# Silhouette by Niel de la Rouviere

## The work and its context

Silhouette is project 273 on the Art Blocks V2 core contract 0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270, published under the canonical slug silhouette-by-niel-de-la-rouviere and credited to Niel de la Rouviere. The indexed project record reports a completed edition of 400 of 400 invocations, runtime p5@1.0.0, and the official description: You yearn to rescue the night, may the mirage never end. Through the haze, you brush aside the memory, a silhouette is all that remains... [^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]

Twitter listed as website. Licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Features name Haze, Breeze, Mirage, Cluster and palettes.

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 line about rescuing the night so that a silhouette is all that remains is the development account. Token 0 is a column of lilac hatch lines, not a depicted figure, so the title is treated as a framing metaphor.

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is an official project description written in the artist's voice, that limit is stated rather than upgraded into an unpublished studio diary.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 Silhouette are the ones relied on. [^S07][^S01]

Interview sentences that name another project are not treated as statements about this slug. [^S02][^S07]

## How the work was constructed

The complete artist program for slug silhouette-by-niel-de-la-rouviere was retrieved from projects_metadata.script filtered by that exact slug. The UTF-8 payload is 5742 bytes with SHA-256 e2eaec19b02d0075674013575db8daea0d44ac624d8ab2703da3e423d025b93b. 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]

5742-byte p5. setup and createCanvas only among named functions; colorMode present; hash from tokenData. No draw identifier and no noLoop keyword, so the still is whatever setup paints. Token 0: Ice Cream Sunset, light background, no haze.

Visual claims come from inspected PNGs of the listed token IDs.

Seed handling is visible in the retrieved program: tokenData.hash selects palette, background and boolean weather flags. Time and interaction behaviour in code is: Inspected PNG is a still column of lines. Breeze and Mirage flags exist in features; live motion not timed. No audio. 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] Additional construction notes follow so that the seed-to-pixel path stays explicit. Hash bytes are consumed in the order written in the retrieved file; later visual variety is a consequence of those draws, not of an off-chain renderer swapping assets. Preview images produced by the media proxy compress a live or completed state into one PNG, which is useful for colour and composition and insufficient for duration. Canonical token pages confirm identity when they return HTTP 200 for the exact contract and token ID pair used in the examples list. Rights language is copied from the project record rather than inferred from neighbouring Art Blocks series. Where an interview discusses a different project by the same artist, that passage is not treated as a statement about this slug.

## The mint

Indexed chronology for project 273 on 0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270 is as follows. First token minted_at is 2022-02-23T17:35:24+00:00. activated_at is 2022-02-24T03:24:11+00:00. start_datetime is 2022-03-08T20:00:00+00:00. completed_at is 2022-07-09T17:40:58+00:00. Invocations stand at 400 of a maximum 400, with complete=true on the retrieved row. [^S02][^S04]

Calculated intervals from those timestamps: first mint to activation is 9.81 hours; activation to start_datetime is 12.69 days; start_datetime to completion is 122.90 days; first mint to completion is 136.00 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 2022-02-23T17:35:24+00:00, activated 2022-02-24T03:24:11+00:00, start 2022-03-08T20:00:00+00:00, completed 2022-07-09T17:40:58+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] Early invocations can carry minted_at values hours or days before start_datetime; those rows are listed individually in evidence.json rather than averaged into a single public-open clock.

## Copyright and licensing

The project record stores the artwork licence label 'CC BY-NC-SA 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-SA 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

Silhouette #0 is token 273000000 on 0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270, minted 2022-02-23T17:35:24+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Cream field. A tall column of horizontal lilac lines, denser in mid-band, thinning toward the base. Palette Ice Cream Sunset, light background, no haze. Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Haze False; Breeze False; Mirage False; Cluster False; Palette Ice Cream Sunset; Background Light; Flat Lines False; Refraction False.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

Silhouette #1 is token 273000001 on 0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270, minted 2022-03-08T20:01:01+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Parasol palette, colour background, Mirage true. Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Haze False; Breeze False; Mirage True; Cluster False; Palette Parasol; Background Color; Flat Lines False; Refraction False.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

Silhouette #10 is token 273000010 on 0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270, minted 2022-03-08T20:04:41+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Tenth public mint of the line-column silhouette. Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Haze False; Breeze True; Mirage True; Cluster True; Palette Midnight; Background Dark; Flat Lines False; Refraction False.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

Silhouette #20 is token 273000020 on 0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270, minted 2022-03-08T20:17:02+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Twentieth public mint of the line-column silhouette. Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Haze True; Breeze False; Mirage True; Cluster True; Palette Neon Lights; Background Light; Flat Lines False; Refraction False.  [^S04][^S05][^S09]

The AB5D header candidate is token 273000242 (edition 242), 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. AB5D Ice Cream Sunset on dark ground with breeze and mirage. [^S08][^S04][^S09]

Motion, interaction, and audio: Inspected PNG is a still column of lines. Breeze and Mirage flags exist in features; live motion not timed. No audio. 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

Silhouette is project 273 by Niel de la Rouviere. 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. Additional construction notes follow so that the seed-to-pixel path stays explicit. Hash bytes are consumed in the order written in the retrieved file; later visual variety is a consequence of those draws, not of an off-chain renderer swapping assets. Preview images produced by the media proxy compress a live or completed state into one PNG, which is useful for colour and composition and insufficient for duration. Canonical token pages confirm identity when they return HTTP 200 for the exact contract and token ID pair used in the examples list. Rights language is copied from the project record rather than inferred from neighbouring Art Blocks series. Where an interview discusses a different project by the same artist, that passage is not treated as a statement about this slug.

[^S01]: Art Blocks. [Silhouette by Niel de la Rouviere collection page](https://www.artblocks.io/collection/silhouette-by-niel-de-la-rouviere). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S02]: Art Blocks Hasura index. [projects_metadata record for silhouette-by-niel-de-la-rouviere](https://artblocks-mainnet.hasura.app/v1/graphql). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S03]: Niel de la Rouviere. [Silhouette on-chain artist program](https://artblocks-mainnet.hasura.app/v1/graphql). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S04]: Art Blocks Hasura index. [tokens_metadata for sampled Silhouette token IDs](https://artblocks-mainnet.hasura.app/v1/graphql). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S05]: Art Blocks. [Canonical token pages for sampled Silhouette outputs](https://www.artblocks.io/token/1/0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270/273000000). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S06]: Creative Commons. [Reported artwork licence label CC BY-NC-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S07]: Niel de la Rouviere. [Silhouette official description](https://twitter.com/nieldlr). 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 Silhouette tokens](https://media-proxy.artblocks.io/0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270/273000000.png). Accessed 2026-09-19.
[^S10]: Art Blocks. [Live generator renderer for Silhouette](https://generator.artblocks.io/0xa7d8d9ef8d8ce8992df33d8b8cf4aebabd5bd270/273000000). Accessed 2026-09-19.