Immaterial

The work and its context

Immaterial is project 481 on the Art Blocks V2 core contract 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, published under the canonical slug immaterial-by-bjorn-staal and credited to Bjørn Staal. The indexed project record reports a completed edition of 280 of 280 invocations, runtime three@0.124.0, and the official description: Immaterial is a long form generative series exploring synthetic biology and botany through a combination of algorithms inspired by natural systems, such as recursion, growth, fluidity and fractal-noise. Originally influenced by the underlying structure of fungi gills, the series explores a wide range of formations and life forms, referencing possible futures where digital and organic systems merge. Through an interplay of 3D- and 2D-aesthetics, each iteration of the series generates a unique tapestry of shades and shapes aimed at creating space for interpretation, rather then directly mimicking the natural world. Although each individual output of the algorithm ends up as an (almost) static composition, the motion leading up to this point is integral to the concept and experience of the artwork. Like in nature, simple rules define how the complexity of organic material unfold from a set of initial conditions. In this series the viewer is exposed to the process of how a seed grows into a fully fledged organism, revealing the underlying rule-based structure of both natural and digital systems. Immaterial is best displayed on vertically oriented screens. To ensure optimal performance, please view the artwork in a modern browser (preferably chrome) on a computer with a decent graphics card. Keys [space] - Pause animation [s] - Download image [w] - View wireframe ¹²

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. ¹²

Contract 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069. Aspect ratio indexed as 0.5625. Website https://linktr.ee/nonfigurativ.

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. ³⁴

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. Immaterial is a long form generative series exploring synthetic biology and botany through a combination of algorithms inspired by natural systems, such as recursion, growth, fluidity and fractal-noise. Originally influenced by the underlying structure of fungi gills, the series explores a wide range of formations and life forms, referencing possible futures where digital and organic systems merge

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 Immaterial are the ones relied on. ⁵¹

Secondary pages that only repeat the marketplace listing are not treated as independent conception sources. ²⁵

How the work was constructed

The complete artist program for slug immaterial-by-bjorn-staal was retrieved from projects_metadata.script filtered by that exact slug. The UTF-8 payload is 55115 bytes with SHA-256 d3c5de7218c627eae971b85bce947f1a375669a97cfb44252e0a32c8789f7bc2. Runtime on the project record is three@0.124.0. The script was read in full; it was not executed in this research session. ⁶

The stored generator is 55115 bytes, SHA-256 d3c5de7218c627eae971b85bce947f1a375669a97cfb44252e0a32c8789f7bc2, runtime three@0.124.0. Detected source markers: keydown, requestAnimationFrame, THREE, WebGLRenderer, tokenData, hash. Named functions include A, Qe, Ze, a, e, en, g, l, nn, o. tokenData.hash is read in source. Output then follows the drawing path those functions implement. Token 0 observation: Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1350x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 93,96,101). File size 4500162 bytes. Indexed features: angle 0; frame False; fidelity high; fluidity high; direction upwards; color scheme bone,depth; double sided True

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 a continuing-draw or audio/WebGL constructor. The inspected PNG is one frame. Live timing and soundtrack were not captured this session. 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. ⁶⁷

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. ⁶⁸

The mint

Indexed chronology for project 481 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069 is as follows. First token minted_at is 2023-11-02T15:43:35+00:00. activated_at is 2023-11-25T16:56:35+00:00. start_datetime is 2024-01-03T18:00:00+00:00. completed_at is 2024-01-05T07:26:35+00:00. Invocations stand at 280 of a maximum 280, with complete=true on the retrieved row. ²³

Calculated intervals from those timestamps: first mint to activation is 23.05 days; activation to start_datetime is 39.04 days; start_datetime to completion is 37.44 hours; first mint to completion is 63.65 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. ²³

Indexed clocks: first 2023-11-02T15:43:35+00:00, activated 2023-11-25T16:56:35+00:00, start 2024-01-03T18:00:00+00:00, completed 2024-01-05T07:26:35+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. ¹²

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. ²⁸

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

Third-party runtime three@0.124.0 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. ⁶⁸

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

Immaterial #0 is token 481000000 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-11-02T15:43:35+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1350x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 93,96,101). File size 4500162 bytes. Indexed features: angle 0; frame False; fidelity high; fluidity high; direction upwards; color scheme bone,depth; double sided True Indexed features returned for this V2 token: angle 0; frame False; fidelity high; fluidity high; direction upwards; color scheme bone,depth; double sided True. ³⁹⁴

Immaterial #1 is token 481000001 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2024-01-01T13:37:11+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1350x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 31,32,34). File size 4257425 bytes. Indexed features: angle 2; frame False; fidelity medium; fluidity medium; direction upwards; color scheme coal,carbon; double sided True Indexed features returned for this V2 token: angle 2; frame False; fidelity medium; fluidity medium; direction upwards; color scheme coal,carbon; double sided True. ³⁹⁴

Immaterial #10 is token 481000010 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2024-01-02T22:16:23+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1350x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 112,63,68). File size 5270498 bytes. Indexed features: angle 4; frame False; fidelity low; fluidity medium; direction upwards; color scheme fire,bone,blush; double sided True Indexed features returned for this V2 token: angle 4; frame False; fidelity low; fluidity medium; direction upwards; color scheme fire,bone,blush; double sided True. ³⁹⁴

Immaterial #20 is token 481000020 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2024-01-02T23:17:59+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1350x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 145,132,123). File size 5310365 bytes. Indexed features: angle 5; frame True; fidelity low; fluidity medium; direction upwards; color scheme gold,gill; double sided False Indexed features returned for this V2 token: angle 5; frame True; fidelity low; fluidity medium; direction upwards; color scheme gold,gill; double sided False. ³⁹⁴

The AB5D header candidate is token 481000054 (edition 54), 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 1350x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 91,94,99). File size 5156772 bytes. Indexed features: angle 0; frame True; fidelity ultra high; fluidity low; direction upwards; color scheme bone; double sided False ¹⁰³⁴

Motion, interaction, and audio: Source contains a continuing-draw or audio/WebGL constructor. The inspected PNG is one frame. Live timing and soundtrack were not captured this session. 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. ⁴⁷⁶

Significance and limitations

Immaterial is project 481 by Bjørn Staal 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? ²¹⁰⁷

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