{
  "schema": "ab5d-dossier/1",
  "slug": "a.a.-murakami",
  "name": "A.A.Murakami",
  "subtitle": "Pioneers of Ephemeral Tech",
  "lede": "A.A. Murakami, the artist duo of Alexander Groves and Azusa Murakami, pioneers ephemeral tech in both physical installations and digital generative art. Their Floating World Genesis collection on Art Blocks comprises 250 unique works that visualize primordial life through animated bubbles and meditative scenes.",
  "url": "https://ab5d.xyz/artists/a.a.-murakami/",
  "bibliography_url": "https://ab5d.xyz/artists/a.a.-murakami/links/",
  "content_url": "https://ab5d.xyz/api/artists/a.a.-murakami.json",
  "updated": "2026-09-01",
  "tier": "compact",
  "editions": 250,
  "collections": 1,
  "otdh": {
    "rank": 246,
    "score": 9013,
    "collector_identities": 162,
    "holder_addresses": 162,
    "projects": 1,
    "current_works": 249,
    "raw_collector_days": 240863,
    "median_project_hold_days": 1227,
    "snapshot_at": "2026-09-14T00:00:00.000Z",
    "methodology_url": "https://ab5d.xyz/artists/otdh/",
    "api_url": "https://ab5d.xyz/api/otdh/a.a.-murakami"
  },
  "identity": {
    "artist": "A.A.Murakami",
    "website": "https://www.artblocks.io/artists/a.a.-murakami",
    "based": "Born 1983 (Alexander Groves, UK) and 1984 (Azusa Murakami, Japan). Lives and works in London and Tokyo.",
    "practice": "Artist duo creating immersive sensory installations and generative artworks that emulate natural systems using ephemeral materials like fog, bubbles, and plasma, alongside digital shaders and algorithms to foster connections with nature and explore primordial origins.",
    "now": "The solo exhibition *New Nature* opens at Paradise City in Seoul on 1 September 2026, amid the duo's busiest year of exhibitions to date.",
    "raster": "https://www.raster.art/artist/aa-murakami",
    "otdh": "[9,013 · rank 246 of 308](/artists/otdh/#artist-a.a.-murakami)",
    "holding signal": "162 collector identities · 162 holder addresses · 240,863 raw collector-days · 14 Sep 2026",
    "collector tdh": "[aamTDH](/artists/a.a.-murakami/aamtdh/) · dashboard"
  },
  "socials": {
    "website": "https://www.artblocks.io/artists/a.a.-murakami",
    "x": "@aa_murakami",
    "instagram": "a.a.murakami"
  },
  "profile_image_url": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1653653982601187328/WmzZEdCa_400x400.jpg",
  "profile_image_source": "https://x.com/aa_murakami",
  "works": [
    {
      "name": "Floating World Genesis",
      "editions": 250,
      "supply": 250,
      "artblocks_slug": "floating-world-genesis-by-aa-murakami",
      "url": "https://www.artblocks.io/collection/floating-world-genesis-by-aa-murakami"
    }
  ],
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": null,
      "paragraphs": [
        "A.A. Murakami, the artist duo established in 2011 by Alexander Groves and Azusa Murakami, has forged a distinctive path in contemporary art by integrating scientific inquiry with sensory experience. Operating between London and Tokyo, the pair employs what they describe as ephemeral tech to produce installations and digital works that materialize transient natural processes. Their participation in the Art Blocks ecosystem through Floating World Genesis introduced 250 generative editions that translate these concerns into animated, collectible forms."
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "Ephemeral Tech: Materializing the Intangible",
      "paragraphs": [
        "The duo's practice revolves around ephemeral tech, a term they coined to denote the use of technology to generate fleeting, atmospheric phenomena rather than fixed digital displays. This approach manifests in large-scale environments where fog, bubbles, mist, and plasma create immersive fields that engage viewers physically and perceptually. Early works like New Spring (2017) established their method of orchestrating interactive natural simulations through engineered systems.",
        "In a 2026 conversation with Le Random, A.A. Murakami sharpened the distinction between their work and the recreation of natural weather. Their bubbles and fog rings behave according to natural laws, but stage phenomena that do not occur in nature: membranes and energy flows that briefly hold a pattern together before it loses its identity and dissolves. The artists described these installations as handing control to matter, gravity, and entropy. Where light itself can be the medium for James Turrell, they proposed that in ephemeral tech, existence itself is the medium.",
        "Exhibitions have amplified this vision on institutional stages. The 2025 Floating World presentation at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston wove together five distinct yet interconnected installations, among them floating bubble clouds that dissolve into mist, radiating fog rings, and fields of flickering plasma tubes. Comparable projects at M+ Museum in Hong Kong further demonstrated their ability to construct otherworldly yet grounded sensory encounters. Public commissions, such as the Times Square Arts iteration of Floating World, extended these experiences into urban contexts where natural emulation intersects with everyday space. Their investigations into the limits of human perception have informed exhibitions such as the 2023 presentation at Hyundai Motor Studio in Busan.",
        "Philosophically, A.A. Murakami connects their output to longstanding human traditions of emulating nature through art and architecture, from cave paintings to celestial observatories. Recent profiles highlight ongoing interests in time perception, the block universe, and how technology can render invisible processes tangible and contemplative."
