heartsleeves: skin by LoVid

heartsleeves is a multifaceted generative video project. Part one is
code-based, abstract video art that then becomes the basis for community
portraits once minted. In this layered generative process, the artists
take advantage of the distributive nature of art on the blockchain to
elevate the community to co-creators who can generate their own portraits
within the environments LoVid has defined.


The work is both a culmination and a departure point for the celebrated
artistic duo, LoVid, weaving together disparate shapes and symbols that
evoke projects from their decades-long career as video and performance
artists. These icons are organized on grids that weave above and below
each other, moving across the screen to form an abstract video fabric.


The live generator will play forever without looping, suggesting an
infinite abstract plane only visible in the square window of the art
object, to be passively observed. The work exploits two unique qualities
of the blockchainthe ability to store code on-chain allowing for the
transmission of this never-ending generative video, and the unique aspect
of verifiable ownership.


The second part of this work is only unlocked by this ownership. Each video
skin becomes an immersive environment in the portrait studio, but only the 
owner can access the specific skin. Opening the portrait studio shifts agency 
away from the artists, as the collector becomes the co-creator.


Through the portrait studio, the portrait sitter is pulled into the video 
environment created by the original code-based generative video. Faces slip 
inside it, get pulled in, and become defined by color woven amongst the shapes 
along the three-dimensional planes of the face. While the studio distorts color 
and projects shapes onto the face, the participant has their own agency in the
portraits color, exposure, zoom, and more predetermined elements.


This opens up a second phase of generative production. The artists leave the
community with instructions and parameters to produce the final stage of
the workvideo portraits created in collaboration with the generative
mechanic the artists predetermined.


The portrait subject transforms from a passive participant into something much
more integral. They are physically present, engaged, and able to directly
influence the final product. This means radical sharing of agency, as collaborative
portraits created away from the artists can be automatically entered into the canon.