{ "schema": "ab5d-series-essay/1", "identity": { "chainId": 1, "contract": "0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069", "projectId": 420, "slug": "coalition-by-generative-artworks", "title": "Coalition", "artistCredit": "Generative Artworks", "artistDossierUrls": [] }, "revision": 2, "researchCutoff": "2026-09-20", "status": "draft-for-human-review", "facts": [], "rights": { "artwork": { "reportedLabel": "CC BY-NC 4.0", "category": "creative-commons", "termsUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/", "observedAt": "2026-09-19", "sourceIds": [], "note": "Label copied from projects_metadata.license. Unversioned CC strings are not inferred as 4.0.", "unresolvedConflicts": [] }, "code": { "reportedLabel": null, "category": "unknown", "termsUrl": null, "observedAt": "2026-09-19", "sourceIds": [], "note": "No separate artist-code licence field was present on the project record.", "unresolvedConflicts": [] }, "thirdParty": [ { "name": "p5.js 1.0.0", "reportedLabel": "LGPL-2.1 (p5.js project license; confirm version-specific notice)", "category": "custom", "termsUrl": "https://github.com/processing/p5.js/blob/main/license.txt", "observedAt": "2026-09-19", "sourceIds": [], "note": "Runtime declared script_type_and_version p5@1.0.0. p5.js is third-party; the artist program is a separate rights object.", "unresolvedConflicts": [] } ] }, "sections": [ { "id": "the-work-and-its-context", "heading": "The work and its context", "bodyMarkdown": "Coalition is project 420 on the Art Blocks contract `0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069`. The index records 37 invocations against a maximum of 37, the runtime `p5@1.0.0`, a square aspect ratio, the vertical \"presents\" and the licence `CC BY-NC 4.0`, linked to the Creative Commons deed [^S01]. The project's website field points not to a portfolio but to an essay on Medium [^S01][^S02].\n\nThe premise is set out in the first line of the description: \"Coalition contains just 36 geometric creations\" [^S01]. Each token shows a single solid (a pyramid, a cube, a dodecahedron or a sphere) wrapped in a black-and-white or two-colour pattern, floating on a pale grey gradient. Some tokens add a coloured disc or star behind the solid, or a band of twelve graded stripes. Seen alone, each is a tidy geometric emblem. Laid out in a 6 by 6 grid in mint order, the 36 tokens become \"a larger, single artwork, the titular Coalition\" [^S01].\n\nThe 37th token is the joke and the argument. The description states that \"a 37th is available for purchase\", that its buyer \"will find only an error message\", and that \"the algorithm self-destructs after mint #35\" [^S01]. Its render is a blank white square [^S01]." }, { "id": "conception-and-development", "heading": "Conception and development", "bodyMarkdown": "### Who Generative Artworks is\n\nGenerative Artworks is a duo. The Art Blocks artist text describes \"an artist duo based in the NYC area\" who found Art Blocks in February 2021 and released Empyrean in March 2021 and Enchiridion in June 2021 [^S03][^S04]. A September 2021 issue of the *Painting with Blocks* newsletter names them as Alex and Stephen, who met in college [^S05]. In that interview they say they first wanted to print \"1 of 1 of X t-shirts\" of their art, found it too costly, and ran an Instagram bot that posted generative images daily before moving on chain [^S05]. The same source says \"Stephen is a musician, Alex was a musician and wanted to be an architect\" [^S05]. No source inspected gives their surnames.\n\nThe index lists eight earlier and later projects under the name [^S01]:\n\n| Project | Index record |\n| --- | --- |\n| Empyrean | 500 outputs, activated March 2021 |\n| Enchiridion | 1,024 outputs, June 2021 |\n| Democracity | 1,024 outputs, September 2021 |\n| Implosion | 256 outputs, December 2021 |\n| Neogen Space Monkeys | 5,000 outputs, January 2022, credited to \"Dalek x Generative Artworks\" |\n| Reservation | 50 outputs, December 2022 |\n| Happenstance I: CTC | 30 outputs, March 2023 |\n| Happenstance II: Framed | 18 of 30 minted |\n\nTwo of these are collaborations. Neogen Space Monkeys set the street artist Dalek's Space Monkeys imagery inside the duo's algorithms [^S06]. Reservation, a marching-squares drawing designed for pen plotting, was released \"in collaboration with Plottables\" [^S07]. Coalition itself carries no creative credit or partner in the index [^S01]. It was, however, deployed from a different artist address (`0xd1aa…19a0`) from the one used for all the duo's other projects (`0xecc6…2cdb`) [^S01]. Etherscan identifies `0xd1aa…19a0` as a \"PullSplit\" payment-splitting contract created by the duo's usual address, `0xecc6…2cdb` [^S08]. So the change of address looks like a revenue split, not a new artist identity. Its recipients could not be read. Art Blocks has also filmed the duo for its \"Behind the Code\" series, in an episode on Democracity [^S09].