Variety in Duality is a generative visualization series using financial blockchain data. A duality of inputs creates the visualization, exploring the binary profits and losses of the financial crypto ecosystem. Each visualization is based on two emojis, the cloud emoji and a coloured circle. Despite the two actually being the same emoji, the lack of standardization across operating systems and platforms allows for a small range of icons, which the visualization builds upon. Like the nuances of these emojis, the markets and (social) media trigger a nuanced range of emotions, and expectations.
Since I discovered crypto, I have been deeply fascinated by the (new) habits of crypto investors and speculators. The series Variety in Duality I continues this visual exploration. The series is an iteration of my ongoing series of blockchain-data-based visualizations, which I started back in 2018. It spans the Ethereum, Bitcoin and Tezos blockchains.
Noise of 21 – Variety in Duality (triptych)
The Noise of 21 triptych is the first work in my Variety in Duality series. It explores crypto investors’ urge to consult prices to the point of obsession amidst a flood of information and fluctuating currencies. A significant number of people entering the crypto space have no investment experience and, being first-time investors, suffer most from these dramatic fluctuations and consolidations. In contrast to the stock exchange, cryptocurrencies have no trading days or opening hours; trades occur around the clock. The Noise of 21 explores this constant confrontation and availability of data.
Embedded within a python-processed time-lapse video based on two emojis are the price values of different blockchains in 2021. For the first release of ETH Noise of 21, the animation first visualizes the 12-month average prices of the Ethereum blockchain in 2021 before plotting the individual daily values of each month as bars. As the year rushes by, the cloud time-lapse and Ethereum chart compete for the viewer’s attention, fast-paced, unstoppable, and nearly impossible to follow.
ETH Noise of 21 – Variety in Duality
ETH Noise of 21 – Variety in Duality
Generative visualization of the exchange rate of Ethereum in 2021 based on the same 2 emojis across different operating systems and platforms
1,920 x 1,920 px, MP4, 3:00
2022
ETH Noise of 21 is a generative visualization of the exchange rate of Ethereum in 2021. The data is represented by two emojis charted on a graph, reflecting the changes in its value. The vertical axis charts the value of the USD dollar ($0-$5000) while the horizontal axis shows the values over the year. The data set tracks monthly averages and daily values, beginning with January and ending with December 2021.
More than just a record of value, this time-lapse video abstractly explores the overload of information in the crypto space, turning these data points into overwhelming noise. This noise highlights the insecurity of many first-time investors and the relentless pace of the market.
Variety in Duality is the latest in the artist’s series of blockchain-data-based visualizations that began in 2018.
Release during Ethereum Denver 2022
This artwork will be released during my new collaboration with Mint Gold Dust. The piece will be auctioned off during the closing ceremony of the Ethereum Denver conference on February 20th, 2022 at 6 pm MST. You have to pre-register if you are interested in bidding: https://bit.ly/34XxGts
The two other diptych pieces might or might not be released on the respective blockchains they visualize: TEZ Noise of 21 on the Tezos blockchain and BTC Noise of 21 on the Bitcoin blockchain.