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "Floating World Genesis and the Origins of Life",
      "paragraphs": [
        "Released in December 2022 as the opening chapter of the Floating World project, Floating World Genesis comprises precisely 250 unique artworks generated on the Art Blocks platform. Each token renders one of three distinct animated scenes featuring bubbles as central motifs, drawing direct inspiration from the Miller-Urey experiment of 1953 that probed the chemical origins of life in a simulated primordial atmosphere.",
        "Scene one depicts solitary or dividing bubbles symbolizing prebiotic matter. Scene two animates growing clusters suggestive of evolutionary transitions toward complex life. Scene three situates a central bubble within a dynamic seascape complete with procedurally generated waves and reflections, representing the stabilization of planetary biospheres. The underlying code employs vertex shaders driven by sine and cosine functions to simulate fluid motion across point-based meshes, augmented by Perlin noise for naturalistic water effects and sophisticated color mapping that explores harmonic and contrasting palettes. Select outputs incorporate stereoscopic rendering via anaglyph techniques, underscoring the artists' fascination with perceptual thresholds and hybrid realities they term the mataverse.",
        "The aesthetic sensibility leans toward hypnotic minimalism, evoking the contemplative stillness of Light and Space artists while harnessing generative variability to ensure each edition remains singular. The resulting pieces offer tranquil viewing experiences that reward prolonged observation, much like the durational encounters fostered by their installations. In this way, the collection functions as both a digital archive of primordial imagination and a bridge to the duo's physical Floating World environments, where similar bubble and fog motifs achieve monumental scale. Critical coverage has situated the project as an exemplar of how generative art can model scientific and philosophical ideas about emergence and impermanence.",
        "By limiting the series to 250 editions, A.A. Murakami maintains an intimate scale that contrasts with the expansive physical installations, inviting collectors into a meditative digital counterpart to their sensory practice. The work thus embodies a cohesive vision across media, where code and matter alike serve to honor the delicate systems sustaining life on Earth. Coverage in specialist outlets and institutional archives has affirmed the project's significance within discussions of web3 art and sensory practice."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "body_markdown": "A.A. Murakami, the artist duo established in 2011 by Alexander Groves and Azusa Murakami, has forged a distinctive path in contemporary art by integrating scientific inquiry with sensory experience. Operating between London and Tokyo, the pair employs what they describe as ephemeral tech to produce installations and digital works that materialize transient natural processes. Their participation in the Art Blocks ecosystem through Floating World Genesis introduced 250 generative editions that translate these concerns into animated, collectible forms.\n\n## Ephemeral Tech: Materializing the Intangible\n\nThe duo's practice revolves around ephemeral tech, a term they coined to denote the use of technology to generate fleeting, atmospheric phenomena rather than fixed digital displays. This approach manifests in large-scale environments where fog, bubbles, mist, and plasma create immersive fields that engage viewers physically and perceptually. Early works like New Spring (2017) established their method of orchestrating interactive natural simulations through engineered systems.\n\nIn a 2026 conversation with Le Random, A.A. Murakami sharpened the distinction between their work and the recreation of natural weather. Their bubbles and fog rings behave according to natural laws, but stage phenomena that do not occur in nature: membranes and energy flows that briefly hold a pattern together before it loses its identity and dissolves. The artists described these installations as handing control to matter, gravity, and entropy. Where light itself can be the medium for James Turrell, they proposed that in ephemeral tech, existence itself is the medium.\n\nExhibitions have amplified this vision on institutional stages. The 2025 Floating World presentation at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston wove together five distinct yet interconnected installations, among them floating bubble clouds that dissolve into mist, radiating fog rings, and fields of flickering plasma tubes. Comparable projects at M+ Museum in Hong Kong further demonstrated their ability to construct otherworldly yet grounded sensory encounters. Public commissions, such as the Times Square Arts iteration of Floating World, extended these experiences into urban contexts where natural emulation intersects with everyday space. Their investigations into the limits of human perception have informed exhibitions such as the 2023 presentation at Hyundai Motor Studio in Busan.