\n\n### From Reservation to Coalition\n\nThe duo's Medium essay, dated 13 March 2023 (the day of the release), is the main statement. Its byline reads \"Written in collaboration with Marc Blanc\", and no source inspected identifies Blanc further [^S02]. The essay pairs Coalition with Reservation. Reservation \"runs on a script capable of producing 1,000 iterations\", but the duo cut its output to 50. That made the algorithm the artwork and each token a share of it [^S02][^S07]. Coalition turns the idea around: the 36 outputs are the artwork, and the script cannot make any more [^S02].\n\nThe essay names two analog precedents. One is Donald Judd's *100 Untitled Works in Mill Aluminum*, a single work made of 100 separate boxes. The other is the Mexican surrealist Pedro Friedeberg, whose repeated forms it links to *36 Perritos* [^S02]. The description closes with a Friedeberg line: \"There can be no avant-garde because everything has been done\" [^S01]. The essay ends by hoping the work might address \"the problem of ownership\" and the question of \"what constitutes 'art'\" in generative media [^S02]. It also describes the 37th token in advance: \"One collector will purchase token #36. This collector will find a JavaScript error message\" [^S02]." }, { "id": "how-the-work-was-constructed", "heading": "How the work was constructed", "bodyMarkdown": "The program is a single script of 22,753 bytes, SHA-256 `27a507cc25cb7eff936775c48925f7985a98fdc673316bab240daad964ac5820`. It was retrieved from the Art Blocks index and read in full. No code is reproduced here [^S01].\n\nThe central fact is that **most of each token is set by its place in the grid, not by its hash**. The program reads the last four digits of the token ID, turns the invocation into a row and column, and then derives the following from position alone [^S01]:\n\n| Element | Rule (from position) | Result across the 36 |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Shape | quadrant of the grid | Pyramid top left, Cube top right, Dodecagon bottom left, Sphere bottom right: 9 each |\n| \"Shaded\" (dark outline) | row plus column is even | a checkerboard: 18 true, 18 false |\n| Stripe band | rows 3 and 4 only | 12 tokens; crimson to pink in the upper row, sky blue to purple in the lower |\n| Background element | a diamond of 12 central cells | 7 circles, 5 stars |\n| Colour palette | 8 cells: the corners of the inner square and the central four | 8 coloured tokens; the other 28 are black and white |\n| Background gradient | offset by row and column | one gradient runs across the whole grid |\n\nThe hash decides the rest. It picks which of 25 two-colour palettes a coloured token uses and which way round the colours fall. It chooses whether a stripe band is flat or rises or dips in the middle, and whether the background element is a circle or a star. It picks the surface pattern from 17 texture functions, and then every detail within that pattern [^S01]. A second, fixed seed is shared by every token. It shuffles twelve colours onto the twelve background-element cells, so each colour appears exactly once across the grid, and it chooses one easing curve for every stripe band (code reading, confirmed by simulation below) [^S01]. The Medium essay explains where this shared randomness came from: the duo \"took hashes from token #0\" of Empyrean, Enchiridion and Democracity \"and combined them\" [^S02]. The seed in the script matches none of those three hashes on its own, nor their bitwise XOR or their sum (own computation from index hashes), so the method of combination is not recorded [^S01].\n\nThe textures are drawn on a flat image and wrapped onto the 3D model in WEBGL. \"Moo\", for example, is the code's rounded-polygon pattern of blotches, like cowhide or terrazzo [^S01].