If we saw any recurring themes at Async this month, it was community and collaboration — which, of course, go hand in hand.
Our artists aren’t the only ones emphasizing collaboration; we announced our latest development: the “Unstoppable Auction” contract. Not only does this auction contract benefit Async creators, but we’ll make it open and accessible to any creator — on any platform.
“While SuperRare is popularizing Coldie's method for their NFT community and Zora is compatible with all (albeit with a simpler feature set), we felt it crucial for all the above features to be accessible for all NFT projects. Yes...we said it. All. For everybody.” Read more about the new feature here.
Not to mention, we are thrilled to announce our very latest update: the Async Canvas Collaboration Feature, which allows creators to effectively create their own Async collaboration with their friends, their fav charities — and to be paid accordingly — via Async Canvas.
To commemorate the spirit democratization and sharing, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite community-driven and/or collaborative Async Art pieces for this month’s curation week.
LayerBreaker
LayerBreaker is the largest Async Art collaboration to date, made up of over 60 artists from around the world. Each contributed a “tile” to the Master Artwork, titled according to their name, having been given only a HEX color.
The project was driven by MightyMoose, one of the artists, who saw a beautiful opportunity to gather artists together and produce a work that would benefit artists, especially as profile projects and collectibles have garnered a significant amount of attention in the NFT space recently.
The artists write, “This is a collaboration born out of community. The idea being what can we do with a global economy and technology which enables trustless relationships.
62 artists were involved from over 20 countries. None of whom ever met in person, yet one of the largest collaborations to date took place. There are 61 layers, 284 states for this project.
The gradient was made by color expert Jeff Davis. Each artist was assigned a HEX code and then given total freedom to create. This creates a gradient look for the master while allowing the artists to dream and share their creative expression with few restrictions.
There are some hidden features within this project and the purpose is to enable the community of collectors to continue on with the creative process.
We hope you enjoy exploring LayerBreaker. We certainly enjoyed creating it!”
Collectors are grabbing their favorites already. Grab yours, too!
The programmable art piece by untitled, xyz, FORM FARM, quickly gained traction online – and sold out in less than 2 hours due to its community aspect and unique functionality.
The entire piece containing Master + 25 Layers sold for a total of 8.5 ETH ($17K+) to 15+ unique collectors, allowing them to participate in the community. Most notably, over time, FORM FARM owners are rewarded for their engagement and overall cooperation in playing with the work.
“FORM FARM yields rare architecture. The FARM has 25 collectible plots. Each plot comes with 15 form options that the owner can modify at any time. In order to successfully “farm” NFTs; plot owners must cooperate with their neighbors to align form-types (cubes, windows, staircases etc.) For example; aligning 3 windows in a row will signal the architect (untitled, xyz) to mint and airdrop a commemorative “window” themed NFT to the owner of each participating plot. Over time, FORM FARM owners are rewarded for their engagement and cooperation with one another.
While the FARM can be used to earn NFTs, it also serves as a consensus mechanism to inform the broader artistic practice of untitled, xyz. Each form comes with a “build” or “burn” option. If a plot owner majority agrees to “burn” a window (for example); untitled, xyz will retire a window form that has been used in a previous artwork. Looking forward, that window form will never be used again. If plot owners agree to “build” a window; untitled, xyz will introduce a new style of window that has never existed before.
Through FORM FARM, plot owners can earn NFTs while guiding the scarcity, abundance and overall evolution of xyz’s art.
A snapshot of the FORM FARM will take place on the 1st of every month at 12:00 AM UTC. At this time, a record of the FARM will be made and published to [the artist’s] Twitter announcing how many new forms and NFTs will be airdropped to plot owners that month.”
Additionally, the creator provides an extensive set of guidelines for FORM FARM explanation and optimization. View the guide here.
Tenement
Another sold-out Async artwork would be this debut piece from Studio Yorktown. The lovely and heartache-inducing facade of an apartment complex, with some lights on (and granting collectors the option to change them from white to cool or warm), while others are off.
The creator prompts the question: Who are those people in that building? What lives are they leading? Are they home? Are they happy?
“It is for anyone who has ever gazed out of a high-rise at night and wondered what the myriad of other inhabitants may be doing, and is meant to invoke the natural human curiosity that occurs when we see a light on in a building.
In the real world, within every apartment lies the day-to-day hopes, dreams, failures and successes of other people. Who are they? What could they be doing? If the lights are off, where might they be? Viewers are thus given the opportunity to suggest and imagine the stories contained behind each of the windows.”
Collectors purchased Layers in ones and in twos. Some even “rented” their units in eights (!), taking over much of the building. The Async team mused: “Do you think someone has an Airbnb strategy in mind?”
Each apartment can be lit with warm light, cool light, red/rose light or switched off, allowing layer owners to play or communicate through the various light states.”
View Tenement in our gallery here.
Landscape Study #3 (with Vehicles)
The fun, retro, video-game aesthetic of DefiantSquid’s Landscape Studies (that’s right; there are earlier versions!) updates as fans collect various Layers: Sky, Horizon, Level Select, Vehicle Select, Mode Select, and Dev Tools.
Of the piece, DefiantSquid explains: “Like any good third installment, Study #3 takes lessons learned from previous work whilst also trying something new. This time, we discover even more vibrant locations and populate them with exotic machinery.
An increase in 'resolution' has allowed for more detail in this particular painting, but it is also heavily inspired by third and fourth generation video games — meaning bright, pixelated nostalgia was either meticulously planned or simply inevitable!
Layers vary in impact and interactivity. A new sky or horizon can change the entire mood of the piece, but some might prefer to choose their own mode of transportation, the actions it undertakes, and whether or not it follows the rules of the road…”
Explore Landscape Study #3 (With Vehicles) here.
Page One
This piece by Bottles is a hidden gem; “a collaborative writing device composed of 75 layers and a combination of [over 1600 states].”
The artist explains: “The goal is to collectively work together to publish pages which will subsequently be made into another artwork. Page One has various positions to choose from including WRITERS, EDITORS, TITLE and VETO. Two other positions PAGE and STATUS are controlled by the creator.”
The concept allows Layer owners to change a letter of one square in order to craft their own story and invite others to co-create a group-written narrative. One of the Layers changes the page number, allowing its owner to set the words for page 002, 003, and so on.
The EDITOR owners can “checkmark” a contribution, and VETO owners can underline a contribution for review.
As we have yet to see literary works take off in the NFT space, this visual work speaks to that gap in a unique and exciting way. Plus, like we saw with FORM FARM, Page One comes with a user’s guide. Check it out.
View Page One in the Async Art gallery here.
BONUS!
Finally, we are excited to reveal a sneak peek of a new, yet-to-be minted work by The Guild, an art collective made up, in part, by OG Async artists including Shinji Akhirah, Mehak-Jain, Jetski, Sparrow, and Rutger Van Der Tas.
As we see more and more collaboration on our platform, we can’t wait to see how our creators show up next — and how our collectors deploy their ownership and creative autonomy to alter the states of Async artwork.
Follow along on Twitter and Discord to stay in-the-know and up-to-date with all things Async Art!
