# Ad Extremum Terrae by uMathA

## The work and its context

Ad Extremum Terrae is project 404 on the Art Blocks V2 core contract 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, published under the canonical slug ad-extremum-terrae-by-umatha and credited to uMathA. The indexed project record reports a completed edition of 200 of 200 invocations, runtime p5@1.0.0, and the official description: ## The Concept  Ad Extremum Terrae explores visual storytelling in a form of generative art. The project tells a story of the tragic end of all existence in a distant universe, long since forgotten. Any given individual output depicts a passing moment, captured during the final breath of each dying world. The once peaceful landscapes were torn apart, deforming and reshaping their natural geometries and thus the reality itself in a surrealistic fashion.  Each image is drawn to vaguely mimic a pencil-like texture. Firstly to remind of something familiar and subsequently emitting a peculiar and eerie feeling. Did this event happen and was it witnessed by a carbon-based life-form?  The project invites the viewer to ponder the different scenarios of what might have transpired in the past that lead the universe to its doom. Although one interpretation can be deciphered from the partially corrupted transmission below, it is not necessarily the true explanation.   The only thing that is known, is that all life ceased to exist in this ancient universe long time ago. Its tale lives on, but only as a memory and as a reminder to us all that life can be fragile and fleeting, albeit beautiful and precious.  ## The Story  *”If anyone listens .. …. recording …. ….. ….. .. a warning …. …. will happen .. your world. We didn’t …. …. .. our universe, ……. we drained … ….. resource ….. .. couldn’t sustain … life …. any longer. The great collapse .. moments away … this will .. … end .. our story. Do not …… our mistakes. Most importantly … …. prevent ….. …. ……… ….. world .. … ……. ……… at any cost. This is our final transmission.”*  Just as the transmission ends, a sudden flash of dreamlike images flashes through your mind, leaving a vivid imprint. These were the final moments of an ancient, distant and long forgotten universe. The rush is too much to handle and you faint. You wake up and immediately start looking for the recording but it's gone. You remember everything as clear as day, but was it just a dream?  ## The Details  There are several main scenes, which depict the specific stage that the end has advanced to. The predominantly or entirely black and white and the muted palettes give a sense of silence and solitude. Meanwhile other palettes disturb that calmness. Some palettes remind of colors in nature, but most are chosen and used in unnatural manner touching the style of expressionism.  Pressing "s" saves a screenshot at any point during the rendering. Pressing "p" pauses and unpauses the rendering. Pressing up or down arrow increases or decreases the drawing animation speed. [^S01][^S02]

Those figures are current index observations retrieved on 2026-09-19, not a reconstruction of the original public sale announcement. Atlas position is a catalogue ordinal and is not the on-chain project ID. The live collection page and the Hasura projects_metadata row agree on title, slug, contract, and project ID after a filtered query that used the exact slug. [^S01][^S02]

Contract 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069. Aspect ratio indexed as 0.6. Website https://umatha.art/aet/.

This essay treats the stored artist program, four independently identified outputs, and a freshly checked AB5D holding (or an explicit collection gap) as primary evidence. Metadata traits are cited only when they were returned for the same V2 contract token IDs that were visually inspected. They do not replace looking at the pictures. [^S04][^S09]

## Conception and development

The official project description is the development account used here. Interview or dossier sentences that name a different slug are not treated as statements about this series. ## The Concept  Ad Extremum Terrae explores visual storytelling in a form of generative art. The project tells a story of the tragic end of all existence in a distant universe, long since forgotten. Any given individual output depicts a passing moment, captured during the final breath of each dying world. The once peaceful landscapes were torn apart, deforming and reshaping their natural geometrie

The development account used here is the specific source named in the citations, not a paraphrase of an artist-dossier page. Where that account is an official project description written in the artist's voice, that limit is stated rather than upgraded into an unpublished studio diary. Where an interview exists, the sentences that actually name Ad Extremum Terrae are the ones relied on. [^S07][^S01]

Secondary pages that only repeat the marketplace listing are not treated as independent conception sources. [^S02][^S07]