\n\nTo test these rules, this draft re-implemented the program's random generator and its draw order in Python, then ran it over all 36 token hashes. Shape, Shaded, Stripe and Background Element matched the published traits for every token. Shape Texture matched for 33 of 36 (see quirk 1) [^S01].\n\nCoalition is also interactive. Dragging with the mouse tilts the solid by up to 36 degrees on either axis. On release it eases back to its resting pose, more slowly the further it was pushed [^S01]." }, { "id": "quirks-in-the-algorithm", "heading": "Quirks in the algorithm", "bodyMarkdown": "1. **Three texture labels are wrong.** The renders of #19, #26 and #27 do not show the textures their traits name. #19 is labelled Concentrics but shows overlapping squares. #26 is labelled Zoom but shows a rhombus lattice. #27 is labelled Zigzag but shows bricks. The simulation gives Squares, Rhombus and Bricks for these three, which matches the images [^S01]. All three have star backgrounds. The star drawing uses one extra random draw that the circle does not. The labels for all five star tokens are what the texture choice would be if that draw were skipped, so the trait script seems to have missed it (inference from simulation). The true counts are therefore Bricks 6, Squares 2 and Rhombus 2, against published counts of 5, 1 and 1; Zoom and Zigzag have 2 each, not 3; and Concentrics has 1, not 2 [^S01].\n2. **Two textures never appear.** The pool holds 17 texture functions, but only 15 trait names exist. A checkerboard pattern and a noise-driven diagonal pattern are fully written, yet none of the 36 hashes selects them [^S01].\n3. **The self-destruct.** If the invocation is above 35, the setup routine throws an error before drawing anything. The error text is one of twelve quotations, picked with p5's unseeded random function, so it can change on every load (code reading) [^S01]. The list includes the Friedeberg line from the description, lines attributed to Warhol, Dalí, Picasso, Kusama, Hirst, Judd, Haring, Frank Lloyd Wright and Bjarke Ingels, a Tyler Hobbs sentence about withholding program output, and \"MIND THE SCAMS!!!\" credited to DALEK, the duo's Space Monkeys collaborator [^S01][^S06]. The index gives #36 a single trait, \"Art: False\" [^S01].\n4. **A grid that knows about its neighbours.** The background gradient is not drawn per tile. Each tile draws its own slice of one gradient that runs from near-white at the grid's top left to mid-grey at its bottom right [^S01]. The stripe bands meet the tile edges at the same height whether flat, peaked or dipped, so the band runs unbroken across each row.\n5. **One easing curve for everyone.** The stripe colours step through twelve shades along an easing curve chosen by the fixed shared seed. It comes out as a quadratic ease on every token, reversed for the lower row (code reading, confirmed by simulation) [^S01].\n6. **Palettes mostly unused.** Twenty-five colour pairs are defined, but only 8 cells can use one. At most 8 pairs can ever appear [^S01].\n7. **Small slips that do nothing.** Each shape draws a random number that is never used, a table of hash bytes is never read, and the circle-packing helper checks a variable outside its scope, so its early exit never fires (code reading) [^S01]. None of these stops a token rendering; #15, the one \"Moo\", draws correctly [^S01].\n8. **Code names and trait names.** The code's \"square\" shape is published as Cube, the dodecahedron as Dodecagon, and the dark outline as \"Shaded\" [^S01]." }, { "id": "the-most-coveted-variants", "heading": "The most coveted variants", "bodyMarkdown": "With 36 working tokens, position matters more than rarity: a collector buys a fixed cell of one picture. Still, the traits single out a few tokens [^S01].\n\n**#21, the only Peak.** Of the 12 stripe tokens, 7 are Flat, 4 are Valley and one is Peak [^S01]. #21, a pale green brick sphere on a yellow disc, is shown at the top of this essay. Etherscan records its last sale at 0.6 ETH [^S10]. That sale came the day after the mint, on 14 March 2023, when jabulon.eth bought #21 from 0xfsn.eth and #27 from travieso.eth in one OpenSea transaction for 1.29 ETH in total [^S11].\n\n**#15, the only \"Moo\".