AliaK's blog

specture ::: the topology and conceptual contexts underpinning my specture body of work ::: explorations of interconnectedness and 'evolution' of extinct species on/and the blockchain

::: speculative|species ::: future|architecture ::: https://butiq.art/aliak/specture

specture is a speculative exploration considering the interconnections and abstractions of extinct species (from NSW) on the blockchain, with the underlying idea: what if in the future this is the only place they exist?

The blockchain is an immutable technological system, where data stored on it remains forever (or for as long as the chain exists). I build conglomerations of generative, code-based systems mixed with 3D digital models to create digital drawings and animations as abstractions of the extinct species and their blockchain environment, to garner what the species might see and experience whilst inside the blockchain. These generative drawings imagine whether the species could evolve once in the blockchain, or would they reach their final form once stored there. They also reflect the decentralized entanglement in interconnectedness in both ecology and the blockchain.

specture ::: rewilding the blockchain mindmap as at 13 March 2022 (further updates yet to be added)
key artists / readings / links shown ::: others are listed separately in bibliography & project documents

green=explored (at some level)
black=to be explored
grey=excluded from current exploration (possible future)

it feels like we're grieving, for the loss of a website/system, though it was more than just a website; it was an idea and some say, a movement. hic et nunc [now a broken link], designed and built by Brazilian developer, Rafael Lima, was|is a generic architecture|system|platform for exploring decentralised blockchain uses that morphed into an art focused obkjt|NFT collection space|lab|dApp on the more eco-friendly Proof of Stake based Tezos blockchain. it came with a warning — This is an experimental dApp, use it at your own risk. Lima's design is an elegant architecture that works on multi levels — the objkt (NFT/art work) level, the platform (single site/front-end) level and the network|multisite|eco system level. hic et nunc brought beauty into the tech; art into the tech; the aesthetic into the tech; art and elegance into the architecture. it felt more feminine than many of the tech-bro developed platforms that surround it in the crypto landscape. the UI design was|is simple and clean, focusing on the art, as a flat plane, that allows the eye to flow across and above and below the page|space viewing art within the webpage frame. there were no popup menus invading|colonising your space|view|frame. everything was within — a plane of immanence (Davis 2021; RainDropUp 2008; Wikipedia 2021), with simple, flat navigation, subtley showing via collections and presentation, that everything is connected to something (Haraway 2016a; Haraway 2016b; Rose 2008; van Dooren 2014*), one art work led to the next, one artist connected to another, links between them all, point to point, peer to peer. there were no leaderboards, no transcendency, everyone and every piece of art was equalised by the immanent design — by the OBJKT and the SUBJKT (RainDropUp 2008).

a wash of emotions this past week, after hearing the news that Rafael had discontinued hicetnunc.xyz on November 11, 2021 (Nov 12 in Australia/Sydney). many articles have been posted about this (plus a few posts for context):

for my uni art project, I wanted to try some bio textiles processes using sustainable materials given the large amounts of waste and energy used in textiles and materials production. A classmate recommended I try alginate, a seaweed extract often used by dentists for their moulds. I found some recipes for bio-string / bio-plastic / bio-fabricating processes, and also discovered a collection of makers called FabLabs. my project is not strictly a textiles project, but is based on / inspired by string figures, so I was happy to find that this method can be used to create bio-string too. The main ingredients (sodium alginate and calcium chloride) were found at The Red Spon Company, a baking and food supply store in Rosebery, Sydney. They didn't have glicerine, and I check a couple of other stores and couldn't find it also, so didn't include that - one recipe included it and another didn't so I thought it might be optional.

Recipe reference ::: see Links below for general research / other links
Bogers, Loes. 2020. "Alginate String." Textile Academy. https://class.textile-academy.org/2020/loes.bogers/files/recipes/alginat....

The Art Angle Podcast: The New Yorker’s Peter Schjeldahl on His Adventures in Life as an Accidental Art Critic, mentioning Schjeldahl's book, "Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light, 100 Art Writings 1988-2018" - via ArtNet

there was a mention of pataphysics in one of the mu-mesons' videos we've been watching over the holidays. reminded me of Sam Renseiw's spacetwo videoblog. nice to see he's still making them: "the fine art of 'pataphysics in daily life. condensed poetic voodles. A video blog by sam renseiw"

'Pataphysics, an absurdist concept coined by the French writer Alfred Jarry, is a philosophy dedicated to studying what lies beyond the realm of metaphysics. Defined as: "The science of imaginary solutions, which symbolically attributes the properties of objects, described by their virtuality, to their lineaments"

https://patalab02.blogspot.com