recall
As much as decentralised blockchains such as Bitcoin offer freedom, they also come with conditions and structures of control. RECALL is a series of dynamic artworks that also have conditionality built in.
Adapting visual cues from the utopian forms of modernism and futurism, this series connects them directly to the blockchain. The 77 dynamic artworks react to live Bitcoin mempool data, altering their composition in response. They change constantly and evolve over long periods of block time.
The mempool is a waiting room for Bitcoin transactions, an in-between state where every send, buy or sell is held temporarily in memory. The pool grows as activity increases on the blockchain, it shrinks as relative demand decreases.
Although RECALL reacts to mempool data as it happens, to see more changes, the artwork must be left open. Some changes happen after one block, others take hundreds or thousands of blocks to emerge. RECALL must be kept running to see them.
Adapting visual cues from the utopian forms of modernism and futurism, this series connects them directly to the blockchain. The 77 dynamic artworks react to live Bitcoin mempool data, altering their composition in response. They change constantly and evolve over long periods of block time.
The mempool is a waiting room for Bitcoin transactions, an in-between state where every send, buy or sell is held temporarily in memory. The pool grows as activity increases on the blockchain, it shrinks as relative demand decreases.
Although RECALL reacts to mempool data as it happens, to see more changes, the artwork must be left open. Some changes happen after one block, others take hundreds or thousands of blocks to emerge. RECALL must be kept running to see them.
All the imagery is derived from a single directional arrow. The geometry of this shape is warped and distorted many times, until the original takes on other forms.
Every change in RECALL is subjective. Changes are measured relative to blockchain conditions at the time the viewer opened the piece. Restarting the artwork means restarting the process.
RECALL sustains a constant in-between state, like the mempool. There is no final or fixed form for the artworks. As long as there are transactions waiting to be processed, the artwork will continue to develop.
The artworks are Bitcoin ordinals, 100% on-chain with no external dependencies.
View all RECALL
Every change in RECALL is subjective. Changes are measured relative to blockchain conditions at the time the viewer opened the piece. Restarting the artwork means restarting the process.
RECALL sustains a constant in-between state, like the mempool. There is no final or fixed form for the artworks. As long as there are transactions waiting to be processed, the artwork will continue to develop.
The artworks are Bitcoin ordinals, 100% on-chain with no external dependencies.
View all RECALL
The number of shapes, the speed at which they update and the speed they fade in and out changes dynamically in response to the bitcoin mempool. It is common to see a 20% change in the mempool size over a matter of minutes, so these changes happen in the short term.
Each piece has a clustering mode which defines the composition when the artwork is opened. If the piece is reloaded it will change, but always around its chosen clustering mode. However, after it has been open for 1 block, the clustering mode will change completely. 2 blocks after that it will change again. 4 blocks after that another change. The number of blocks continues to double for clustering mode changes, if the piece is left open.
The size of shapes in the artwork changes every 3 blocks. To see these changes the viewer must leave the artwork running. Every 23 blocks the shade of the shapes in the artwork will change. If there is a colour, that will stay the same, but it may change from light to dark greys, whites or blacks. Every 111 blocks the background shade will change. That is almost a day.
These are all incentives built into RECALL to encourage viewers to keep them open for long time periods. Restarting the artwork means restarting the process.
‘Speed now illuminates reality whereas light once gave objects of the world their shape.’
Paul Virilio
The Administration of Fear
Paul Virilio
The Administration of Fear
