Natural Static is a generative NFT series that feeds video of natural motion into a pixel-based water simulation, creating representations of physical motion that are both highly digital and deeply analog.

The piece is fully responsive, and uses WebGL to turn each pixel on your screen into its own feedback system. Each pixel has a high probability of sampling its previous state, and a low probability of sampling the underlying video.

This system turns your screen into a primitive water simulation, which is then disturbed by the videos of water taken IRL. Once the piece begins, the video sampling could be removed and the last few seconds of motion would continue to loop across the pixels.

Traits

• Feedback Type

  • Increment - pixels are incremented until they reach max brightness , then roll over to min brightness

  • Decrement - pixels are decremented until they reach min brightness, then roll over to max brightness

  • RGBIncrement - the red, green and blue channels of each pixel are incremented at varying rates, and are individually rolled over to 0

  • RGBDecrement - the red, green and blue channels of each pixel are decremented at varying rates, and are individually rolled up to

• Feedback Speed

  • A value between 2 and 5 is used to select the speed from a list of pre-calculated frequencies, which are pulled from the videos using Fourier transform analysis. This mathematical function finds the dominant frequencies in a signal. Videos with gentle motion will have a lower set of frequency values than videos with strong currents.

• Colour Mode

  • Colour Mode translates the pixels in the feedback system into the final output you see, performing various combinations or translations of the base RGB values in the feedback system.

• Video Speed

  • Either half or full, and changes the rate at which the underlying video is played back at.

• Video Id

  • The index of the video which your piece samples from.

Each work also includes a live-generated audio aspect, which uses the same frequency values as the Feedback Speed traits to oscillate six channels of pink noise.

Source videos and code are hosted on Arweave, a permanent and decentralized storage blockchain. Information on the filming location, weather and time of day for video can be obtained by calling getVideoInfo(tokenId) on the contract. In the case a video file is lost, the artist authorizes the collector to re-create the video using the parameters in the videoInfo file.

Edition size is 2x the number of source videos in the collection, for a total of 416. These videos were taken by the artist in multiple locations in Montreal and New York, the artist making digital art by standing still by a river.

Natural Static launches en tandem with exhibition Generative Art Beyond the Algorithm, curated by Brian Droitcour.

Read Alan Warburton’s essay on NATURAL STATIC on Outland

Drop details:

Edition of 416 - 0.1 ETH

Date: Wednesday, September 27th

Allowlist for Salt, Social Contracts, Canonicon and Jonathan’s drops collectors at noon ET / 18 hs CEST

Public: 1pm ET / 19hs CEST

Website: naturalstatic.jpg.space