in history, we are able to truly own digital ...
Share **your** collection.
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*This article is part of our editorial series, GALLERY SELECTS, where we showcase the diverse artists, collectors, and curators who are creating and sharing their NFTs on GALLERY.
**Discover Evolved On-Chain Organisms, the collection Le Random curated on GALLERY to accompany this editorial piece.
Within the onchain art ecosystem, Le Random is recognized as an institution in generative art—a practice that combines creative coding, mathematics, human imagination, and compelling narratives. The resulting artworks are dynamic and evolving, offering unique insights into the creative process and underscoring the role of script, computational language, and technology in shaping stories in the algorithmic age.
The team has been curating, educating, and creating in-depth editorial content that provides nuanced context for the future of digital aesthetics and art. Bolstered by funding, the initiative has been expanding its vision with plans for a permanent collection and interdisciplinary collaborations. Their curated collections, including Evolved On-Chain Organisms recently curated on GALLERY, exemplifies their commitment.
Their ultimate aim is to showcase how machines (read: algorithms) can amplify human creativity. Through their works and insightful texts, they advocate for generative art to secure its place in art history, celebrating both its heritage and future possibilities. Led by industry pioneers TheFunnyGuys, Zack Taylor, Conrad House, and Peter Bauman, Le Random is at the forefront of championing this practice and its creators.
We recently spoke with Conrad House, discussing their approach and vision, their mission to promote generative art, and their collection Evolved On-Chain Organisms.
What is Le Random’s curatorial mission, and why is there a focus on generative art? How does Le Random position itself within the Web3/NFT space?
Le Random’s main mission is to tell the story and the important impact of computer-generated art. We want to accomplish this by collecting from the most influential artists across generations while using our editorial as a way of contextualizing the history of the movement. Together, our collection and editorial efforts will better enable our community to understand the past, present, and future of on-chain generative art.
We keep our focus solely on generative art to ensure we provide the necessary amount of attention to the movement that it deserves. Sometimes we see other large-scale collectives with thousands of pieces that range from generative, photography, gaming, collectibles, PFPs, and more. These sporadic collections can sometimes feel convoluted and misinformed, not taking the time to contextualize ideas thoroughly. I’ve always thought about our pure generative focus in an analogical way, imagining us as a chef trying to make the world fall in love with ramen. We could just cook you 10 different bowls of instant ramen but you probably wouldn't enjoy it nor have the time to digest it all. At Le Random we want to take the time to craft the perfect bowl of ramen. Simmer the tastiest broth. Kneed the chewiest noodles. Harvest the freshest vegetables. This attention to detail allows for a dish that's more flavorful and memorable than ever before. You might discover a newfound love or understanding for something only after it's been prepared right. This is what we hope to accomplish with generative art.
How do you guys select thematic focuses and artists for your sub-collections and what criteria must generative artists and artworks meet to be included in the collection?
Our goal is to celebrate the history of generative art, and one of the best ways to do this is by collecting works from key figures across different generations. We don’t have any specific criteria or checkboxes that need to be accomplished for an artist to be included in our collection. We do look for artists who have inspired, artists who have educated, artists who have paved paths, artists who are exploring novel ideals, artists who are technically savvy, and artists who are creating undeniably great work. After deciding we should include an artist in the collection, we begin brainstorming what the best approach would be to have a set of works that showcases their creative process. In terms of thematic focuses, we aim to represent the significant sub-genres of generative art, each one holding its own history. Movements such as ASCII, textiles, AI art, data visualization, audio-visual, algorithmic, and Artificial Life all have constructed themselves through unique journeys. All of these sub-genres come together to help our mission in telling the broader story of generative art.
What title would you assign to the curation you did to accompany this interview, and what is the rationale behind your choice?