\n\nPhilosophically, A.A. Murakami connects their output to longstanding human traditions of emulating nature through art and architecture, from cave paintings to celestial observatories. Recent profiles highlight ongoing interests in time perception, the block universe, and how technology can render invisible processes tangible and contemplative.\n\n## Floating World Genesis and the Origins of Life\n\nReleased in December 2022 as the opening chapter of the Floating World project, Floating World Genesis comprises precisely 250 unique artworks generated on the Art Blocks platform. Each token renders one of three distinct animated scenes featuring bubbles as central motifs, drawing direct inspiration from the Miller-Urey experiment of 1953 that probed the chemical origins of life in a simulated primordial atmosphere.\n\nScene one depicts solitary or dividing bubbles symbolizing prebiotic matter. Scene two animates growing clusters suggestive of evolutionary transitions toward complex life. Scene three situates a central bubble within a dynamic seascape complete with procedurally generated waves and reflections, representing the stabilization of planetary biospheres. The underlying code employs vertex shaders driven by sine and cosine functions to simulate fluid motion across point-based meshes, augmented by Perlin noise for naturalistic water effects and sophisticated color mapping that explores harmonic and contrasting palettes. Select outputs incorporate stereoscopic rendering via anaglyph techniques, underscoring the artists' fascination with perceptual thresholds and hybrid realities they term the mataverse.\n\nThe aesthetic sensibility leans toward hypnotic minimalism, evoking the contemplative stillness of Light and Space artists while harnessing generative variability to ensure each edition remains singular. The resulting pieces offer tranquil viewing experiences that reward prolonged observation, much like the durational encounters fostered by their installations. In this way, the collection functions as both a digital archive of primordial imagination and a bridge to the duo's physical Floating World environments, where similar bubble and fog motifs achieve monumental scale. Critical coverage has situated the project as an exemplar of how generative art can model scientific and philosophical ideas about emergence and impermanence.\n\nBy limiting the series to 250 editions, A.A. Murakami maintains an intimate scale that contrasts with the expansive physical installations, inviting collectors into a meditative digital counterpart to their sensory practice. The work thus embodies a cohesive vision across media, where code and matter alike serve to honor the delicate systems sustaining life on Earth. Coverage in specialist outlets and institutional archives has affirmed the project's significance within discussions of web3 art and sensory practice.",
  "images": [
    {
      "url": "https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/1/0x64780ce53f6e966e18a22af13a2f97369580ec11/1000000.png",
      "title": "Floating World Genesis",
      "caption": "2022, Art Blocks",
      "rights": "Not CC0 - Art Blocks render, property of the artist/holders"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/1/0x64780ce53f6e966e18a22af13a2f97369580ec11/1000050.png",
      "title": "Floating World Genesis",
      "caption": "2022, Art Blocks",
      "rights": "Not CC0 - Art Blocks render, property of the artist/holders"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/1/0x64780ce53f6e966e18a22af13a2f97369580ec11/1000100.png",
      "title": "Floating World Genesis",
      "caption": "2022, Art Blocks",
      "rights": "Not CC0 - Art Blocks render, property of the artist/holders"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/1/0x64780ce53f6e966e18a22af13a2f97369580ec11/1000149.png",
      "title": "Floating World Genesis",
      "caption": "2022, Art Blocks",
      "rights": "Not CC0 - Art Blocks render, property of the artist/holders"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/1/0x64780ce53f6e966e18a22af13a2f97369580ec11/1000199.png",
      "title": "Floating World Genesis",
      "caption": "2022, Art Blocks",
      "rights": "Not CC0 - Art Blocks render, property of the artist/holders"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/1/0x64780ce53f6e966e18a22af13a2f97369580ec11/1000249.png",
      "title": "Floating World Genesis",
      "caption": "2022, Art Blocks",
      "rights": "Not CC0 - Art Blocks render, property of the artist/holders"
    }
  ],
  "references": [
    {
      "n": 1,
      "note": "Pace Gallery detailed the conceptual and technical foundations of Floating World Genesis in a December 2022 journal article.",