** The rounded-blotch texture appears once: mint-green shapes on plum, on a cube set in a crimson circle across the crimson-to-pink band [^S01].\n\n![Coalition #15: a cube patterned with mint blotches on plum, in a crimson circle over a crimson-to-pink striped band](https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/1/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000015.png)\n*Coalition #15, the one \"Moo\" texture, at the centre of the grid. Render: Art Blocks media proxy.*\n\n**#28, the only Beziers.** A sphere of looping purple curves on apricot, in one of the eight coloured cells [^S01].\n\n![Coalition #28: a sphere wrapped in looping purple bezier curves on an apricot ground](https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/1/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000028.png)\n*Coalition #28, the only Beziers texture. Render: Art Blocks media proxy.*\n\n**The mislabelled three.** #19, #26 and #27 are interesting for a different reason: their metadata misdescribes them (quirk 1). #27 has the highest last sale of the image tokens checked for this draft, 0.69 ETH, paid in that same 14 March 2023 purchase [^S12][^S11].\n\n![Coalition #19: a dodecahedron patterned with overlapping outlined squares, on a mint star over a blue-to-purple band](https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/1/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000019.png)\n*Coalition #19, published as \"Concentrics\" but drawn with the Squares texture. Render: Art Blocks media proxy.*\n\n**#36, the error.** The blank 37th token has its own market, and its history is odd. It was the last token bought in the auction, on 13 March 2023 at 17:21:23 UTC, by the address Etherscan labels 从今天起做个纸手.eth, which sent 0.67 ETH [^S13]. Eighty-four minutes later that address transferred it, with no payment in the transaction, to the duo's own address `0xecc6…2cdb` [^S14][^S01]. On 22 March 2023 the duo's address sold it on OpenSea to p1cky.eth for 0.7875 WETH, and received 0.779625 WETH after fees [^S15]. That is the last sale Etherscan records [^S16], and OpenSea's collection page lists it as the top sale [^S17]. On the sources checked, the token that holds no image has sold for more than any token that does, and the artists themselves made that sale. Why the minter handed it to them is not recorded.\n\n![Coalition #36: an entirely blank white square](https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/1/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000036.png)\n*Coalition #36, the self-destructed 37th mint, as rendered by the media proxy. Render: Art Blocks media proxy.*\n\n**AB5D's token, #11.** AB5D holds #11 in the wallet Etherscan labels ab500dao.eth [^S01][^S18]. It sits at the right-hand end of the second row: a black-and-white cube with a dark outline, covered in black stars of varied points. Its last recorded sale is 0.222 ETH [^S18]. That sale took place on OpenSea on 22 September 2025. The buyer's address passed the token to AB5D's wallet four minutes later [^S19][^S01]. Of the price, 0.0111 ETH (5 per cent) went to the project's split contract, `0xd1aa…19a0` [^S19].\n\n![Coalition #11: an outlined cube covered with black many-pointed stars on white](https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/1/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000011.png)\n*Coalition #11 (Cube, Shaded, Stars), held by AB5D. Render: Art Blocks media proxy.*\n\n**Holdings.** At retrieval the 37 tokens were held by 31 addresses. The largest holding is three tokens, #21, #27 and #29, in the address Etherscan labels jabulon.eth [^S01][^S10][^S12]. No source inspected ties that name to a person. At the mint, the largest buyer was `0x3e43…1796`, which bought four tokens (#1, #4, #10 and #13) and had sold or moved all four by mid-April 2023 [^S01]. Nobody appears to be assembling the full 36. For a work whose title is the whole grid, how far apart the set sits is itself part of the piece." }, { "id": "the-grid-as-one-work", "heading": "The grid as one work", "bodyMarkdown": "No single token shows Coalition whole, so this draft assembled the composite from all 36 media-proxy renders [^S01].\n\nThe four quadrants of solids are crossed by a belt of stripes in the middle two rows, crimson to pink above and sky blue to purple below, which zigzags at #13, #17, #21, #22 and #23. Twelve discs and stars, each a different colour, form a diamond around the centre, and the outer ring is entirely black and white [^S01].