# The Liths of Sisyphus research notes

Draft for editorial review. Exact canonical slug includes `the-`; project ID 124, Atlas position 126. Fresh indexed research began 2026-09-17T22:38:28.326662+00:00; package prepared 2026-09-17T22:42:07.913177+00:00. These bound documented work, not exact active execution time. Model gpt-6-astra; token counters null for coordinator measurement.

## Method

Read individual handoff, followed previously inspected COMMON/methodology. Official collection, artist interview transcript, first-person peer interview, contemporary Art Blocks newsletter, dependency and candidate NFT licence texts inspected. Complete script and all 777 chronological records fetched by exact identity queries retained in evidence.json. Five token identities and canonical HTTP 200 checks recorded. No git, shared files, site building or publication.

## Full program coverage

16721 UTF-8 bytes; SHA-256 91b8f0a1ce8156794b333c960ac56d25a2e4472e3438fd976c8a64ff976b5a6e. Read full script including r3 gradients, permutation and w3 seed setup, fade/lerp/j5 gradient noise, i5 random generator, parseHash and invocation-dependent reseeding, full palette/configuration table, orthographic camera/WebGL renderer, light/fog/shadow/material setup, shaders z2/u3/v3, rings and ornaments, canvas bump texture, optional centrepiece, complete m5 Bézier human outline extrusion, k5 stone deformation, t3 vertex mapping, y3 terrain and final d5 animation.

Token hash portions and invocation number enter different seeded streams. Every positive multiple of 70 triggers pride branch; no sample prevalence claim. Terrain mesh 250x250 subdivisions; fine canvas lines are bump map rather than separate geometric trenches. Stones are deformed box/sphere geometries, optional centrepiece has five primitive choices. Human outline embedded as path data, not external image; origin not established. Scene container including objects rotates; camera remains orthographic. Brief initial pause and gradual rotation acceleration, then continuous requestAnimationFrame. No user input/audio/fetch/image assets in artist program. Library required separately. No direct block-pinned code extraction or local reconstruction.

## Visual inspection

Five isolated Chrome tabs at original token URLs. All five screenshots actually viewed at 2026-09-17T22:39:21.579Z. Held #95 also at 22:38:50.056Z: figure at far side initially then left of circle, and landscape orientation changed over 31.523 seconds. It is not an animation of the figure walking or stones rolling. No listening test. Sampling uses four early candidates plus held artwork, not random rarity evidence.

- #0: Nearly monochrome dark terrain; inner upright stones, a few pale reclining outer stones and isolated human figure.

- #1: Lavender-pink terrain with blue foreground; many dark upright inner stones, rounded outer stones and dense overlapping circle and straight-line inscriptions.

- #10: Dark red basin with blue-grey surrounding relief; two rings of squat or rounded pale and dark stones and small human figure.

- #20: Pale lavender and blue basin; light upright stones casting long shadows, small inner stones and broad overlapping circular inscriptions.

- #95: Dark blue basin; ring of pale reclining stones, three small interior stones and radial/concentric lines. Figure and terrain visibly rotate together.

## Historical evidence

First mint August 1 08:47:43 UTC; activation August 2 15:52:48 UTC; official release date August 2; completion August 9 19:25:31 UTC. All 777 records: one August 1, six August 2, 770 August 9. August 9 earliest edition #7 at 17:59:56 to #776 at 19:25:31 gives 5135 seconds, 1h25m35s. Not verified public opening duration. #1 transaction is single-token 0.2 ETH with nonfigurativ.eth sender/recipient; #7 single-token 1.5 ETH; #776 single-token 0.25 ETH. All fees separate. Three samples do not establish full auction schedule or original cap. Complete allocation history unresolved.

Newsletter September 9 2021 reports $96720 GiveWell, with explicit mixed evidence basis: artists' reports, set-aside funds or pledges. Do not call this an independently checked receipt. June 2024 artist interview transcript establishes recollected platform experiment and return to JavaScript. Transcript misspells Liths as Lifts; official identity controls. No original-audio listening claim. Peer January 2023 interview identifies this release as catalyst in Stoveland's return to generative practice; do not borrow his Harvest development details for Liths.

## Rights and presentation

Exact NIFTY label, null project licence URL, unknown version. Candidate NFT License 2.0 legal text retrieved and fully read through HTTP after web access failure. Does not prove adoption. Its third-party display condition is relevant to permanent embed review. Artist code has no separate licence notice; three r124 MIT distinct; embedded noise/outline provenance unresolved. Original live renderer recommended for continuous autoplay rotation, conditional on resolved public display basis. Static media URL supplied from token record, not claimed visually viewed. Collection ownership matches complete three-address profile, recorded fresh. Original prose CC0 only.

## Failed and unused leads

Initial slug without the- had no spec; exact spec found immediately. https://nonfigurativ.com failed via web. https://www.niftylicense.org/ and /license failed via web; root succeeded via HTTP and full licence was inspected. WTBS guessed about.html failed; actual About link resolves to index and confirms interview archive. Official artist profile inspected as discovery context, not separate redundant source. Broad launch searches produced irrelevant and secondary-market results; none used to infer historic sale policy. No original launch announcement recovered.

## Unresolved questions

- Original announced opening and the August 2/August 9 distinction.
- Full price schedule, allocation categories and original cap.
- Dated prototype chronology and narrative development.
- Operative NIFTY version and permanent public embedding basis.
- Artist code and embedded component permissions.
- Donation reconciliation and coordinator measured usage.

All exceptions are pending. Structural validation is not editorial acceptance.

## Validation

Structural validator PASS: 2056 words, 16 cited sources, 5 inspected original examples, 4 pending editorial exceptions. Exactly seven package files; raw research checkpoint remains sibling the-liths-of-sisyphus-research.md. No editorial acceptance or publication claimed.