AsyncArt Experiment: A programmable art piece sold for $160,000, showcasing a new way of presenting crypto art worth 31.3 billion.

If art were programmed, what would it become? The appearance of the artwork can change over time and provide feedback based on the actions of its owner.

Original Title: "Can't Finish Watching in 1000 Years: A Cryptographic Artwork Sold for 160,000"
Author: DR Companion

In recent years, the collision of blockchain and art has continuously sparked new ideas, giving rise to a new niche community - the cryptographic art circle. Leveraging the features of blockchain/NFT, cryptographic art has begun to flourish in the crypto world and is starting to have an impact in the traditional art field. These days, the cryptographic art platform AsyncArt held an auction for cryptographic artworks. Vincent also participated strongly in the bidding and was defeated with a price of 88 ETH. This painting is not a simple static image, but a "programmable artwork" composed of several layers that the owner can alter. In this article, we will introduce you to the AsyncArt platform and the unique NFT technology implementation mechanism, believing that after observing this auction, everyone will have a new understanding of the entire cryptographic art market.

Async.Art Platform

The platform was created by Conlan, a developer in the CryptoArt community who is also a fan of Ethereum/Cryptovoxels. In the art world, Conlan's team is well-known, with one team member, n0shot, who was previously the art director at Apple.

"What would happen if art could be programmed?" To answer this question, AsyncArt was born as an art experiment. Tokenizing and trading art is not a new topic, but what if the appearance of the art could change over time, respond to its owner's actions, even gather data from the outside world? What kind of experience would that be? AsyncArt chooses to answer this question in the most intriguing way.

Two Concepts: Master and Layer

AsyncArt divides artworks into two concepts: Master (main canvas) and Layer. The Master is the main form of the artwork, consisting of multiple Layers.

In addition to representing the entire work, the Master also includes a configuration file stored on IPFS, mainly recording information such as the images contained in the Layer and the position of the Layer in the Master.

The Layer is the specific, visible artwork layer, also stored on IPFS. The Layer has multiple parameters: artist, owner, associated Master, and Layer parameters. The Layer parameters are pre-set by the artist, such as adjusting colors, rotation, or even the content of the artwork.

For example, the first artwork auctioned was "First Supper," which included a total of 22 Layers, including characters, furniture, background, decorations, and more. See below:

And these Layers, through the Master's configuration information, form the image below.

Here comes the interesting part:

Independent Ownership

Ownership of the Master and its included Layers is independent. Both the Master and Layers are tokenized on the Ethereum blockchain as separate NFTs. This means that for the artwork "First Supper," there is one Master NFT and 22 different Layer NFTs.

Programmable Art

Here's the key: Owners of the Layer have the right to change the settings and display of the Layer. This doesn't mean they can freely alter the image. According to AsyncArt's current setup, the artist who created the Layer must pre-set how the Layer can be changed and the specific parameters that can be adjusted. This means that the Layer owner can only make changes within a limited selection and cannot do as they please.

The image below shows two Layers with different contents that can be changed. For example, Wallpaper can alter the Texture, and Statues of Liberty can change the State, Feet, and Arm Rotation parameters.

The Master changes as each Layer changes, but the owner of the Master cannot control how the artwork evolves. It's possible to wake up one day and find the entire artwork transformed. Based on a rough estimate, most Layers have at least three styles, with a total of 22 Layers to combine, meaning the Master has at least 3 to the power of 22, or at least 3.13 billion different display possibilities!!!

In just one hour, DappReview's team observed four changes in the Master (see image above). Feel free to spot the differences and witness the magic. The specific implementation details are gradually unfolded in the following sections.

For Collectors

If you admire a specific artist and purchase one of their Layers, you can modify the appearance of the Layer based on the parameters set by the artist. All modifications will be reflected in the Master. For the Master's collector, not only do you own the entire artwork, but also each Layer owner and artist are working for you, creating countless variations of the artwork.

For Artists

Artists can design various parameters, big or small, within their artwork. These parameters can be input or changed by the Layer owner. This is a simple form of Programmable Art, allowing artists to unleash their creativity.

Check out AsyncArt information and data.

Let's Talk About the Auction of First Supper

First Supper was the first Master artwork auctioned on the platform, a significant piece of crypto art with an interesting background. It is currently the only collaborative work completed by multiple artists, with a total of 13 artists creating 22 Layers to form this First Supper, a significant nod to "The Last Supper." Most of these 13 artists are active KOLs in the emerging crypto art community, adding substantial endorsement to this artwork. Let's introduce a few:

Josie

Josie, a former finance professional, became interested in crypto art in early 2017. Her first crypto art piece, given as a gift to her boyfriend, gained significant attention when he posted it on Reddit. Josie saw an opportunity and embarked on a career in crypto art. Her works often feature beautiful women with blockchain elements, and she sells NFT artworks and merchandise on her website for around $200.