\n\nIt works as a quilt more than a mosaic: a symmetrical plan of zones, filled in by chance." }, { "id": "the-mint", "heading": "The mint", "bodyMarkdown": "### Token #0: an artist mint\n\nThe first token, #0, was minted on 7 February 2023 at 01:55:23 UTC, two days before the index records activation on 9 February [^S01]. The transaction shows who minted it and how. The duo's usual address, `0xecc6…2cdb`, bought it through Art Blocks' fixed-price minter for 0.35 ETH and received it directly [^S20][^S01]. It was therefore the artists' own copy, not an early sale. No source explains the timing.\n\nThe artists kept #0 for 19 months. On 27 September 2024 the duo's address moved it to `0x361d…1d57` in one bulk transfer with an ENS name, eight Doodle Labs Gen Art tokens and two Plottables tokens, 13000000 and 17000001. In the index those numbers correspond to Reservation #0 and Happenstance I #1, projects 13 and 17 on the same contract [^S21][^S01]. On 12 October 2024 that address sent the same group on to alexvault.eth, which holds #0 at retrieval [^S22][^S01]. The name matches Alex, one of the duo, but no source ties the address to him [^S05].\n\n### The public sale\n\nThe public sale opened on 13 March 2023 at 17:00 UTC [^S01]. The index price field reads 0 because the price lived on the minter, not the project [^S01]. All 36 public tokens were sold through `MinterDAExpSettlementV1`, Art Blocks' exponential Dutch auction with settlement [^S01]. On this minter the price falls along an exponential curve set by a half-life. Art Blocks' documentation says all collectors pay the same final price, \"the price at which the last token sold\", and those who paid more get the difference back [^S23].\n\nThe on-chain record shows how it ran. The first public purchase came at 17:14:59, when the buyer of #1 sent 1.4 ETH [^S24]. The last, #36, came at 17:21:23, when its buyer sent 0.67 ETH [^S13]. That is 36 tokens in under six and a half minutes [^S01]. The index lists 32 buyer addresses in the minter's receipts. Twenty-eight of them had net payments of exactly 0.57325 ETH per token after rebates. The other four show higher figures (0.61 to 0.84 ETH), which suggests they had not yet claimed their excess [^S01]. That points to a settlement price of about 0.573 ETH, and roughly 20.6 ETH raised from the 36 public tokens (own computation from index receipts). The auction's starting price and decay rate were not found. The existing AB5D essay left the price open [^S25]. The floor at retrieval was 0.59999 ETH, close to the settlement price [^S01]." }, { "id": "copyright-and-licensing", "heading": "Copyright and licensing", "bodyMarkdown": "The index records `CC BY-NC 4.0` with a link to the Creative Commons deed [^S01][^S26]. On that licence the images may be shared and adapted for non-commercial purposes with attribution. Commercial use needs the artists' permission [^S26]. The script carries no separate code licence, and p5.js is loaded by the platform. The twelve quotations in the error list are attributed to their authors in the code and are not covered by the duo's licence [^S01]." }, { "id": "significance-and-limitations", "heading": "Significance and limitations", "bodyMarkdown": "Coalition is a small work built on one strict idea. It flips long-form generative art, where the algorithm is the art and outputs are samples, into a fixed set where the program exists only to produce 36 predetermined cells [^S02]. The code bears this out more than the description suggests. Position fixes shape, outline, stripe, background element and whether colour is used at all. The hash only fills in the details, and a shared fixed seed arranges the colours across the whole grid [^S01]. The 37th token turns the limit into a scene. It sold for more than any image token, although the seller was the duo itself after the minter passed it back to them [^S14][^S15].\n\nThe limitations are practical. The work exists fully only as a grid that no single owner holds, and the trait metadata misdescribes three of its 36 cells [^S01].\n\nUnresolved research questions:\n\n1. What was the auction's starting price and half-life on 13 March 2023? The settlement price of about 0.573 ETH is inferred from the minter receipts in the index. The minter contract's configuration events on Etherscan, or Art Blocks' release announcement, should confirm it.