The Unravelling set is a scientific exploration of the relationship between art, science, and the Ethereum Virtual Machine. The goal of this set is to re-think the scope of art with the help of the distributed state machine that is Ethereum.

Decentralized consensus algorithms and the maxim code is law first made us reconceptualize the idea of currencies, and then the idea of organizing in communities. Both invigorated the generative art movement through procedural construction of art pieces using wallet addresses or transaction hashes, and on-chain storage. However, both the concept and process of generative art within the crypto space largely remained the same compared to its non-crypto counterpart - static, centralized, and unidirectional.

The concept of such art assumes a unidirectional relationship where the artist creates an art piece for the viewer. While the process of such art assumes a static finish line where the artist creates an art piece after which it is consumed by the viewer. Under this view both the concept and process are centralized: a particular essence of a project is lost forever if the artist dies, even if all the code is on-chain. There is an intangible understanding of the algorithm the artist possessed which is lost.

This poses a deeper question of what is actually archived on-chain? On-chain NFT storage is a deterministic sterile solution to preserving the visual aesthetic of a piece but does not decentralize what is at the core of a collection - the creator's intimate understanding of the code. This is problematic for contemporary on-chain generative art, and the idea of strong decentralization as a whole.

The Unravelling set aims to remedy this by breaking both the concept and process of art down to their components to decentralize them. What do I mean by that and how to achieve that? That is what each project within the Unravelling set explores. The core tenet of each project within the set is to push for decentralization of generative art as a form. It aims to achieve this by breaking the distinction between artist and viewer through novel and unique ways of using smart contracts and on-chain storage.

As time passes, this set will hopefully show the strength of decentralization within art
are the robustness and antifragility such a system achieves for its function.

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