## How the work was constructed

The complete artist program for slug ad-extremum-terrae-by-umatha was retrieved from projects_metadata.script filtered by that exact slug. The UTF-8 payload is 18127 bytes with SHA-256 d4c6e24c5dc638b90f12563758c61dc73198becfbe6690c961e89e380ec9a3bd. Runtime on the project record is p5@1.0.0. The script was read in full; it was not executed in this research session. [^S03]

The stored generator is 18127 bytes, SHA-256 d4c6e24c5dc638b90f12563758c61dc73198becfbe6690c961e89e380ec9a3bd, runtime p5@1.0.0. Detected source markers: setup, draw, noLoop, createCanvas, keyPressed, tokenData, hash, colorMode. Named functions include CA, CA2, MC, MY, adjStrokeCol3, colorEdit, cosInter, cosWave, cosWaveFull, draw. tokenData.hash is read in source. Output then follows the drawing path those functions implement. Token 0 observation: Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1440x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 144,144,144). File size 4688435 bytes. Indexed features: Scene Calm Before The Storm; Palette Black And White; Background Light; Coloring Style Standard; In The Eye Of The Storm No

Visual claims come from inspected media-proxy PNGs plus indexed token features.

Seed handling is visible in the retrieved program: tokenData.hash is read in source. Time and interaction behaviour in code is: Source contains noLoop. The inspected PNG is a finished still. Live motion was not stopwatched. A handler found in source is not the same thing as a control that was pressed in a live renderer during this session; tested controls are listed only when an actual key or pointer action was performed. [^S03][^S10]

External dependencies are those declared by script_type_and_version plus any library identifiers inside the file. Public visibility of the stored script does not grant a right to redistribute the raw artist source in this package, so the analysis cites functions and byte length rather than reprinting the program. [^S03][^S06]

## The mint

Indexed chronology for project 404 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069 is as follows. First token minted_at is 2023-01-10T13:31:11+00:00. activated_at is 2023-01-12T02:00:47+00:00. start_datetime is 2023-02-10T18:00:00+00:00. completed_at is 2023-02-10T18:22:59+00:00. Invocations stand at 200 of a maximum 200, with complete=true on the retrieved row. [^S02][^S04]

Calculated intervals from those timestamps: first mint to activation is 36.49 hours; activation to start_datetime is 29.67 days; start_datetime to completion is 23.0 minutes; first mint to completion is 31.20 days. These are differences of indexed clock fields, not a claim about when a web storefront button became visible to every collector. A first mint that precedes start_datetime is treated as an early or reserved mint unless a separate allocation record is produced. [^S02][^S04]

Indexed clocks: first 2023-01-10T13:31:11+00:00, activated 2023-01-12T02:00:47+00:00, start 2023-02-10T18:00:00+00:00, completed 2023-02-10T18:22:59+00:00. Early first-mint timestamps are not labelled reserved without a separate allocation record.

Historic per-token ETH prices for the original public sale were not recovered from a primary price table during this session and remain unresolved. Any floor price visible on a marketplace page in 2026 is a current listing observation, not the 2021 ask. [^S01][^S02]

## Copyright and licensing

The project record stores the artwork licence label 'CC BY-NC 4.0'. That string includes an explicit 4.0 version and is treated as Creative Commons version 4.0. Code rights for the artist program are not separately labelled on the same field; they are treated as unknown rather than assumed identical to the artwork deed. [^S02][^S06]

Artwork label copied exactly as 'CC BY-NC 4.0'.

Third-party runtime p5@1.0.0 is a separate rights object from both the artwork outputs and the artist source. p5.js, three.js, and ordinary browser JavaScript each keep their own licence texts. This package does not redistribute those libraries. [^S03][^S06]

Original essay prose in this package is dedicated CC0-1.0 by the research operator. That dedication does not change the artwork, code, or dependency licences.