The lady on the right is Josie.

XCOPY

XCOPY is a crypto artist from London known for his prolific tweeting. His works primarily focus on skull-themed animated images, with an average price of over $1500 for four pieces on SuperRare.

ALOTTAMONEY

ALOTTAMONEY has 16,000 followers on Twitter and is known for his humor within the crypto art community. His artwork often pokes fun at various crypto industry figures, with prices generally starting from $200.

The auction for First Supper began in the early hours of February 27th UTC time and ended on the evening of the 28th. In the final stage, each time a bidder placed a bid, the countdown was automatically extended by five minutes. After several bidders raised the price to 55.55 ETH, only Vincent and MetaKovan continued to bid, quickly reaching 88 ETH bid by Vincent. MetaKovan, without much ado, raised it to 103.4 ETH. Vincent did not bid further, and MetaKovan won the auction. MetaKovan later mentioned in a Discord group that he specifically checked Vincent's wallet and found he only had 99 ETH, so he decided to bid 103.4 ETH, based on his lucky number being 34. Ultimately, the artwork was sold to MetaKovan for 103.4 ETH (approximately 160,000 RMB at the time).

Interestingly, MetaKovan initially had less than 50 ETH in his account and had to transfer over 110 ETH from the Kraken exchange during the bidding war to secure the win. It seems he did not anticipate the auction to be so intense.

Layer Auction

Two days after the Master auction ended, the auction for each Layer of First Supper entered its final stage. A total of 20 Layers were auctioned for 264.7 ETH, which was 2.56 times the Master's final price. The graph below shows the auction price trends of each Layer (two Layers had not yet started auctioning).

Decentral Eyes, depicting the image of Satoshi Nakamoto, became the most expensive Layer, selling for 77 ETH.

Vincent also participated in several Layer auctions, ultimately winning the Eternal Anger Layer for 14.8 ETH.

This Layer has three changeable states:

Deep Dive into AsyncArt

We developed a keen interest in AsyncArt and decided to delve into its specific implementation mechanism to see how changes in Layers affect the Master. DappReview's team summarized their understanding of the entire process into a flowchart:

Layer Parameter Modification*

In this step, the Layer owner initiates a transaction, calling the function useControlToken in the smart contract to modify the parameters of the Layer NFT recorded in the AsyncArt main contract. The image below shows Vincent updating the status of the Layer he won to State2 on the AsyncArt page.

In the corresponding transaction Event log, you can see that Layer with tokenid 21 (Eternal Anger) updated leverIds from 0 to 2.

Renderer Obtains Layer Parameters and Master Configuration

The Master image is composed of Layers, and any updates to the Layers should prompt corresponding changes in the Master. This change is facilitated through a Renderer. The Renderer, in generating the Master, needs to know two pieces of information: one is the latest parameters of the Layer, which can be obtained from the contract, as it records the current settings of each Layer. The other is the Master's configuration file, which specifies the position of each Layer and how the parameters of different Layers should be rendered. This configuration file is stored on IPFS. For example, the configuration information for First Supper is stored at -
https://ipfs.io/ipfs/Qmaje8byBxmFTHDjCvDYLy1NPZkUX1Etx1agDw5HxNqtef

Renderer Generates Master Image

Currently, AsyncArt operates by monitoring changes in Layer information within the contract and then promptly calling the Renderer to generate the latest Master image. The question arises: is this monitoring only centralized, and is the final generated Master image provided solely by AsyncArt? Initially, DappReview's team had the same question.

It's not the case. AsyncArt has open-sourced this Renderer.

Anyone can use this Renderer to obtain Layer parameters within the contract and Master configuration on IPFS to generate the latest Master image. This process does not rely solely on the AsyncArt team. One can understand that the "raw materials," "recipe," and "tools" used to generate the Master image are all open and decentralized, allowing anyone to replicate the exact Master image.

Conclusion

The crypto art community is still niche, with few related DApps and communities, appealing to only a small group of people. However, AsyncArt's innovative approach introduces an interesting intersection of blockchain and art. Previously, when discussing NFT artworks, the focus was often on the rights and uniqueness bestowed by the blockchain. "Programmable Art," although currently based on simple preset parameters, is, in our view, the minimum viable product of this concept. Smart contracts store parameters, IPFS stores Layers, and an open-source Renderer generates images, allowing for over 3.13 billion different forms of the Master through limited Layer combinations. Isn't this evolving and ever-changing artwork intriguing?

After all, if each Layer changes every second, it would take nearly 1000 years to cycle through over 3 billion Master image forms.

This article is authorized by ChainNews for reproduction. Source: ChainNews (ID: chainnewscom)

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