\n2. Why did the minter of #36 hand the error token to the artists 84 minutes after buying it, and was anything paid off chain? Relatedly, is alexvault.eth, the present holder of #0, the address of Alex of Generative Artworks?\n3. Who is Marc Blanc, the essay's co-writer, and who receives payments from the split contract `0xd1aa…19a0`?\n4. Have the artists or Art Blocks noticed the three wrong Shape Texture labels (#19, #26, #27), and will the metadata be corrected? How exactly were the three earlier #0 hashes combined into the script's fixed seed?\n5. Has anyone shown or printed the 36 as a single grid, and does an official composite image exist? The duo's X and Instagram accounts could not be read. The OpenSea figures and the quotations from the Medium essay and the *Painting with Blocks* interview came from automated WebFetch extraction and should be checked against the pages." } ], "examples": [ { "id": "E01", "chainId": 1, "contract": "0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069", "tokenId": "420000000", "url": "https://www.artblocks.io/token/1/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000000", "sourceIds": [], "selectionNote": "Specified candidate invocation 0.", "observationNote": "Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2400x2400px, light and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 206,208,209). File size 1332867 bytes. Indexed features: Shape Pyramid; Shaded True; Stripe None; Shape Texture Trig; Background Element None" }, { "id": "E02", "chainId": 1, "contract": "0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069", "tokenId": "420000001", "url": "https://www.artblocks.io/token/1/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000001", "sourceIds": [], "selectionNote": "Specified candidate invocation 1.", "observationNote": "Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2400x2400px, light and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 217,218,219). File size 696906 bytes. Indexed features: Shape Pyramid; Shaded False; Stripe None; Shape Texture Stars; Background Element None" }, { "id": "E03", "chainId": 1, "contract": "0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069", "tokenId": "420000010", "url": "https://www.artblocks.io/token/1/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000010", "sourceIds": [], "selectionNote": "Specified candidate invocation 10.", "observationNote": "Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2400x2400px, light and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 200,204,226). File size 595305 bytes. Indexed features: Shape Cube; Shaded False; Stripe None; Shape Texture Piecemeal; Background Element None" }, { "id": "E04", "chainId": 1, "contract": "0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069", "tokenId": "420000020", "url": "https://www.artblocks.io/token/1/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000020", "sourceIds": [], "selectionNote": "Specified candidate invocation 20.", "observationNote": "Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2400x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 136,151,159). File size 1882318 bytes. Indexed features: Shape Dodecagon; Shaded False; Stripe Flat; Shape Texture Trig; Background Element Circle" } ], "mediaIds": [], "provenance": { "operator": "Grok research session for coordinator handoff", "agent": "Grok", "model": null, "modelVersion": null, "tools": [ "Hasura GraphQL", "media-proxy PNG retrieval", "canonical token HEAD checks", "full script read" ], "humanEditorialInvolvement": "Supplied prose preserved and published at Phil’s request. Sources not independently reinspected during import.", "originalProseLicense": "CC0-1.0", "generation": null }, "codeInspection": { "url": "https://artblocks-mainnet.hasura.app/v1/graphql", "locator": "projects_metadata.script where slug=_eq coalition-by-generative-artworks", "sha256": "27a507cc25cb7eff936775c48925f7985a98fdc673316bab240daad964ac5820", "retrievedAt": "2026-09-19T00:00:00+00:00", "method": "graphql-post-full-script-read", "executed": false, "chainBlock": null }, "editorialExceptions": [], "manuscriptFormat": "supplied-markdown", "manuscriptPreamble": "# Coalition by Generative Artworks\n\n*Art Blocks Presents, project 420 · 37 outputs (36 images and one error) · 13 March 2023 · CC BY-NC 4.0*\n\n![Coalition #21: a sphere wrapped in pale green with blue dashed brick lines, set in a yellow disc over a blue-to-purple striped band that rises to a peak](https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/1/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000021.png)\n*Coalition #21, the only \"Peak\" stripe in the set. Render: Art Blocks media proxy.