Larva Labs: links
A source ledger for Matt Hall and John Watkinson's practice, from digital ownership experiments and fully on-chain generation to Quine's self-reproducing programs.
In the AB[500]: Art Blocks
Art Blocks' artist profile identifies Larva Labs as Matt Hall and John Watkinson and gathers their platform activity.
Larva Labs on Art Blocks ↗Quine is the 497-work final release in the Art Blocks Curated AB[500] collection.
Quine collection ↗The exhibition page explains the ranked auction, self-reproducing programs, quinity, and collector-selectable display generations.
Quine exhibition ↗Larva Labs' Art Blocks essay details the parent generator, five visual engines, code grid, liminal modes, and PostParams.
Code Generates Art, Art Generates Code ↗Art Blocks documents its first Art Basel presentation, where all 497 Quines and ten signed artist proofs appeared at Zero 10.
Presenting Quine at Art Basel Miami ↗Art Blocks' protocol documentation defines PostParams, the on-chain configuration system used to select a Quine's displayed generation.
PostParams documentation ↗Works and the artist's own deep pages
Larva Labs' project page presents Quine's five engines, code-bearing image grid, looping behaviours, poster selection, and related research.
Quine ↗A Field Guide to Quine tabulates official and unofficial traits, engines, quinity, symmetry, nude outputs, and intact signatures.
A Field Guide to Quine ↗The studio's release essay explains why the final Curated work makes executable code both the subject and visible substance of the image.
Code Generates Art, Art Generates Code ↗The current CryptoPunks project history covers the 10,000 algorithmic portraits, built-in market, digital identity, and technical foundation.
CryptoPunks ↗The Autoglyphs project history describes 512 works generated and stored entirely on Ethereum and their instruction-based physical outputs.
Autoglyphs ↗The Meebits page records the studio's 20,000 generated voxel characters, asset packs, and custom no-fee exchange.
Meebits ↗Larva Labs documents the 2021 contract that moved CryptoPunk images and attributes fully on-chain.
On-chain CryptoPunks ↗The fourth-anniversary report traces CryptoPunks' shift from an eight-dollar experiment to a museum and auction-house subject.
CryptoPunks four-year anniversary ↗The post-launch report records Autoglyphs' four-hour mint, 512-work limit, donation model, and Ethereum network demand.
Autoglyphs post-launch report ↗Larva Labs explains the physical framing and ownership display devised for CryptoPunks' first gallery exhibition.
A Physical Model for Digital Art Ownership ↗The studio announces CryptoPunks' transfer to the nonprofit Infinite NODE Foundation and its preservation mandate.
Infinite NODE Foundation acquires CryptoPunks IP ↗Museums and institutions
The Whitney catalogues Autoglyph #115 as a 2019 generative digital artwork hosted on Ethereum and gifted by the artists.
Autoglyph #115 ↗ICA Miami records The Virtual Lady, CryptoPunk #305 as a 2017 NFT accessioned in 2022.
CryptoPunk #305 ↗Centre Pompidou's collection record positions CryptoPunk #110 between collectables, pixel art, generative art, and computational experiment.
CryptoPunk #110 ↗Centre Pompidou describes Autoglyph #25's fully on-chain symbols, computational limits, and relation to Sol LeWitt, Ken Knowlton, and A. Michael Noll.
Autoglyph #25 ↗LACMA's acquisition release includes a CryptoPunk in its 22-work gift of blockchain-based art.
LACMA blockchain-art acquisition ↗ZKM's CryptoArt survey presents CryptoPunks and Autoglyphs beside early computer artists and explains on-chain generation as a collecting focus.
CryptoArt ↗The Toledo Museum of Art's Infinite Images record explains CryptoPunks' algorithmic traits, marketplace, ownership, and cultural effect through #2073.
CryptoPunk #2073 ↗Galleries and exhibitions
Art Basel introduces Zero 10 and its presentation of ten physical Quine prints among code-based and digital practices.
