Hey fx fam!

**Welcome back to the 5th installment of the fxhash Newsletter!**

As always, we’ve been busy behind the scenes and got a couple of updates again this week! Besides hammering out the final details of the new website, we’re also gearing up for the upcoming Paris Photo Fair 2024 that’s taking place next week; we’ll be representing fxhash at the prestigious photography event with our very own booth— more infos about that in a sec!

It’s also been another couple of turbulent weeks in the space—as we observe a couple of shifts in the current platform landscape, it’s amplified the discourse around how we can collectively turn the tide for the better again. We wanted to briefly weigh in with some of our own thoughts on the topic, and explain what we think is currently important.

Earlier this year it seemed that the bull market was just around the bend, but that didn’t really end up happening, and right now things still feel overall sluggish. But that shouldn’t really be a reason to stop building, and to keep pushing forward, nor to stop celebrating generative art. Being a platform in this space often feels like steering a big ship that has to weather the tides of a rough sea—the team is constantly in the process of reassessing our strategy to adapt to new currents. We also believe that this reflects a sentiment many artists in the space can relate to: deciding on what the right move is at any given moment, all while considering the different shifting factors in play.

With the end of the year approaching, we started putting together a yearly recap for the first time, and find ourselves looking back on everything we’ve accomplished this year. In 2024 fxhash helped put together a whopping 13 IRL events, one of which we personally consider to be the biggest genart exhibition of th year. For 2023 we can boast an equal number of events—this is to say that we’ve been making a considerable effort in bringing generative art to a broader audience, IRL, who might not be familiar with the artform. This we way we can show that generative art is a living breathing thing that’s not only confined to a digital dimension.

![Throwback to some of the Live Minting Events that fxhash facilitated in 2023: Unit London, NFC Lisbon, and Proof of X Tokyo](ipfs://QmZjnthfTzpHRKCHGxfmZdiBbKnJ88jKhCC7GUevkQw3sU)

So, to us, the path forward is clear. On the one hand, we will continue building, and refining, our digital toolkit for generative artists to bring their visions to life—while also empowering them to explore novel, experimental approaches to generative art. On the flipside, we also want to stay on our current course and dedicate efforts in bringing generative art to a broader audiences, simultaneously introducing them to blockchain tech and decentralization. At this point, big kudos to Olha who’s the driving force behind these events—she doesn’t get enough credit for it.

> “I’m so happy that we’ve cleared all of our technical debt at this point; and I’m super excited to start working on new features!” \~ Markus from the dev team (famous last words)

All of this said, let’s get into this week’s news 👇

## Public Beta Plans & Revamped Docs

In the previous newsletter we shared a sneak-peek of the new UI, and talked just a little bit about the new design—and we’re stoked with the response that we got! If you somehow missed it, here’s the post we made over on X 💫

![](ipfs://QmaccQ2CGbvpCFGbEHpGPzRAas3F56GkZGQJPXG9YBmT7P)

[Link to Tweet](https://x.com/fx_hash_/status/1847341118498943249)

So now we’re quickly approaching a public beta for the new website—and the big question you guys asked us: How can I help test the new site?!

The simple answer to tahe, is that the beta is in essence going to be a mirror of the current website, running in parallel on a separate domain with all of the same functionality—and accessible to anyone interested. On the new site you’ll also find a feedback form, through which you can get in touch with us to report any bugs or errors that you might encounter. We’ll then review it and promptly work out a fix—more info about that form next week!

One concern that was raised regarding the new design, was that project previews might be a tad bit too small—this is simply due to the relative size of the screenshot we shared. The paddings around the artworks are intentionally large, to help create some breathing room and visual separation between the previews of different projects. It’s actually tricky to create a design that can accommodate varyingly colourful imagery; what Charlie brought up over in the discord explains it best, the paddings are there so that “loud artworks don't attack quieter ones”.

It’s immediately a completely different look when viewing previews of the same project, here’s what that looks like:

![](ipfs://QmXMQMSuYG8drPocjftFEF3z8FGW4n7aa6XtK6TURTifbf)

Besides that we also have some news regarding our docs: they’ve been in dire need of another overhaul, and we’ve finally gotten around to taking care of that! Previously we had things setup via Notion, but that didn’t really work out too well, so now we’ve migrated them over to GitBook, which not only gives them a fresh new look, but also helps us update them more easily. You can find them [here](https://fxhash.gitbook.io/fxhash-docs).

