Generative art is in whole or in part created with the use of an autonomous system, in the context of the course about NFTs and the Metaverse that system is code running on a computer. Punk6529, the main instructor and interviewer of the course, and Erick/Snowfro, the founder of Art Blocks, the main platform for contemporary generative art, discussed the subject. If I understood correctly, there is a category of generative art which lives totally on a blockchain like Ethereum.

This means those artworks even don’t need IPFS to store the digital files the NFT refers to. The code generates the artwork, and today even supporting code libraries are on the blockchain. That’s very special, because storing image or video files on Ethereum is so expensive that it’s very uncommon to do so. Code however is just text and cheap to store. The code on Art Blocks also adapts the resolution to the capabilities of the screen, meaning that ultra high resolution in the future won’t be a problem.

The only thing this specific category of artwork depends on, is the blockchain Ethereum itself. Which makes me wonder whether that blockchain, or even blockchain technology in general, will still be around 50, 100 or 200 years from now (supposing humanity is still around).

It is a nice example of the tremendous belief crypto people have in their beloved blockchains.

The other big element of the belief system is that right now NFTs and blockchain technology capture the essence of our times. Generative digital art points to the collaboration between human and machine. NFT art in general manifests the power of online social networks and of internet memes. Of course, “NFT art” is a very broad category, as was also explained in the interview with the famous artist Beeple. There is generative art, crypto art, but also photography in all its genres can be represented by NFTs and the same applies to audio and video in all kinds of styles.

But in all cases there is this underlying belief that the blockchain technology is solid and ever lasting or at least something to stay with us for tens of years. Whether or not this will be the case - and to what extent - remains to be seen.