Will be showing new Ambiframed Proto-Seeders with <a href='https://www.upstreamgallery.nl/art-fairs/133/art-rotterdam-2023'>Upstream Gallery</a> at <a href='https://www.artrotterdam.com/2021/07/13/art-rotterdam-2023-2/'>Art Rotterdam</a>.



Art Rotterdam 2023

Upcoming drop on the 16th of February 2PM EST / 20:00 CET. More information to be announced soon, here and on social media.

NFT drop with Chemsex Benelux

During Amsterdam Art Week 2021, I will present a selection of 64 pre-minted "non-fungible tokens" (NFTs) developed in collaboration with Berlin based NFT platform [Folia](https://www.folia.app/), at [Upstream Gallery in Amsterdam](https://harm.work/exhibition/mutant-garden/all).

Mutant Garden Seeder will consist of 512 generative unique Ethereum tokens: “mutants”. When a mutant is born, the transaction hash of the current  Ethereum block is taken as a seed to generate a chromosome from which the artwork is generated. Also after birth, every so many mined blocks, when a specific amount of digits of the current block hash correspond with its birth hash, the artwork mutates based on this block, gradually developing its visual manifestation. When a mutant is not adopted it dies.

Each mutant is mathematically determined by the moment of birth and the  blockchain transactions that occur after - its genotype. Besides that, the screen and software the artwork is viewed with can also (sometimes quite dramatically) influence the composition of the artwork (its phenotype). Therefore, each mutant could be considered to be a time-based “responsive painting”. All calculations of this NFT are executed on a dedicated server daemon, which is synchronised to mainnet, sort of like a sidechain. Also, owners of a mutant will receive a standalone Electron app + screensaver in which they can follow the development of their "pet", independent from the Seeder Daemon server.

In this blockchain-native work, I aim to show that the advent of immutability does not require to sacrifice the fluid potential of digital artifacts, which continuously evolve.

End July 2021 the project will fully launch, and then NFT collectors will be able to select a mutant from the current block themselves, and mint it as unique ER721 token using an interactive DAPP. 

Please note that all preminted mutants have already been bought and transferred or are reserved.

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[Join the Folia Telegram group to be notified about the official drop](https://t.me/folia_app)

[See Minted Mutants on OpenSea](https://opensea.io/collection/mutant-garden-seeder)

Prelaunch Mutant Garden Seeder NFT

It's with great pleasure that I can invite you to my upcoming solo exhibition "Mutant Garden" at [Upstream Gallery Amsterdam](https://www.upstreamgallery.nl/exhibitions/198/mutant-garden). This body of work has developed (sometimes on its own) over the past 2.5 years and will now be exhibited in its entirety for the first time.

Open from the **23rd of April**. To visit, please [make a reservation with the gallery](https://www.eventbrite.nl/e/tickets-harm-van-den-dorpel-mutant-garden-polakvanbekkum-fronting-motion-149702852261) in advance. 

### Exhibition Text

We all know DNA forms the blueprint of life. Through mutation and crossover, genetic information is passed to our children. How exactly this information that builds our bodies, and organises our trillions of cells, each line in our skin, is encoded in our genes is miraculous. Equating our DNA to a "map" of our body, where there would be a one-to-one relationship between genes and cells, makes no sense. Such a map would exceed the territory. The genome is limited to contain a relatively small amount of information. 

Instead, it is better to think of our genetic information as a repository of many highly efficient intertwined strategies, recipes, methods – algorithms, if you will – from which the huge amount of cells that compose our bodies are generated, recursively. These instructions in our DNA are parsed and executed, over and over again, based on local conditions: if this, then do that, or else do this. Genetic information could be considered as a [compressed](https://www.pnas.org/content/117/31/18489) collection of computer programmes, from which life emerges.

It is my conviction that this tension between relative simplicity of computational rules, but enormous complexity in outcome, holds the key to understanding life, and by extension, our aesthetic appreciation of it. We are attracted to visual systems which are to some extent complex, novel, tantalising, yet at the same time contain familiar, repeating elements. Difference and variation, surprise and expectation, have provided essential building blocks in the history of human expression.