![You can also give us feedback over in discord, or open a new thread in the artists/collector support channels!](ipfs://QmaPJV8JM97HPduu83oNDsdmnrTnxehvaSF9rXicF62Mmz)

They’re still largely a work in progress—and will need another coat of paint once the new UI is out—so if you find anything that’s not as it should be, please let us know! Now there’s also this handy little feedback button that GitBook makes available on the right hand side of each page, where you can let us know if specific pages were helpful or not.

We also reworked the overall structure a little, to simplify things and cut out a lot of the bloat that found its way into the text when we initially reworked them a couple of months ago.

## CYMATIC at Paris Photo

While the devs have their work cut out for them, the other half of the team’s also been busy gearing up for the Paris Photo Fair 2024—we’re excited to represent fxhash with our very own booth in the digital sector of the fair! We’ll be presenting Erika Weitz and Thomas Noya’s CYMATIC that we helped put together over the past couple of months!

![](ipfs://QmZYQePw41zzutDqAvv6Zpmt4cXrsiCePEqDmQcbXhqBsw)

The project embodies a rich and dynamic interplay between historical and contemporary practices—the artists follow in the footsteps of pioneers like Ben Laposky and Berenice Abbott, who explored photography as a medium bridging art and science. In the previous issue we only really scratched the surface of what this entails, there’s a lot more context to be explored—hence, just like we did for Entangled, we’re in the process of documenting all aspects of the project in form of a big article that’s coming simultaneously with the start of the fair next week.

![](ipfs://QmUu6dSLhjbWRPPco7LdfP1rV8jnAUTMD4idURf5wyXuyk)

The 5 physical artworks can be acquired during the Paris Photo Fair at the fxhash booth, F12. Each physical piece is additionally accompanied by a token on the blockchain—the first 5 iterations of the long-form series. You can inquire about them via our sales email [sales@fxhash.xyz](mailto\:fxhash@sales.xyz) . Immediately following the fair's conclusion, the long-form collection will open on fxhash, where editions will be available to everyone on a first come, first serve basis (with the exception of the pieces pre-minted by collectors during the fair that can also be redeemed as physical pieces).

![The artists inspecting the final wet plates in Erika’ Studio.](ipfs://QmS2bCkGRBuZ49okhmNk2VPnxRM5QBtEEWrXdbJPyYysMY)

We couldn’t be more happy with how things have come together—in a way it feels like fxhash now has a small production branch to take care of these kinds events and collaborations! Again, we’d also love to invite you to come pass by our booth at the fair if you end up finding yourself there. Some of our friends in the Web3 space will also have their booths in the digital sector, with their own original projects! 👀

## WTBS in conversation with Zancan

In other news, just as we had sent out our previous Newsletter, WTBS published another posthumous episode: after two and a half years, the duo managed to finally make it happen and get a hold of Zancan for a full-length episode! Zancan is one of the fxhash OGs, taking us for a stroll down memory lane, he recounts his early the early days of joining fxhash, and the release of Garden Monoliths which was not only a pivotal moment for his artistic career but also for fxhash as a platform. To this day the project is still one of the most iconic works of generative art on the platform:

![](ipfs://QmRbMFvVHuwTY68sMbGH3nM281ko3rFsT1vZMmtQAUQmaE)

[Link to Episode](https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/waitingtobesigned/episodes/Beautiful-Utopias-Interview-with-Zancan-e2pq9qm) | [Link to Tweet](https://x.com/zancan/status/1847277266776023099)

Zancan also touches upon some of the considerable hardships he faced ensuing from the success of his work—the phrase “suffering from success” quite literally takes a negative turn here. In particular he mentions the difficulties in taxation of the income generated through the sale of his work on various platforms, and how it subsequently detracted from his ability to focus on his art and create new works.

The episode ends on a positive note however, while we might not see a long-form project from Zancan in the near future, he seems optimistic about releasing new work, in particular now that some of these high-stress times have mellowed out.