Evolved Virtual Creatures by Karl Sims from 1994 was a massively influential Artificial Life work that showcased a simulated Darwinian evolution of virtual block creatures learning to complete simple tasks. Even though Karl Sims hasn’t minted any of his work on-chain, we’d still like to highlight this direct lineage between Sims and the artists included.
Could you provide an overview of this artificial life-focused curation?
The curatorial process began by creating a bucket of works within our collection that we see fit the broader definition of Artificial Life. Once this broader selection is made, we can dive deeper to determine which selection of works best showcases the genre's range. 36 Points by Sage Jenson is a direct representation of AL with the system being created through years of research of complex biological systems to craft a particle-based procedural system that constantly transforms. Works such as RGB Elementary Cellular Automaton by Ciphrd are representations of the historical narrative of the movement, showcasing Stanislaw Ulam’s and John von Neumann’s massively influential Artificial Life experiments done at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
This curation is particularly relevant in 2024, as AI and AL art are receiving enormous amounts of attention. While AI and AL share similar foundational ideas, they manifest in vastly different ways. Artists exploring Artificial Life typically do not work with pre-trained AI models, but instead create concise systems that lead to incredibly intricate and surprising behavior. These artworks and the ideas behind them are exceptionally powerful and deserve to be celebrated.
How do the artworks in Evolved On-Chain Organisms intersect with generative art, algorithms, and biological systems? What role do interactive and computer-generated art play in enhancing the curatorial vision, narrative, and viewer experience?
Every piece in the curation intersects with generative art by all being created through a systems-based approach, whether it’s procedural code or AI networks. Each of these systems mimics biological processes such as growth, evolution, mutation, and adaptation. Interactive and computer-generated Artificial Life can change in real time, offering viewers a dynamic and evolving experience that traditional static artworks cannot. This distinctive property of computer-generated art is what makes curating the gallery so enjoyable.
Any specific challenges you encountered when curating this collection and how are these challenges addressed?
One of the toughest parts of curating an Artificial Life collection is determining exactly what you classify as artificial life, whether something is AL or something that merely represents it. This distinction can be a tough rope to balance on but there are arguments to be made for each piece selected.Another challenge is making sure that the curation is accessible and comprehensible to a broad audience. Luckily, many of the ways these artists use algorithms are ways of visualizing complex biological data in a creative manner, helping to tell stories about biological processes, ecosystems, or genetic information. Additionally, adding curatorial notes that provide more context behind the process and inspiration can allow viewers to gain a better understanding.
Could you highlight two works that are critical in Evolved On-Chain Organisms and discuss how they contribute to the overall curation?
Two works I’d highlight as vital to the curation are Mutant Garden Seeders by Harm van den Dorpel and self-contained 003 by Entangled Others.
Mutant Garden Seeders are living on-chain artworks. Harm’s use of the “Cartesian Genetic Programming” algorithm developed by Julian F. Miller and Peter Thomson in 1999 is the textbook definition of Artificial Life. Each piece in the series has a rate of evolution that determines when the composition will change, with each change being determined by the genetic system. As a collector, it’s an incredible experience to have a work evolve with time, incentivizing you to appreciate the minute changes that may occur.
self-contained 003 allows for a behind-the-scenes look into the complex systems created by the duo of Sofia Crespo and Feileacan McCormick. The piece is inspired by the idea of DNA encoding and decoding, a process full of natural emergence. The final output image is an iterative combination of strings of images that act as a dataset of genomes, all coming together to mutate into one final form.
How has GALLERY (the platform) influenced the curation in terms of presentation, accessibility, user experience, and community engagement? How was the overall experience using and curating on the platform? Are there any features or improvements you would recommend to enhance the curatorial process on the platform?
For many collectors, it’s easy for a work of art to simply sit and collect imaginary dust in a wallet without it being given a stage to shine. GALLERY helps play a vital role in our ecosystem by providing collectors a platform to showcase pieces in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Additionally, it can provide a way for artists to display their collections with their ideal vision in mind, allowing viewers to gain a better understanding and appreciation for the work.