*\n\n", "bibliographyMarkdown": "\n### Primary\n\n[^S01]: Art Blocks public GraphQL index, `projects_metadata` for project 420 (including the full program and the minter receipts), `tokens_metadata` for all 37 tokens (including mint transaction hashes), `transfers_metadata` for all 37 tokens, `minters_metadata` for the two minters used, and `projects_metadata` for all projects by Generative Artworks. Retrieved 2026-09-20. https://artblocks-mainnet.hasura.app/v1/graphql. Renders from https://media-proxy.artblocks.io; the 6 by 6 composite and the Python re-implementation of the program's generator were made for this draft and are not published. Collection page: https://www.artblocks.io/collection/coalition-by-generative-artworks\n[^S02]: Generative Artworks, written in collaboration with Marc Blanc, \"From Reservation to Coalition: The Stories that Generative Art Can Tell\", Medium, 13 March 2023. https://medium.com/@generativeartworks/from-reservation-to-coalition-the-stories-that-generative-art-can-tell-d5466e7ba15b\n[^S03]: Art Blocks, \"Coalition by Generative Artworks\", collection page with artist text. https://www.artblocks.io/collection/coalition-by-generative-artworks\n[^S04]: Art Blocks, \"Democracity by Generative Artworks\", collection page with artist text. https://www.artblocks.io/collection/democracity-by-generative-artworks\n[^S06]: Art Blocks, \"Neogen Space Monkeys by Dalek x Generative Artworks\", collection page. https://www.artblocks.io/collection/neogen-space-monkeys-by-dalek-x-generative-artworks\n[^S07]: Art Blocks, \"Reservation by Generative Artworks\", collection page. https://www.artblocks.io/collection/reservation-by-generative-artworks\n[^S20]: Etherscan, transaction 0x91fd29e6…1403f: purchase of Coalition #0 by `0xecc6…2cdb` through MinterSetPriceV2 for 0.35 ETH, 7 February 2023. https://etherscan.io/tx/0x91fd29e65a6898fc5abb246fa27d3160630afa5f4907dcdc5f1130f3cd21403f\n[^S24]: Etherscan, transaction 0xb131efde…58b5: first public purchase (#1), 1.4 ETH sent to the settlement minter, 13 March 2023. https://etherscan.io/tx/0xb131efde4d8871487ceb3bb176ff7c9600d7b338bff888f516165596b50d58b5\n[^S13]: Etherscan, transaction 0x09c24fff…dac75: purchase of #36, 0.67 ETH sent, 13 March 2023. https://etherscan.io/tx/0x09c24fff2c1809eed8d3648fe3a6fcda9d33a31ac41226ffbdc6f421b54dac75\n[^S14]: Etherscan, transaction 0x5093c641…970d2: transfer of #36 to `0xecc6…2cdb`, 13 March 2023. https://etherscan.io/tx/0x5093c6413142fb7b275e4722d197130068e2c20adf3a24ae97a1dd70ed5970d2\n[^S21]: Etherscan, transaction 0x6e5578b6…25617: bulk transfer including #0 from `0xecc6…2cdb`, 27 September 2024. https://etherscan.io/tx/0x6e5578b6e852bf48bfee8415f2ce773f4c16e4c7962ddd7dc0110127ebe25617\n[^S22]: Etherscan, transaction 0xedee1af5…69af7: bulk transfer including #0 to alexvault.eth, 12 October 2024. https://etherscan.io/tx/0xedee1af519ecf87683e74b82c7b9166289b32c1caa760f2d3466ec1838c69af7\n[^S08]: Etherscan, address `0xd1aae7eb26b1053b23b20a4a40cf29acb71b19a0` (PullSplit contract). Read 2026-09-21. https://etherscan.io/address/0xd1aae7eb26b1053b23b20a4a40cf29acb71b19a0\n[^S23]: Art Blocks documentation, \"Minters for Artists\" (Dutch Auction with Settlement). Read 2026-09-21. https://docs.artblocks.io/creator-onboarding/artists/minters/\n[^S26]: Creative Commons, Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/\n\n### Video and audio\n\n[^S09]: Art Blocks Official, \"ADM: Behind the Code | Democracity by Generative Artworks\", YouTube (title and channel confirmed via oEmbed). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mscILY6r_Y\n\nNo video or podcast about Coalition itself was found.