Metropolis

The work and its context

Metropolis is project 0 on the Art Blocks V2 core contract 0x145789247973c5d612bf121e9e4eef84b63eb707, published under the canonical slug metropolis-by-mpkoz and credited to mpkoz. The indexed project record reports a completed edition of 940 of 940 invocations, runtime three@0.124.0, and the official description: Metropolis is a long-form generative art collection exploring the node-based systems that enable and possess modern society. These literal and theoretical systems are critical to computing, blockchains, logistics, and most apparently, the formation and function of cities. The project will be extended beyond online distribution via individual exhibitions at the five Bright Moments gallery locations around the world. The five primary traits , New York City, Berlin, London, Mexico City, and Los Angeles , stylistically represent their respective city. MECHANIC INFORMATION: - While Metropolis has a total count of up to 1000 mints, only the first 500 will be made available for sale. - These first 500 editions will come with the ability to mint a second piece for free. - This second mint will be unique, but visually related to the first, creating a diptych between the two. - To claim a second mint, the owner must generate a QR code via the Bright Moments portal and take it to the Bright Moments gallery in the city dictated by its respective city trait on the date of the city's exhibition. - Delegate minting of the second piece is possible. If the owner is unable to attend a show physically, they can arrange for another person to redeem. - Redeeming after the city's exhibition will not be allowed. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: - The style of Metropolis is heavily influence by cubism and abstract expressionism. - Technically, the project is an attempt to emulate painting photorealistically within an on-chain algorithm. - Metropolis is a demanding program and modern hardware is necessary to view the live generator. Viewing the project on mobile and low-power computers will result in a lower resolution image. CONTROLS: - Pressing the "C" key within the live generator will capture an image. - Pressing the "4" key within the live generator will reload the piece in 4K resolution (HARDWARE INTENSIVE). 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 0x145789247973c5d612bf121e9e4eef84b63eb707. Aspect ratio indexed as 0.666666. Website https://www.brightmoments.io/metropolis.

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. Metropolis is a long-form generative art collection exploring the node-based systems that enable and possess modern society. These literal and theoretical systems are critical to computing, blockchains, logistics, and most apparently, the formation and function of cities. The project will be extended beyond online distribution via individual exhibitions at the five Bright Moments gallery locatio

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 Metropolis 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 metropolis-by-mpkoz was retrieved from projects_metadata.script filtered by that exact slug. The UTF-8 payload is 149407 bytes with SHA-256 74c1753f87b026bafbe9070c828606ff7f0d7a5d944ed1082e7017921850b83c. 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 149407 bytes, SHA-256 74c1753f87b026bafbe9070c828606ff7f0d7a5d944ed1082e7017921850b83c, runtime three@0.124.0. Detected source markers: draw, keydown, requestAnimationFrame, THREE, WebGLRenderer, tokenData, hash. Named functions include At, B, Br, Bt, C, Cr, Ct, E, Er, Fe. tokenData.hash is read in source. Output then follows the drawing path those functions implement. Token 0 observation: Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1600x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 149,138,135). File size 7084380 bytes. Indexed features: City Berlin; Paper Black; Signed No; Palette Spearmint; Brush Style Oil; Diptych IDs 0 | 500; Has Diptych True; IRL Mint Date 03/04/23

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 0 on 0x145789247973c5d612bf121e9e4eef84b63eb707 is as follows. First token minted_at is 2022-12-22T04:48:59+00:00. activated_at is 2023-02-14T17:31:23+00:00. start_datetime is 2023-02-24T18:00:00+00:00. completed_at is 2023-03-13T20:27:35+00:00. Invocations stand at 940 of a maximum 940, with complete=true on the retrieved row. ²³

Calculated intervals from those timestamps: first mint to activation is 54.53 days; activation to start_datetime is 10.02 days; start_datetime to completion is 17.10 days; first mint to completion is 81.65 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 2022-12-22T04:48:59+00:00, activated 2023-02-14T17:31:23+00:00, start 2023-02-24T18:00:00+00:00, completed 2023-03-13T20:27:35+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

Metropolis #0 is token 0 on 0x145789247973c5d612bf121e9e4eef84b63eb707, minted 2022-12-22T04:48:59+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1600x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 149,138,135). File size 7084380 bytes. Indexed features: City Berlin; Paper Black; Signed No; Palette Spearmint; Brush Style Oil; Diptych IDs 0 | 500; Has Diptych True; IRL Mint Date 03/04/23 Indexed features returned for this V2 token: City Berlin; Paper Black; Signed No; Palette Spearmint; Brush Style Oil; Diptych IDs 0 | 500; Has Diptych True; IRL Mint Date 03/04/23. ³⁹⁴

Metropolis #1 is token 1 on 0x145789247973c5d612bf121e9e4eef84b63eb707, minted 2023-02-17T08:19:47+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1600x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 103,100,88). File size 6293994 bytes. Indexed features: City Los Angeles; Paper White; Signed No; Palette Vermeer; Brush Style Oil; Diptych IDs 1 | 939; Has Diptych True; IRL Mint Date 03/11/23 Indexed features returned for this V2 token: City Los Angeles; Paper White; Signed No; Palette Vermeer; Brush Style Oil; Diptych IDs 1 | 939; Has Diptych True; IRL Mint Date 03/11/23. ³⁹⁴

Metropolis #10 is token 10 on 0x145789247973c5d612bf121e9e4eef84b63eb707, minted 2023-02-22T18:19:47+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1600x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 129,125,132). File size 5851915 bytes. Indexed features: City New York City; Paper Color; Signed No; Palette Guernica; Brush Style Oil; Diptych IDs 10 | 555; Has Diptych True; IRL Mint Date 03/02/23 Indexed features returned for this V2 token: City New York City; Paper Color; Signed No; Palette Guernica; Brush Style Oil; Diptych IDs 10 | 555; Has Diptych True; IRL Mint Date 03/02/23. ³⁹⁴

Metropolis #20 is token 20 on 0x145789247973c5d612bf121e9e4eef84b63eb707, minted 2023-02-22T18:22:59+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1600x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 141,125,98). File size 6305924 bytes. Indexed features: City Los Angeles; Paper White; Signed No; Palette Picnic; Brush Style Oil; Diptych IDs 20 | 921; Has Diptych True; IRL Mint Date 03/11/23 Indexed features returned for this V2 token: City Los Angeles; Paper White; Signed No; Palette Picnic; Brush Style Oil; Diptych IDs 20 | 921; Has Diptych True; IRL Mint Date 03/11/23. ³⁹⁴

The AB5D header candidate is token 896 (edition 896), 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 1600x2400px, mid-tone and strongly coloured (mean RGB 145,37,39). File size 5979658 bytes. Indexed features: City Los Angeles; Paper White; Signed No; Palette Burgundy; Brush Style Oil; Diptych IDs 131 | 896; Has Diptych True; IRL Mint Date 03/11/23 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

Metropolis is project 0 by mpkoz on 0x145789247973c5d612bf121e9e4eef84b63eb707. 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.