The experience of creating your own gallery is very intuitive, which is crucial for accessibility. Spending just five to ten minutes messing around with the UI, you can easily learn how to construct the perfect curation. One thing I’d like to see added to the toolset would be having more control over the sizing of each piece, the default column sizing can sometimes get in the way of a user’s ideal vision. This could be especially useful when adding resolution-agnostic software work that doesn’t have a set aspect ratio. Additionally, I would enjoy seeing video works autoplay when scrolling through a gallery without needing to click through to the individual artwork page. Making the viewing process as hands-free as possible ensures each work can be enjoyed equally.
What future directions do you anticipate for Artificial Life in generative art, and for generative art in general? What aspects of generative art and on-chain art are you most excited about exploring further?
I’ve always been a firm believer that it’s impossible to predict the future, you never know what catalysts might arise that change the trajectory of a movement. One thing that seems certain is the exponential growth of processing power in our machines. As computers become faster, the possibilities of code-based work only grow stronger. We’ve seen this technological advancement directly affect the AI movement. Years ago it was inaccessible for most people to run large neural networks with massive datasets, but nowadays, most people have high-scale GPUs and CPUs that can handle the required processing power to accomplish required benchmarks.
I’m excited to see novel ideas arise as experimentation evolves with on-chain works. The upcoming aside.eth project put together by Distributed Gallery and Verse Works is right up that alley. Each of the works in the series is crafted around a time-locked protocol system which is only possible through the use of on-chain contracts, APIs or Oracles. Ideas that uniquely use the technical tools of blockchains allow for works that have never been seen before.
Thank you for your time!
GALLERY: https://gallery.so/LeRandom
X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/lerandomart
Farcaster: https://warpcast.com/lerandomart
Le Random is building a digital generative art institution with its Collection and Editorials.
You can follow Gallery on X (Twitter), Warpcast, or here on Mirror to stay updated on the latest articles and interviews we publish. You can also join our Discord server to chat with the artists and other community members.
*This article is part of our editorial series, GALLERY SELECTS, where we showcase the diverse artists, collectors, and curators who are creating and sharing their NFTs on GALLERY.
**Discover Evolved On-Chain Organisms, the collection Le Random curated on GALLERY to accompany this editorial piece.
Within the onchain art ecosystem, Le Random is recognized as an institution in generative art—a practice that combines creative coding, mathematics, human imagination, and compelling narratives. The resulting artworks are dynamic and evolving, offering unique insights into the creative process and underscoring the role of script, computational language, and technology in shaping stories in the algorithmic age.
The team has been curating, educating, and creating in-depth editorial content that provides nuanced context for the future of digital aesthetics and art. Bolstered by funding, the initiative has been expanding its vision with plans for a permanent collection and interdisciplinary collaborations. Their curated collections, including Evolved On-Chain Organisms recently curated on GALLERY, exemplifies their commitment.
Their ultimate aim is to showcase how machines (read: algorithms) can amplify human creativity. Through their works and insightful texts, they advocate for generative art to secure its place in art history, celebrating both its heritage and future possibilities. Led by industry pioneers TheFunnyGuys, Zack Taylor, Conrad House, and Peter Bauman, Le Random is at the forefront of championing this practice and its creators.
We recently spoke with Conrad House, discussing their approach and vision, their mission to promote generative art, and their collection Evolved On-Chain Organisms.
What is Le Random’s curatorial mission, and why is there a focus on generative art? How does Le Random position itself within the Web3/NFT space?
Le Random’s main mission is to tell the story and the important impact of computer-generated art. We want to accomplish this by collecting from the most influential artists across generations while using our editorial as a way of contextualizing the history of the movement. Together, our collection and editorial efforts will better enable our community to understand the past, present, and future of on-chain generative art.
