Mycelia

The work and its context

Mycelia is project 458 on the Art Blocks V2 core contract 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, published under the canonical slug mycelia-by-jmy and credited to JMY. The indexed project record reports a completed edition of 200 of 200 invocations, runtime p5@1.0.0, and the official description: Mycelia explores the beauty and intricacy of mycelium. Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a mass of branched, thread-like hyphae. In addition to playing a crucial role in the growth and reproduction of fungi, it also seems to interweave with nature at large. Mycelia takes place in a similar domain to my previous works centered around the connection between math, music, art, and nature. What can we learn from nature's generative processes, and how could these be used in a digital environment? It is fascinating how something that seems to be such a simple algorithm can achieve such tremendous results. #### The Algorithm In a similar way to the mycelium we find in nature, my virtual mycelia grows by extending its hyphae, absorbing nutrients, and breaking them down into energy. As the mycelium grows and matures, it forms a network of interconnected hyphae. In a simplified way, every hypha has a core algorithm with the following instructions: 1. Absorb nutrition from the soil and convert it into energy. 2. Use the energy to move one step forward. Does the new position contain more of the nutrition it needs? If yes, repeat step 1, otherwise go to step 3. 3. Divide into two new hyphae growing slightly to the left and right to increase the chance to find more nutrition. On top of the core algorithm, a few other things could happen: - There are different kinds of nutrients. A hypha can only focus on one kind at a time. But if it travels long distances, its DNA can change to absorb another kind of nutrient. This opens up more complicated networks and surprising outcomes. - The angle used when a hypha divides could sometimes change to be wider or narrower, always with the goal of optimizing the nutrient intake. - When the hypha collides with another branch in the network, they grow together. But there is also a chance that it could cross a branch depending on the difference in age between the branches. Think of it like it grows slightly up or down, which makes it possible to pass over or under a branch. - There is a survival mechanism that is triggered when only a few hyphae exist in the network, which can force it to cross its own branches. A challenge with the project was how to achieve an aesthetic outcome that could please the eye. The solution was to find a way to generate the amount and position of nutrients in the ground. Influenced by how sound spreads through the air, the nutrients spread from a single point and are being pushed out in wave-shaped circles over time. The waves are built synthetically by mixing sine waves with different frequencies and amplitudes. This gives each layer of nutrients its own characteristics and rhythm. To describe the age of the hypha, it changes color over time. When it's young, it picks the first color in the palette, and over time it gradually changes color until it reaches the end of its lifecycle. As you venture deeper into the world of Mycelia you'll feel a sense of magic and wonder begin to envelop you. You'll be transported to a realm where the boundaries between the natural and digital worlds blur, and the true power of mycelium is revealed. 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 0.8. Website https://jmy.art/.

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. Mycelia explores the beauty and intricacy of mycelium. Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a mass of branched, thread-like hyphae. In addition to playing a crucial role in the growth and reproduction of fungi, it also seems to interweave with nature at large. Mycelia takes place in a similar domain to my previous works centered around the connection between math, music

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 Mycelia 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 mycelia-by-jmy was retrieved from projects_metadata.script filtered by that exact slug. The UTF-8 payload is 5902 bytes with SHA-256 39110c53622d7f0dceac3d98ba4d7ca863e836004f89d03cee493ef6c79da5e1. Runtime on the project record is p5@1.0.0. The script was read in full; it was not executed in this research session. ⁶

The stored generator is 5902 bytes, SHA-256 39110c53622d7f0dceac3d98ba4d7ca863e836004f89d03cee493ef6c79da5e1, runtime p5@1.0.0. Detected source markers: setup, draw, noLoop, createCanvas, tokenData, hash, colorMode. Named functions include t. tokenData.hash is read in source. Output then follows the drawing path those functions implement. Token 0 observation: Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1920x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 51,52,47). File size 5929434 bytes. Indexed features: Layers Three; Palette Lactifera longipes; Position Center

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. 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 458 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069 is as follows. First token minted_at is 2023-06-03T07:21:11+00:00. activated_at is 2023-06-06T17:35:23+00:00. start_datetime is 2023-08-23T17:00:00+00:00. completed_at is 2023-08-23T17:30:35+00:00. Invocations stand at 200 of a maximum 200, with complete=true on the retrieved row. ²³

Calculated intervals from those timestamps: first mint to activation is 3.43 days; activation to start_datetime is 77.98 days; start_datetime to completion is 30.6 minutes; first mint to completion is 81.42 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 2023-06-03T07:21:11+00:00, activated 2023-06-06T17:35:23+00:00, start 2023-08-23T17:00:00+00:00, completed 2023-08-23T17:30:35+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 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. 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

Mycelia #0 is token 458000000 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-06-03T07:21:11+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1920x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 51,52,47). File size 5929434 bytes. Indexed features: Layers Three; Palette Lactifera longipes; Position Center Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Layers Three; Palette Lactifera longipes; Position Center. ³⁹⁴

Mycelia #1 is token 458000001 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-08-23T17:02:35+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1920x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 72,49,40). File size 4213232 bytes. Indexed features: Layers One; Palette Aetherospora aurantiaca; Position Top Right Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Layers One; Palette Aetherospora aurantiaca; Position Top Right. ³⁹⁴

Mycelia #10 is token 458000010 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-08-23T17:22:59+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1920x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 60,56,52). File size 7768880 bytes. Indexed features: Layers Two; Palette Cryptomorpha rubra; Position Center Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Layers Two; Palette Cryptomorpha rubra; Position Center. ³⁹⁴

Mycelia #20 is token 458000020 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-08-23T17:27:47+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1920x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 73,49,39). File size 4651470 bytes. Indexed features: Layers Three; Palette Aetherospora aurantiaca; Position Top Left Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Layers Three; Palette Aetherospora aurantiaca; Position Top Left. ³⁹⁴

The AB5D header candidate is token 458000136 (edition 136), 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 1920x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 52,58,48). File size 7082183 bytes. Indexed features: Layers Two; Palette Krystallinus aurantium; Position Top Right ¹⁰³⁴

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. ⁴⁷⁶

Significance and limitations

Mycelia is project 458 by JMY 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.