## Close reading of examples

Ad Extremum Terrae #0 is token 404000000 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-01-10T13:31:11+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1440x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 144,144,144). File size 4688435 bytes. Indexed features: Scene Calm Before The Storm; Palette Black And White; Background Light; Coloring Style Standard; In The Eye Of The Storm No Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Scene Calm Before The Storm; Palette Black And White; Background Light; Coloring Style Standard; In The Eye Of The Storm No.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

Ad Extremum Terrae #1 is token 404000001 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-02-09T18:00:59+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1440x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 148,148,148). File size 4826631 bytes. Indexed features: Scene Zero Hour; Palette Black And White; Background Light; Coloring Style Standard; In The Eye Of The Storm No Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Scene Zero Hour; Palette Black And White; Background Light; Coloring Style Standard; In The Eye Of The Storm No.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

Ad Extremum Terrae #10 is token 404000010 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-02-10T00:23:23+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1440x2400px, dark and strongly coloured (mean RGB 83,16,2). File size 6757911 bytes. Indexed features: Scene At The Edge Of The Apocalypse; Palette A Song Of Fire; Background Dark; Coloring Style Standard; In The Eye Of The Storm Yes Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Scene At The Edge Of The Apocalypse; Palette A Song Of Fire; Background Dark; Coloring Style Standard; In The Eye Of The Storm Yes.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

Ad Extremum Terrae #20 is token 404000020 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-02-10T08:11:23+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1440x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 159,187,187). File size 8028618 bytes. Indexed features: Scene Zero Hour; Palette A Song Of Ice; Background Light; Coloring Style Altered; In The Eye Of The Storm No Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Scene Zero Hour; Palette A Song Of Ice; Background Light; Coloring Style Altered; In The Eye Of The Storm No.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

The AB5D header candidate is token 404000029 (edition 29), currently indexed to 0xdd19308a9731cdecb67e0d80ca6823394208c045, which is one of the three linked addresses returned for username ab5d on 2026-09-19. That ownership match is a present-tense index observation, not proof of continuous custody since mint. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1440x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 27,9,10). File size 3709004 bytes. Indexed features: Scene At The Edge Of The Apocalypse; Palette Coat Of Red; Background Dark; Coloring Style Standard; In The Eye Of The Storm Yes [^S08][^S04][^S09]

Motion, interaction, and audio: Source contains noLoop. The inspected PNG is a finished still. Live motion was not stopwatched. The static PNGs document halt or preview states. They are not by themselves proof that a live loop is still running, nor proof that a work is silent. No soundtrack was heard from these pages during this session. [^S09][^S10][^S03]

## Significance and limitations

Ad Extremum Terrae is project 404 by uMathA on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069. The close readings above are the evidence for what the stored program outputs.

Unresolved research questions that remain after this pass: (1) What was the exact public-sale unit price in ETH at start_datetime, supported by a contemporaneous primary source rather than a later floor? (2) For tokens whose live renderer was not stopwatch-timed, what is the measured wall-clock period of one full cycle or one completed progressive draw? (3) What contemporaneous primary source records the original public unit price in ETH? (4) Incomplete Control aside, do any of the three current AB5D wallets later acquire or dispose of the header token used above after 2026-09-19? [^S02][^S08][^S10]

This package is a draft for human review. Structural validation tests file shape, not the truth of seeing or of licence interpretation.

[^S01]: Art Blocks. [Ad Extremum Terrae by uMathA collection page](https://www.artblocks.io/collection/ad-extremum-terrae-by-umatha). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S02]: Art Blocks Hasura index. [projects_metadata record for ad-extremum-terrae-by-umatha](https://artblocks-mainnet.hasura.app/v1/graphql). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S03]: uMathA. [Ad Extremum Terrae on-chain artist program](https://artblocks-mainnet.hasura.app/v1/graphql). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S04]: Art Blocks Hasura index. [tokens_metadata for sampled Ad Extremum Terrae token IDs](https://artblocks-mainnet.hasura.app/v1/graphql). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S05]: Art Blocks. [Canonical token pages for sampled Ad Extremum Terrae outputs](https://www.artblocks.io/token/1/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/404000000). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S06]: Creative Commons. [Reported artwork licence label CC BY-NC 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S07]: uMathA. [Ad Extremum Terrae official description](https://umatha.art/aet/). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S08]: Art Blocks. [AB5D linked wallet set and profile index](https://www.artblocks.io/profile/ab5d). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S09]: Art Blocks media proxy. [Static PNG renders of sampled Ad Extremum Terrae tokens](https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/404000000.png). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S10]: Art Blocks. [Live generator renderer for Ad Extremum Terrae](https://generator.artblocks.io/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/404000000). Accessed 2026-09-19.