Starting December 28, 2021, the new exhibition by ALTERNATIVE MACHINE titled “ALTERNATIVE MACHINE” will be held at the art gallery WHITEHOUSE in Shinjuku.

Exhibition Duration: December 28, 2021 - January 23, 2022, 13:00-19:00 (CLOSED: MON, TUE, WED)
Venue: WHITEHOUSE [Map]
Note: Entry is exclusive to members who have pre-purchased the PASSPORT from WHITEHOUSE.
More information here

The exhibit presents two works that utilize the trending NFT (Non-Fungible Token) as a medium and is structured around two spaces: the gallery and the web. At the WHITEHOUSE space, the new creations “SNOWCRASH” and “LIFE” will be displayed.

I. SNOWCRASH

While the piece outwardly appears as an “NFT Ambient Music” piece for sale on opensea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace, it is stored not on traditional storage devices like HDD or SSD. Instead, it utilizes “Acoustic Delay Line Memory,” a storage technology from the 1950s. Thus, the gallery space itself serves as the data storage for this NFT artwork. Due to its fragile nature, any external noise stimulus can corrupt the NFT data.

While blockchain technology guarantees the “ownership of the artwork,” it does not guarantee its “uniqueness.” “Delay Memory Device” exploits the consensus surrounding the blockchain, critically examining the concept of “uniqueness.” (opensea)

II. LIFE

“LIFE” is an autonomous smart contract (or agent) on the blockchain that self-replicates using ether (Ethereum’s currency). This agent operates to ensure its progeny’s survival, replenishing its energy, or ether, through NFT sales. When it accumulates enough ether, the agent self-replicates, leaving offspring that generate and sell original NFTs for ether.

The project’s aim isn’t to create an artificial system as a mere “tool” for humans. Instead, it envisions an artificial life that offers value to humans, establishing a symbiotic relationship. Such a world is possible due to blockchain’s trustworthiness and unstoppable computers like Ethereum. This implementation is both a first step and an experimental field for open-ended evolution, a critical theme in artificial life studies.

Credits:
Art Direction: Itsuki Doi
R&D Direction: Atsushi Masumori, Norihiro Maruyama, Takashi Ikegami
Software Development: Atsushi Masumori, Norihiro Maruyama
Hardware Development: Norihiro Maruyama, johnsmith
Technical Adviser: Tomoya Matsuura (guest)
Curation: Tomohito Wakui