To that end, I have developed evolutionary algorithms to research and optimise this trade off. But just as mutations in biology often result in death of specimens, mutations in software often result in programmes that get stuck in an [infinite loop](https://0xsalon.pubpub.org/pub/gzqsnrse/release/8#n2qbnx82rci): the notorious blue screen of death or endless rainbow spinner on MacOS. My engineering challenge was to devise an environment where I could freely let programmes mutate without crippling them. To achieve this, I turned to an existing algorithm called Cartesian Genetic Programming, invented by Julian F. Miller and Peter Thomson in 1997 (an interview with Julian will be published soon) to come to the Mutant Garden software.

In the "Autobreeder" on display in the main room (the "garden") specimens undergo mutation, and siblings are evaluated based on measuring their visual complexity versus cost of computation. Complex compositions that were relatively quick to generate are favoured over simple images that took disproportionate effort. I used the outputs of this algorithm as input for my own aesthetic wetware: I curated, and optimised the highly complex compositions, emphasised desired traits in a painterly, subjective, and labour intensive process.

Some of these works are materialised as digital exposures on photographic paper (lightjet), others are printed on archival paper using UltraChrome inks. These are installed alongside the Autobreeder.

In the smaller room (the "lab"), an additional software work is installed which visualises how the genetic code is formatted as a two-dimensional network, and how this is parsed to generate the layered visual compositions.

On one wall, as a timeline of my larger project of algorithmic archaeology, from each iteration, one work is installed, highlighting my own artistic practice as a genealogy as well.

To conclude, a series of light emitting tablets connect the various algorithms, series, works by myself, by other contemporary artists, and historical art movements. These help me define my activities in a broader artistic and historical frame, and appreciate associations in their own right.

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Many thanks to Paloma Rodríguez Carrington, Lisa Blanning, Wassim Alsindi, William Kherbek, and the wonderful team at Upstream Gallery.


Mutant Garden

A series of early works - the oldest one being from 2005 - will be made available for purchase for the first time this weekend. This [NFT drop](/news/tokenizing-sustainability) includes 3 editioned pixel sorters, encoded to animated GIF.

The offering has been curated by Folia, who have also recently minted work by Petra Cortright, Hesaitix, Travess Smalley and  Oliver Laric (coming up).

To participate in the bidding visit the [Folia website](https://www.folia.app/sets/pixel-sorters).

Starting Saturday the 20th, 9PM CET.

[Folia Substack](https://folia.substack.com/)   
[Pixel Sorters Series](/series/pixel-sorters)   

Vintage NFT drop

It's with great pleasure that I can release my [new online archive of my work](https://harm.work/)!

As it's currently impossible to organise a vernissage and celebrate, I thought it would be nice to commission my long time favourite DJ Carten Jost ([Dial](https://www.dial-rec.de/)) to compose a bespoke mix as background music while browsing this website. You can play it using the widget bottom right, or listen to it on [Soundcloud](https://soundcloud.com/harmvddorpel/a-field-without-boundaries).

This website is released in conjunction with my exhibition "[A Field Without Boundaries](/news/upcoming-solo-exhibition-shimmer-rotterdam)", at Shimmer Rotterdam, who generously supported this initiative.

Brand New Website

Very honoured that three of my works from the Algues Artificielles series entered the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

[See the Algues Artificielles series](/series/algues-artificielles)

Three works enter permanent collection V&A London

I will present a back-catalogue of works made over the past few years. Starting in February 2021, Shimmer will regularly ‘refresh’ the exhibition.

[More info on Shimmer Website](http://shimmershimmer.org/chapter-2-a-field-without-boundaries-by-harm-van-den-dorpel/)

News

Proto-Seeders @ Art Rotterdam

Prelaunch Mutant Garden Seeder

Mutant Garden @ Upstream Gallery

Vintage NFT drop

Brand New Website

3 works enter V&A collection

Exhibition Shimmer Rotterdam