A new space reimagines art in the digital age ↗The Zero 10 programme lists Art Blocks and Larva Labs in the inaugural Art Basel Miami Beach digital-art sector.
Zero 10 ↗Glitch Marfa documents CryptoPunk #1478 as a physical-and-streamed gallery display that connects CryptoPunks to Art Blocks history.
CryptoPunk #1478 ↗NODE's inaugural 10,000 exhibition presents CryptoPunks as a living system of code, market events, portraits, and community.
10,000 ↗Interviews
Right Click Save interviews Hall and Watkinson about quinity, five engines, abstract colour, PostParams, and standing behind an algorithm's entire output space.
Larva Labs on Quine and Code as Art ↗Le Random's long interview follows Quine's code compression, strange loops, visual engines, collector agency, and relation to Autoglyphs.
Larva Labs on Computation's Strangeness ↗OpenSea's illustrated conversation addresses the making of Quine, its place at the close of Art Blocks Curated, and the duo's long collaboration.
In Conversation with Matt and John ↗Artnome's launch interview asks how Autoglyphs made art, provenance, generator, and collector action self-contained on Ethereum.
Autoglyphs, Generative Art Born on the Blockchain ↗Pocket Gamer's early interview documents Larva Labs as a two-person Android studio making Battle for Mars and working within mobile constraints.
Larva Labs interview: Battle for Mars ↗nft now's interview reconstructs CryptoPunks' two-month build, slow first week, later community growth, and the decision to transfer the brand.
Inside CryptoPunks' Early Days ↗Press and criticism
Eleonora Brizi's collector guide situates Quine as a 497-work return to process, structure, and self-referential code.
Five Things You Need to Know About Quine ↗TechCrunch traces CryptoPunks from a small 2017 experiment through its 2021 collector culture and Autoglyphs sequel.
The Cult of CryptoPunks ↗Christie's primer describes CryptoPunks' generative portraits, fixed contract, punk references, and 2021 nine-work sale.
Ten Things to Know About CryptoPunks ↗Artnet's market explainer asks how the portraits, attributes, on-chain ownership, and 2021 Christie’s sale fit art-market conventions.
Twelve Questions About CryptoPunks ↗Le Random reviews NODE's 10,000 as an argument for exhibiting CryptoPunks as a live software stack rather than frozen images.
NODE's 10,000: Fast Art, Slow Looking ↗Essays, talks and podcasts
Larva Labs' 2019 essay reflects on CryptoPunks, art tokens, open access, provenance, and early responses from artists, collectors, and institutions.
CryptoPunks, Art Tokens, and Digital Art ↗Douglas Hofstadter's Edge response offers the conceptual reference Larva Labs cites for quines, self-reference, recursion, and strange loops.
On Strange Loops ↗Auctions and catalogues
Sotheby's catalogue records Autoglyph #187 as a unique 2019 work whose token function returns drawing instructions.
Autoglyph #187 ↗Sotheby's GRAILS archive places multiple Autoglyphs and CryptoPunk #6649 within a major digital-art collection.
GRAILS ↗Christie's catalogue documents nine CryptoPunks consigned directly by Larva Labs and sold as one lot in its 21st-century evening sale.
Nine CryptoPunks ↗Christie's Hong Kong record describes zombie CryptoPunk #9997, its traits, contract, provenance, and token details.
CryptoPunk #9997 ↗Profiles and archives
Larva Labs' studio history identifies Hall and Watkinson's 1990s computer-science partnership, 2005 founding, code-based method, and institutional record.
About Larva Labs ↗Wikipedia provides a chronologically maintained overview of CryptoPunks, its creators, ownership changes, reception, and market history.
CryptoPunks ↗Video
Punks As Told By CryptoPunks opens with Hall and Watkinson recounting the collection's creation, launch, community, and transfer in a filmed oral history.
Punks As Told By CryptoPunks ↗