0xDEAFBEEF

kizuna12

Acquired from above

0xDEAFBEEF is an artist and engineer based in Toronto, Canada. Over the past 20 years he has been tinkering in diverse areas overlapping art and technology including music, sound recording, computer animation, blacksmithing and generative art. 0xDEAFBEEF’s body of work is an outstanding example of generative, audiovisual art, both stored and generated on the Ethereum blockchain. Each piece is generated at the time of minting from a random hash value, influencing musical elements including tempo, timbre, pitch and time signature. Simple rules lead to surprising variation, giving each piece its own distinctive personality, while retaining a common theme.

He received his BASc in electrical engineering and MSc from the University of Toronto, where he contributed to internationally recognized research in the field of computer animation.  As a classically trained musician with a strong background in sound technology, he brings together all his interests in a bespoke art practice, using low level computer code and a minimal toolset to craft raw information into audiovisual artworks. His recent generative works adopting blockchain technology as both subject and medium have gained wide attention. 

0xDEAFBEEFs Series 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 is a collection of generative audiovisual art that is best understood as 1 work together, like an album.  Four of the six Series’ have only 8 editions within each set- the low supply reinforces the notion that it be understood as an album.  Series 1, titled Angular, is the second part of the series and features 8 works.  The works in this series stand out particularly because of the juxtaposition between the audio and visual elements.  In Angular Token 134, listeners hear the pitch slides, as it pushes and pulls.  The audio suggests a rhythm, but doesn't stick to one exactly.  The sound is in direct opposition to the characters moving in a somewhat fluid, rhythmic motion across the screen.  The visual elements, ASCII characters, are a familiar aesthetic that is tied to the artist’s youth and a recurring theme referencing outdated media tech.  This multi-layered, multisensory experience gives the work depth rarely seen in generative art.  0xDEAFBEEFs work is made with code written in the C programming language and text editor in C compiler.  This code is stored completely on-chain, which speaks to the permissionless values of NFT and crypto and posits that this project is a marriage of colliding digital ages.