Preview: Art Blocks Curated 'Primitives'

Art Blocks Curated is back today with the final Curated launch of Series 8, "Primitives" by Aranda\Lasch.

Aranda\Lasch is a studio with the mission "to explore algorithmic systems and generative processes as a means to understand the world around us and make things within it." They make buildings, installations, and objects leveraging generative algorithms, combining digital and physical. The beauty that the studio is looking to capture is in how computational techniques have their own autonomy and thus can create new ideas and outputs beyond those of the creators. The team has had success with major museums, seeing works picked up by the Art Institute of Chicago, the Volume Gallery in Chicago, and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

"Primitives" looks to explore the digital and physical space by using geometric structures that can create both 2D images and 3D objects. Each output is based on a single shape which repeats and scales to create unique structures dubbed quasicrystals by the creators. Expanding on quasicrystals, the description states: "Unlike a regular crystal, whose molecular pattern is periodic (or repetitive in all directions), the distinctive quality of this quasicrystal is that its structural pattern never repeats the same way twice." In this way, the smaller clusters of shapes can create larger figures.

What makes this set perhaps the most unique is in its use of 3D files. Each output is interactive, allowing the user to rotate the image, zoom in and out, and even "regrow" the geometric animation. During this interaction, there will be times when "blocks snap into alignment with other blocks revealing its underlying lattice and crystalline nature," and these outputs can be saved in three dimensions as .obj files. In this way, Primitives has ties to generative manufacturing, a direction of generative algorithms that many think will be a major future use case.

Market Analysis and Predictions

There are definite pros and cons for this mint today.

On the pros side, this is the final Curated launch in Series 8 and all of Art Blocks v1.0 before the switch to v2.0, which means no more serieses. This is the final drop ever to be a part of a series (a boost in collectible value). The supply at 400 is on the lower side, which is nice. And the 3D aspect and ties to generative manufacturing are unique as well and innovative. 

For cons, the animated sets in Art Blocks typically command lower values and the 500-second render delay impacts the early secondary market flow and momentum. This can lead to early undercutting and big listing percentages, which can be hard to push through in those important early hours of trading. Additionally, in viewing the sample outputs there does not appear to be much variance in color palettes, which will impact the "rare lotto" and is another factor that typically hurts demand (i.e. Alan Ki Aankhen). 

The Dutch auction begins at 4 ETH and decreases exponentially to its 0.25 ETH resting price. If this one reaches 0.5 ETH or below, it becomes pretty attractive. It's riskier in the 0.5-1 ETH range, and certainly be careful minting above that level. But as always, a very important factor will be which cohort mints - flippers versus collectors. If the former, expect high listing percentages and undercutting; else, there may be more upside.

Primitives launches today at 1 p.m. ET. Read the founders' interview with Art Blocks COO Jeff Davis here for more background on the team and project.