\n\n### Criticism, collecting and market\n\n[^S05]: *Painting with Blocks* newsletter, \"Spotlight on Art Blocks drops: Phototaxis (Reas) & Democracity (Generative Artworks)\", Buttondown, 24 September 2021. https://buttondown.com/paintingwithblocks/archive/with-blocks-spotlight-on-art-blocks-drops/\n[^S10]: Etherscan, Coalition #21 (token 420000021): owner and last sale. Read 2026-09-21. https://etherscan.io/nft/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000021\n[^S12]: Etherscan, Coalition #27 (token 420000027): owner and last sale. Read 2026-09-21. https://etherscan.io/nft/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000027\n[^S16]: Etherscan, Coalition #36 (token 420000036): owner and last sale. Read 2026-09-21. https://etherscan.io/nft/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000036\n[^S17]: OpenSea, \"Coalition by Generative Artworks\" collection page, top sales. Read 2026-09-21 by automated extraction. https://opensea.io/collection/coalition-by-generative-artworks\n[^S18]: Etherscan, Coalition #11 (token 420000011): owner ab500dao.eth and last sale. Read 2026-09-21. https://etherscan.io/nft/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000011\n[^S15]: Etherscan, transaction 0xa563bc17…d8a3: OpenSea sale of #36 from `0xecc6…2cdb` to p1cky.eth for 0.7875 WETH, 22 March 2023. https://etherscan.io/tx/0xa563bc1755fd9ad533367302f6ae65b259c0a4234dd07c1d290aeca4e2a3d8fa\n[^S11]: Etherscan, transaction 0x8c6071d8…2262: OpenSea purchase of #21 (0.6 ETH) and #27 (0.69 ETH) by jabulon.eth, 14 March 2023. https://etherscan.io/tx/0x8c6071d8b938b8a9f92b5ec7f13eaf9cf9bd706bbb0e8b4a840334d562b32262\n[^S19]: Etherscan, transaction 0x350a9d87…e8e4: OpenSea sale of #11 for 0.222 ETH, 22 September 2025. https://etherscan.io/tx/0x350a9d874c34480e9e4411ab71af71a821503bead52b8bb59738107dd2f4e8e4\n[^S25]: AB5D, \"Coalition by Generative Artworks\", earlier series essay. https://ab5d.xyz/series/coalition-by-generative-artworks/\n\n### Further reading\n\n- Generative Artworks, \"iDraw H A3 Pen Plotter Review\", Medium, 24 March 2023. https://medium.com/@generativeartworks/idraw-h-a3-pen-plotter-review-2146d3624400\n- Art Blocks, \"Enchiridion by Generative Artworks\". https://www.artblocks.io/collection/enchiridion-by-generative-artworks\n- Generative Artworks on Instagram (the website given for the duo's other projects). https://www.instagram.com/generativeartworks/\n", "referenceOrder": [ "S01", "S02", "S03", "S04", "S06", "S07", "S20", "S24", "S13", "S14", "S21", "S22", "S08", "S23", "S26", "S09", "S05", "S10", "S12", "S16", "S17", "S18", "S15", "S11", "S19", "S25" ], "suppliedRevision": { "batch": "ab500-essays-for-codex-2026-09-21", "date": "2026-09-21", "sourceFile": "essays/coalition-by-generative-artworks.md", "sourceSha256": "23d4a4e5dd93c2818b71b830b8931c396dfbc78669c7bd078e5e3cdbc6c87b00", "sourceCount": 26, "imageCount": 6, "headerLine": "Art Blocks Presents, project 420 · 37 outputs (36 images and one error) · 13 March 2023 · CC BY-NC 4.0", "author": null, "usage": null, "draftNoticeRemoved": true, "importMode": "Supplied prose preserved; footnote labels normalized and draft notice removed under prior user instruction." }, "presentation": { "editionSize": 37, "maximumEdition": 37, "mintDate": "2023-02-07T01:55:23+00:00", "mintDateMeaning": "first indexed mint", "mintDateLabel": "First mint", "artwork": { "project_id": "0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069-420", "token_id": "420000011", "invocation": 11, "owner_address": "0xdd19308a9731cdecb67e0d80ca6823394208c045", "preview_asset_url": "https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000011.png", "live_view_url": "https://generator.artblocks.io/1/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000011", "canonicalUrl": "https://www.artblocks.io/token/1/0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069/420000011", "mode": "image", "copyrightStatus": "CC BY-NC 4.0", "copyrightUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/", "displayBasis": "AB5D collection example under the artwork licence label stored on the project record; not a newly created derivative." } }, "observationImages": [], "publication": { "date": "2026-09-20", "url": "https://ab5d.xyz/series/coalition-by-generative-artworks/", "authorization": "Phil requested publication of the supplied essays on 2026-09-21.", "reviewSnapshot": "/docs/series-essays/production/coalition-by-generative-artworks/record.json", "unresolvedResearchQuestionsRetained": true, "revisionDate": "2026-09-21" } }