Over the course of nine months and pouring their lifeās work into what has been one of Art Blockās most successful projects, Dejha Ti and Ania Catherine developed an on-chain generative choreography method that serves as the backbone to their now sold-out āHuman Unreadableā digital art collection.Ā
Having minted out within 30 minutes, āHuman Unreadableā is the brainchild of both Catherine and Ti, who have spent countless hours in the creation of a method that prioritizes āhuman messiness and chaosā within a highly mathematical and engineering heavy process.
Catherine and Ti are an award-winning experiential artist duo who create through their collective art practice, Operator, which they launched in 2016.Ā
As two ācritical contemporary voicesā on digital artās international stages, the duo and āLGBT power coupleā welcome their expertises to collide in large scale conceptual works that are highly recognized for their nuanced integration of emerging technologies.Ā
Ti, whose background as an immersive artist and human-computer Interaction technologist, and Catherineās as a choreographer and performance artists bring together two environments that showcase a beautiful harmony of our current digital infrastructure with that of Web3.Ā
The Berlin-based duo They have appeared on BBC Click, Bloomberg ART+TECHNOLOGY, Christieās Art+Tech Summit, SCAD Museum of Art, MIT Open Doc Lab, Art Basel, and many more.Ā
Spanning across a three-act play ā Reveal, Decipher, and Witness ā Human Unreadableās story unfolds over the course of several months, with the artwork reveal taking place this spring, the uncovering of the choreographies used to create the generative model at the end of June, and lastly, a live performance of those choreographies from the first 100 pieces in the collection (#2 to #101) later this year.Ā
In bringing the pieces of Human Unreadable to life, Ti and Catherine built a team of more than 25 people ā from highly experienced engineers to professional dancers ā to help give life to the choreography as it was combined with black-and-white portrait photos of them, X-ray shading, and generative glass objects.Ā
With choreography at the heart of Human Unreadable, Catherine and Li have proudly defended against ever wanting to separate the underlying choreography from the secondary token that's bound to the primary Art Blocks token, because itās that choreographic score and unique sequence that generated the Art Blocks token to begin with.Ā
āEveryone assumes that the reveal of the artwork is the end of the story,ā Catherine stated in a Twitter Spaces on May 25, hosted by David Cash of Cash Labs. She touched on the industry āgo-toā of traditional collecting and the experiences attached to them, distinguishing the different mindset one has if you approach art as if it were a theater or ballet performance ā divided into āacts.ā
Thankfully, the digital art community is finally beginning to understand the value beyond a traditional mint, as the reveal is only a small component in an artworkās journey of creating genuine impact and leaving a lasting legacy.Ā
Through the fusion of code, choreography, and generative art, Human Unreadable is a perfect embodiment of evolving art that redefined what it means to pour oneās soul into a piece, while advocating for an emotionally-fueled NFT minting experience.
Vulnerability and Meaningful Exploitation
When it comes to injecting heart and soul into the project, Ti spoke to Hypemoon about the thematic element of vulnerability and exploitation that clearly defines the foundation of Human Unreadable:
āHero your voice, hero the concept. Avoid the temptation to hide behind the novelty of technology or market mechanisms. Avoid masking your voice or expression with what technology can do, but instead use technology to dig deeper into and/or expressing other selves ā even if it feels risky, imperfect, and doesnāt fit into what people expect to encounter in a sea of polished digital personas.ā
Itās in these very moments that both Catherine and Ti embrace the reality of failure and/or exploitation and how to navigate those waters, which many come to fear and work to avoid.
āThat takes vulnerability and courage because there is a chance of failure or feeling exposed. What we do know for sure is tech doesnāt age well, but concept and honesty do,ā Ti added.Ā
When it comes to artists showcasing their work and putting themselves out there to such a large number of people, exploitation and how we perceive that type of public presentation can certainly change depending on the underlying motivations.
āUnfortunately, the world is full of exploitative scenarios for artists, not just limited to Web3. Artists need to always remind themselves that they bring value to the table, and also keep that in mind when they see an āopportunity for artistsā to look closely in making sure it's not just an opportunity for people who donāt care about art to extract their value,ā Ti says.
In that context, she also emphasized the importance of artists knowing āwhen to be protective and guarded.ā
āAt the same time, artists canāt and shouldnāt try to do everything themselvesāit's not effective, itās not good for the art and will cause burn out. Operatorās practice is highly collaborative, not just in the creative sense, but also in the operational sense. For us, we only work with kind people where there is high trust and honest communication. If there is respect, trust and an intimate understanding of the art practice, then thereās more room to be open with collaborators and partners which is essential for making exceptional things happen.ā
At the end of the day, both Ti and Catherine want collectors to embrace the beauty and nuance of "human messiness."
āWe want collectors to walk away with: a piece that reminds them of the beauty of complexity and human messiness, the feeling that vulnerability is not a weakness, excitement that they are at the beginning of choreography being collected as an art object, and curiosity to further explore movement and performance."
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