Human Unreadable: Blockchain, Generative Art, and Choreography

The Human Unreadable collection consists of 400 NFTs, priced between 5 and 16 ETH. Their creation involved a team of over 25 contributors working diligently for ten months. The pieces celebrate the process of gradual human healing and seamlessly blend choreographic elements, generative art, cryptography, and performance art.  

Operator have managed to add soul into the world of digital art,

noted Erick Calderon, the founder of generative art platform Art Blocks.

According to the creators, Human Unreadable infuses code with human elements — flesh and intuition. It introduces vulnerability, an inherently human trait, to on-chain generative art. The digital artworks are intended to disrupt the established norms of rigid technical systems. With elements of risk, vulnerability, and confusion, the NFTs stand in stark contrast to conventionally functionality-oriented developments.

This work is a continuation of the rejection of modernism, clean lines, and the quietly gendered values therein, in favor of a more embodied and sensual approach to human-machine collaboration pioneered by early women in digital art,

the Operator website states.

The Human Unreadable collection comprises six distinct images. These were realized using generative glass objects and X-ray shaders, breathing life into the team's vision. Although they are developed through coding, they convey a sense of chaos to the viewer. Each composition is grounded in a unique choreographic sequence.

NFTs numbered 0 and 1 are owned by Operator, whereas the first 100 publicly available digital items, from numbers 2 to 101, will be further enlivened during the forthcoming stages of the project. In late June 2023, the project plans to introduce a secondary token — a choreographic score, minted on Art Blocks and inseparably linked to the primary Human Unreadable NFT. 

This narrative doesn't end here: the third act of the performance is a live event, showcasing the choreography embodied in the first hundred minted NFTs. The creators intend to allocate 10% of the total amount from the initial sales to perform the generative choreography in a non-commercial art establishment. The details of this venue will be disclosed at a later stage.

About Operator

Operator is an art project jointly run by Ania Catherine and Dejha Ti. Ania is a choreographer, performance artist, and gender scholar, whereas Dejha is an immersive artist and an HCI technologist. Since 2016, their joint venture Operator has implemented extensive conceptual projects, emphasizing physical and emotional engagement.

The pair focus on privacy, nature, the human body, and technology. In the fall of 2021, Operator began releasing the “Privacy Collection”, an ongoing NFT series that delves into the paradox between privacy and transparency in blockchain technology.

Operator has been lauded as ‘the two critical contemporary voices on digital art's international stages' (Clot Magazine) and ‘LGBT power couple' (Flaunt). The project has received multiple awards, such as the Lumen, DC, S+T+ARTS, and MediaFutures accolades. Additionally, the artistic duo frequently participate in high-profile events, including Bloomberg ART+TECHNOLOGY, Christie's Art+Tech Summit, and Art Basel.