## INTUIT at Galerie Met

In the meantime we also saw the successful launch of Olga Fradinha’s INTUIT, both the physical exhibition at Galerie Met, as well as an open edition on Base—over the past two weeks the project’s accrued more than a whopping 350 editions!

![](ipfs://QmP3H3qBABnBjQ5TxnoyiwbtP6hiTY7ccRbyha4yo7eMYf)

And we have a hunch that it’s likely to see a few more mints until the generator is turned off on the 9th of November.

We also already talked a little about the parallels between surrealist automatism, that INTUIT is inspired by, and generative art in the previous newsletter. There might be more to it than we first thought: as both practices require the artist relinquish control over the creation process they might just be more similarly than what a first glance reveals. Can generative art be considered a modern form of Automatism? Even the term describes it perfectly.

The vernissage at Galerie Met also saw more than a few visitors—here’s a couple of pics:

![](ipfs://QmVott9LdMjRJAQ5y9q5aAxqCqbMKExfLWtfVY55FdH1KD)

## Week in Review

-   Earlier this month, on the 12th of October we lost Lillian Schwartz, an important pioneering figure in computer art. While Schwartz has only recently gained more recognition in the broader art world, she was undeniable a trailblazer in digital art for her technology based approach. [Artforum published an insightful article recounting her artistic journey as well as the many timeless contributions that she’s made over the span of her career.](https://www.artforum.com/news/lillian-schwartz-dies-19272024-1234720358)
-   This past week [Le Random gets hold of another female icon in digital art, Samia Halabi, for an interview](https://www.lerandom.art/editorial/samia-halaby-on-different-brushes). Samia Halabi was one of the early adopters of computer technology in the 1980s to explore new dimensions in her art, particularly in creating animations and experimenting with forms of abstraction that her paintings couldn’t achieve alone.
-   Anna Lucia and Julian Hespenheide are bidding farewell to iconic Bright Moments gallery in Berlin with a [final takeover event](https://lu.ma/6q1eqg23).
-   If you need some more reading material over the weekend, we recommend having a look at this post from the NFTPriceFloor X account, containing a [list of influential articles that have shaped and documented the NFT space over the past couple of years](https://x.com/nftpricefloor/status/1850889902684004551). On the list we find seminal pieces of writing like “[What is CryptoArt?](https://www.artnome.com/news/2018/1/14/what-is-cryptoart)” published in 2018 by Jason Bailey, as well as "The Rise of Long-Form Generative Art” written in 2021 by Tyler Hobbs, among others.
-   KVG is back with another [throwback thread](https://x.com/KateVassGalerie/status/1848088578036769078), and one of the posts in it caught our attention, it recounts the 2020 exhibition revolving around Conway’s Game of Life. Curated by none other than Jason Bailey, the exhibition saw pieces from Jared Tarbell, Kjetil Golid, and Manoloide. The [webpage that showcases the artworks turns out to be a treasure-trove](https://www.katevassgalerie.com/game-of-life-emergence-in-generative-art) providing insight into each one of the works with words from the artists.

## Wrapping it up

And that’s pretty much it from us this week. We hope you enjoyed reading this issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together. If you have feedback for the structure and/or content of this newsletter—let us know how we can improve!

You can keep up with us over on your favorite social media:

-   &#x20;Tag us on X via [@fx\_hash\_](https://x.com/fx_hash_) #fxhash
-   &#x20;Follow us on Instagram and Threads [@fxhash ](https://www.instagram.com/fxhash/)
-   &#x20;Connect with us on Warpcast [@fxhash](https://warpcast.com/fxhash) and join our [Farcaster channel](https://www.instagram.com/fxhash/)

> Did we miss something important? Is there an interesting project you think should be featured here? Any particular topics you’d like us to cover?
>
> [Come join the discord and let us know!](https://discord.gg/fxhash-900333075509149767)
>
> The fxhash discord is where the community regularly gathers to discuss all sorts of generative art-related topics.

Cheers, see you in the next one ✨


Open Beta Plans - New Docs - Cymatic at the Paris Photo Fair 2024 - WTBS x Zancan - INTUIT at Galerie Met

The official fx(hash) team account for documentation, non-critical announcements, general information and ARTKLs.

fx(news): Open Beta Plans, New Docs, CYMATIC at Paris Photo 2024, WTBS x Zancan

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