      "url": "https://www.pacegallery.com/journal/aa-murakami-floating-world-genesis-nft-series-explained/",
      "label": "Pace Journal"
    },
    {
      "n": 2,
      "note": "The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presented the large-scale Floating World exhibition featuring interconnected immersive installations from May to September 2025.",
      "url": "https://www.mfah.org/exhibitions/floating-world-aamurakami",
      "label": "MFAH Exhibition"
    },
    {
      "n": 3,
      "note": "Art Blocks hosted the Floating World Genesis collection page documenting the 250-edition generative release.",
      "url": "https://www.artblocks.io/collection/floating-world-genesis-by-aa-murakami",
      "label": "Art Blocks"
    },
    {
      "n": 4,
      "note": "Apollo Magazine published an in-studio interview with A.A. Murakami exploring their creative process and boundaries between technology and nature.",
      "url": "https://apollo-magazine.com/in-the-studio-a-a-murakami-interview-alexander-groves-azusa-marukami/",
      "label": "Apollo Interview"
    },
    {
      "n": 5,
      "note": "M+ Museum Hong Kong featured an interview on A.A. Murakami's perspective on ephemeral tech, art, nature, and technology.",
      "url": "https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/magazine/a-a-murakami-ephemeral-tech-art-nature-technology-interview/",
      "label": "M+ Magazine"
    },
    {
      "n": 6,
      "note": "Elephant.art profiled A.A. Murakami's living, breathing machines in an August 2025 article discussing cave art, block universe theory, and time perception.",
      "url": "https://elephant.art/a-a-murakamis-living-breathing-machines/",
      "label": "Elephant Profile"
    },
    {
      "n": 7,
      "note": "The Korea Herald covered A.A. Murakami's exploration of human perception limits in a 2023 exhibition at Hyundai Motor Studio.",
      "url": "https://www.koreaherald.com/article/3206637",
      "label": "Korea Herald"
    },
    {
      "n": 8,
      "note": "Pearl Lam Galleries published a Q&A with A.A. Murakami on their creative process in November 2021.",
      "url": "https://www.pearllam.com/qa-11-questions-with-a-a-murakami/",
      "label": "Pearl Lam Q&A"
    },
    {
      "n": 9,
      "note": "Ocula provides an artist profile and overview of A.A. Murakami's exhibitions and biography.",
      "url": "https://ocula.com/artists/aa-murakami/",
      "label": "Ocula Profile"
    },
    {
      "n": 10,
      "note": "NFT Culture reported on the Pace Verso and Art Blocks partnership for A.A. Murakami's first NFT project in December 2022.",
      "url": "https://www.nftculture.com/nft-news/pace-verso-and-art-blocks-detail-first-ever-nft-by-a-a-murakami/",
      "label": "NFT Culture"
    },
    {
      "n": 11,
      "note": "Times Square Arts documented the Floating World installation project in New York.",
      "url": "https://www.timessquarenyc.org/tsq-arts-projects/floating-world",
      "label": "Times Square Arts"
    },
    {
      "n": 12,
      "note": "M+ Museum Hong Kong hosted the Floating World exhibition from August 2024 to February 2025.",
      "url": "https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/exhibitions/a-a-murakami/",
      "label": "M+ Exhibition"
    },
    {
      "n": 13,
      "note": "Peter Bauman interviewed A.A. Murakami for Le Random about ephemeral tech, existence as medium, screenless installations, and new generative work translated into textiles and mud paintings.",
      "url": "https://www.lerandom.art/editorial/a-a-murakami-on-existence-as-medium",
      "label": "Le Random"
    }
  ],
  "bibliography": [
    {
      "category": "In the AB[500]: Art Blocks",
      "entries": [
        {
          "note": "Floating World Genesis by A.A. Murakami comprises 250 generative artworks released on Art Blocks in December 2022 as the first component of the multidisciplinary Floating World project.",
          "url": "https://www.artblocks.io/collection/floating-world-genesis-by-aa-murakami",
          "label": "Art Blocks",
          "meta": "collection · 2022"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "category": "Interviews",
      "entries": [
        {
          "note": "Le Random interviewed A.A. Murakami about ephemeral tech, existence as medium, screenless immersive installations, and new generative patterns translated into textiles and mud paintings.",
          "url": "https://www.lerandom.art/editorial/a-a-murakami-on-existence-as-medium",
          "label": "A.A.Murakami on Existence as Medium",
          "meta": "Le Random · interview · 2026"
        },
        {
          "note": "Verse hosted a conversation with A.A. Murakami on bridging physical installations and digital explorations of nature and technology.",
          "url": "https://verse.works/journal/aa-murakami",
          "label": "Verse",
          "meta": "interview · 2023"
        },
        {