We keep our focus solely on generative art to ensure we provide the necessary amount of attention to the movement that it deserves. Sometimes we see other large-scale collectives with thousands of pieces that range from generative, photography, gaming, collectibles, PFPs, and more. These sporadic collections can sometimes feel convoluted and misinformed, not taking the time to contextualize ideas thoroughly. I’ve always thought about our pure generative focus in an analogical way, imagining us as a chef trying to make the world fall in love with ramen. We could just cook you 10 different bowls of instant ramen but you probably wouldn't enjoy it nor have the time to digest it all. At Le Random we want to take the time to craft the perfect bowl of ramen. Simmer the tastiest broth. Kneed the chewiest noodles. Harvest the freshest vegetables. This attention to detail allows for a dish that's more flavorful and memorable than ever before. You might discover a newfound love or understanding for something only after it's been prepared right. This is what we hope to accomplish with generative art.
How do you guys select thematic focuses and artists for your sub-collections and what criteria must generative artists and artworks meet to be included in the collection?
Our goal is to celebrate the history of generative art, and one of the best ways to do this is by collecting works from key figures across different generations. We don’t have any specific criteria or checkboxes that need to be accomplished for an artist to be included in our collection. We do look for artists who have inspired, artists who have educated, artists who have paved paths, artists who are exploring novel ideals, artists who are technically savvy, and artists who are creating undeniably great work. After deciding we should include an artist in the collection, we begin brainstorming what the best approach would be to have a set of works that showcases their creative process. In terms of thematic focuses, we aim to represent the significant sub-genres of generative art, each one holding its own history. Movements such as ASCII, textiles, AI art, data visualization, audio-visual, algorithmic, and Artificial Life all have constructed themselves through unique journeys. All of these sub-genres come together to help our mission in telling the broader story of generative art.
What title would you assign to the curation you did to accompany this interview, and what is the rationale behind your choice?
Evolved Virtual Creatures by Karl Sims from 1994 was a massively influential Artificial Life work that showcased a simulated Darwinian evolution of virtual block creatures learning to complete simple tasks. Even though Karl Sims hasn’t minted any of his work on-chain, we’d still like to highlight this direct lineage between Sims and the artists included.
Could you provide an overview of this artificial life-focused curation?
The curatorial process began by creating a bucket of works within our collection that we see fit the broader definition of Artificial Life. Once this broader selection is made, we can dive deeper to determine which selection of works best showcases the genre's range. 36 Points by Sage Jenson is a direct representation of AL with the system being created through years of research of complex biological systems to craft a particle-based procedural system that constantly transforms. Works such as RGB Elementary Cellular Automaton by Ciphrd are representations of the historical narrative of the movement, showcasing Stanislaw Ulam’s and John von Neumann’s massively influential Artificial Life experiments done at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
This curation is particularly relevant in 2024, as AI and AL art are receiving enormous amounts of attention. While AI and AL share similar foundational ideas, they manifest in vastly different ways. Artists exploring Artificial Life typically do not work with pre-trained AI models, but instead create concise systems that lead to incredibly intricate and surprising behavior. These artworks and the ideas behind them are exceptionally powerful and deserve to be celebrated.
How do the artworks in Evolved On-Chain Organisms intersect with generative art, algorithms, and biological systems? What role do interactive and computer-generated art play in enhancing the curatorial vision, narrative, and viewer experience?
Every piece in the curation intersects with generative art by all being created through a systems-based approach, whether it’s procedural code or AI networks. Each of these systems mimics biological processes such as growth, evolution, mutation, and adaptation. Interactive and computer-generated Artificial Life can change in real time, offering viewers a dynamic and evolving experience that traditional static artworks cannot. This distinctive property of computer-generated art is what makes curating the gallery so enjoyable.
Any specific challenges you encountered when curating this collection and how are these challenges addressed?
