Fundamentall Mechanics / collection token

72 chapters, .gif, 360 × 639 pixels, variable frames, 2019-2020

The series was made on a mediocre iPhone 5 using the Instagram stories feature while researching 16th century visual culture.

Parallel to designing The Three Motions of Loom tapestries (‘Fundamental’ or ‘primary mechanics’ is a loom term), I realized the rebus-puzzle-like late Medieval (alchemical) emblema resembled compositions of equally modular emoji and .gif stickers.

The enigmatic ‘hole’ emoji – one of the few emojis that suggests depth – turned out as the perfect portal, simulating three-dimensional space on the surface of a two-dimensional screen.

The ultrashort animations were a quick way to investigate the artistic possibilities of consumer technology and prefab components. The experiment proved a welcome and useful deviation from my usual labor-intensive digital animations, of which a scene could take days to render.

The ‘space-between-spaces’ featuring in many of the Fundamental Mechanics still resonates in some of my later films.

When I started the series, I used existing .gifs – similar to a collage using found footage or ready-mades – from the Giphy database, which is integrated in Instagram. After a while, though, I felt I needed some elements that were not present yet, and applied for my own Giphy artist account.

Between August 2019 and May 2020 my Giphy account accumulated a whopping 195.1 million views, with one of my unicorns accounting for about 31 million of them.

I closed my account in May 2020 when both Facebook bought the platform, and I closed off the 16th century project for the time being.

A selection of 37 animations from the series was turned into a 3-edition video work, presented on a small, open frame screen.

When NFTs entered my field of view in February 2021, I realized the series seemed made for the NFT medium.

I turned the animations – originally saved as mp4s – into low res .gifs; a choice made for several reasons (compatibility, for instance, and to honour the original format of the stickers that were used).

After careful (ecological) consideration, I decided to publish the series on the platform Hic et Nunc (*).

The series was minted between April 10 and August 6, 2021.

(* Update Nov 2021: the series can be accessed through objkt.com)

In total 72 miniature animations are minted in two batches: 01/52 – 52/52, and ‘jokers’, 20 animations I had misplaced or overlooked: x0/a – x0/7.

01/52 is actually not an animation but a .jpg.

All Fundamental Mechanics were minted chronologically. There happened to be one numbering mistake: there are two 15/52s. The second one should be 16/52, of course.

No new FMs are added, nor burned. The acrwrs_FunMech account is entirely dedicated to this series.

The last FM, 0X/t, was minted on the occasion of NFT zine ‘In the Tickle of Warhol’s Fruit’ #4, which features the series and a short interview.

Each .gif is minted in an edition of 12. Six are individually available for 1-10 Tezos.

nr. (0)1/52 = 1 Tez 
2/52 = 2 Tez
3/52 = 3 Tez
4/52 = 4 Tez
5/52 – 20/52 = 5 Tez
21/52 – 40/52 = 6 Tez
41/52 – 50/52 = 7 Tez
51/52 – 52/52 = 8 Tez
Jokers = 10 Tez

3 complete sets are available via the collection token (3 are withheld).

A Tezos wallet (i.e. Kukai) is needed, and some Tezos cryptocurrency (which you can find at Coinbase, for instance).

01/52 – 52/52

X0/a – X0/t