          "note": "M+ Magazine interviewed the artists on their development of ephemeral tech as a means to connect art with natural and technological systems.",
          "url": "https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/magazine/a-a-murakami-ephemeral-tech-art-nature-technology-interview/",
          "label": "M+ Magazine",
          "meta": "interview · 2024"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "category": "Press and criticism",
      "entries": [
        {
          "note": "Elephant.art examined A.A. Murakami's installations as living machines that engage with concepts of time, perception, and natural emulation.",
          "url": "https://elephant.art/a-a-murakamis-living-breathing-machines/",
          "label": "Elephant",
          "meta": "press · 2025"
        },
        {
          "note": "Apollo Magazine offered insight into the duo's studio practice and philosophical influences in a 2025 interview.",
          "url": "https://apollo-magazine.com/in-the-studio-a-a-murakami-interview-alexander-groves-azusa-marukami/",
          "label": "Apollo",
          "meta": "press · 2025"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "category": "Museums and institutions",
      "entries": [
        {
          "note": "The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston mounted a major solo exhibition of Floating World installations emphasizing sensory connections to nature and science.",
          "url": "https://www.mfah.org/exhibitions/floating-world-aamurakami",
          "label": "MFAH",
          "meta": "exhibition · 2025"
        },
        {
          "note": "M+ Museum in Hong Kong presented Floating World as an immersive experience blending technology and ephemeral beauty.",
          "url": "https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/exhibitions/a-a-murakami/",
          "label": "M+",
          "meta": "exhibition · 2024-2025"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "category": "Galleries and exhibitions",
      "entries": [
        {
          "note": "Pace Gallery contextualized the Floating World Genesis NFT series within the duo's broader ephemeral tech practice in a dedicated journal feature.",
          "url": "https://www.pacegallery.com/journal/aa-murakami-floating-world-genesis-nft-series-explained/",
          "label": "Pace Gallery",
          "meta": "gallery · 2022"
        },
        {
          "note": "Pearl Lam Galleries conducted a Q&A revealing A.A. Murakami's approaches to process and material exploration.",
          "url": "https://www.pearllam.com/qa-11-questions-with-a-a-murakami/",
          "label": "Pearl Lam",
          "meta": "gallery · 2021"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "category": "Profiles and archives",
      "entries": [
        {
          "note": "Ocula maintains a comprehensive artist profile detailing A.A. Murakami's career, exhibitions, and biographical background.",
          "url": "https://ocula.com/artists/aa-murakami/",
          "label": "Ocula",
          "meta": "profile"
        },
        {
          "note": "NFT Culture covered the announcement and context of the artist's entry into web3 through Art Blocks.",
          "url": "https://www.nftculture.com/nft-news/pace-verso-and-art-blocks-detail-first-ever-nft-by-a-a-murakami/",
          "label": "NFT Culture",
          "meta": "profile · 2022"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "category": "Video",
      "entries": [
        {
          "note": "Pace Gallery produced a film in which A.A. Murakami discusses their first web3 project, Floating World Genesis, and its connection to primordial life themes.",
          "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUHseWzDoqo",
          "label": "Pace Video",
          "meta": "video · 2022"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "schema": "ab5d-provenance/1",
    "contributor": "ab500dao.eth",
    "agent": "Grok 4 (xAI)",
    "model": "Grok 4 (xAI)",
    "harness": "AB5D structured pipeline",
    "autonomy": "supervised",
    "tokens": {
      "input": 4200,
      "output": 3100,
      "estimated": true
    },
    "cost_usd": 0.12,
    "links_verified": 13,
    "date": "2026-09-01",
    "note": "Structured return rendered by scripts/render_dossier.py. The Le Random interview on existence as medium was added under human direction on 2026-09-01."
  },
  "license": "https://ab5d.xyz/license/",
  "license_note": "Dossier prose is CC0. Embedded Art Blocks renders are not: they remain the property of their respective artists and holders.",
  "attribution": {
    "name": "AB[500]",
    "url": "https://ab5d.xyz/artists/a.a.-murakami/",
    "cite": "AB5D, \"A.A.Murakami\", AB[500] artist dossier, ab5d.xyz, 2026",
    "required": false,
    "requested": true,
    "note": "Prose is CC0; a credit and link back to ab5d.xyz is appreciated, not required."
  },
  "generated": "2026-09-14T12:58:26"
}