One of the toughest parts of curating an Artificial Life collection is determining exactly what you classify as artificial life, whether something is AL or something that merely represents it. This distinction can be a tough rope to balance on but there are arguments to be made for each piece selected.Another challenge is making sure that the curation is accessible and comprehensible to a broad audience. Luckily, many of the ways these artists use algorithms are ways of visualizing complex biological data in a creative manner, helping to tell stories about biological processes, ecosystems, or genetic information. Additionally, adding curatorial notes that provide more context behind the process and inspiration can allow viewers to gain a better understanding.
Could you highlight two works that are critical in Evolved On-Chain Organisms and discuss how they contribute to the overall curation?
Two works I’d highlight as vital to the curation are Mutant Garden Seeders by Harm van den Dorpel and self-contained 003 by Entangled Others.
Mutant Garden Seeders are living on-chain artworks. Harm’s use of the “Cartesian Genetic Programming” algorithm developed by Julian F. Miller and Peter Thomson in 1999 is the textbook definition of Artificial Life. Each piece in the series has a rate of evolution that determines when the composition will change, with each change being determined by the genetic system. As a collector, it’s an incredible experience to have a work evolve with time, incentivizing you to appreciate the minute changes that may occur.
self-contained 003 allows for a behind-the-scenes look into the complex systems created by the duo of Sofia Crespo and Feileacan McCormick. The piece is inspired by the idea of DNA encoding and decoding, a process full of natural emergence. The final output image is an iterative combination of strings of images that act as a dataset of genomes, all coming together to mutate into one final form.
How has GALLERY (the platform) influenced the curation in terms of presentation, accessibility, user experience, and community engagement? How was the overall experience using and curating on the platform? Are there any features or improvements you would recommend to enhance the curatorial process on the platform?
For many collectors, it’s easy for a work of art to simply sit and collect imaginary dust in a wallet without it being given a stage to shine. GALLERY helps play a vital role in our ecosystem by providing collectors a platform to showcase pieces in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Additionally, it can provide a way for artists to display their collections with their ideal vision in mind, allowing viewers to gain a better understanding and appreciation for the work.
The experience of creating your own gallery is very intuitive, which is crucial for accessibility. Spending just five to ten minutes messing around with the UI, you can easily learn how to construct the perfect curation. One thing I’d like to see added to the toolset would be having more control over the sizing of each piece, the default column sizing can sometimes get in the way of a user’s ideal vision. This could be especially useful when adding resolution-agnostic software work that doesn’t have a set aspect ratio. Additionally, I would enjoy seeing video works autoplay when scrolling through a gallery without needing to click through to the individual artwork page. Making the viewing process as hands-free as possible ensures each work can be enjoyed equally.
What future directions do you anticipate for Artificial Life in generative art, and for generative art in general? What aspects of generative art and on-chain art are you most excited about exploring further?
I’ve always been a firm believer that it’s impossible to predict the future, you never know what catalysts might arise that change the trajectory of a movement. One thing that seems certain is the exponential growth of processing power in our machines. As computers become faster, the possibilities of code-based work only grow stronger. We’ve seen this technological advancement directly affect the AI movement. Years ago it was inaccessible for most people to run large neural networks with massive datasets, but nowadays, most people have high-scale GPUs and CPUs that can handle the required processing power to accomplish required benchmarks.
I’m excited to see novel ideas arise as experimentation evolves with on-chain works. The upcoming aside.eth project put together by Distributed Gallery and Verse Works is right up that alley. Each of the works in the series is crafted around a time-locked protocol system which is only possible through the use of on-chain contracts, APIs or Oracles. Ideas that uniquely use the technical tools of blockchains allow for works that have never been seen before.
Thank you for your time!
GALLERY: https://gallery.so/LeRandom
X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/lerandomart
Farcaster: https://warpcast.com/lerandomart
Le Random is building a digital generative art institution with its Collection and Editorials.
You can follow Gallery on X (Twitter), Warpcast, or here on Mirror to stay updated on the latest articles and interviews we publish. You can also join our Discord server to chat with the artists and other community members.
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