3FACE #3412
2022 - NFT (NFT)
Ian Cheng
Ian Cheng’s project 3FACE is based on a model that is derived from both the artist’s extensive readings on psychology and cognition, and his own intuitive understanding of how people function. 3FACE positions the process of minting a generative NFT as a metaphor for personality development. While part of a series, because of the responsive coding, each NFT is unique and is informed by the contents of the owner’s wallet. The project website explains: “ 3FACE performs a reading of your wallets public transaction history and infers your immutable Nature, your semi-mutable Nature, and your mutable Posture. Then it renders an existential portrait of you.” When visiting the project website to mint, one is offered several “daemons” to choose from, aspects of personhood that will partially determine the appearance of the final image token. As the contents of the wallet that holds 3FACE change over time, it is possible to update the renderings; some 3FACE traits remain immutable while other traits change dramatically. Visit https://outland.art/3face/update/ to begin adapting the work to changes in your behavior and personality.
The work of Ian Cheng explores evolutionary processes, including mutation and adaptation in response to changing conditions. Through his work with machine learning, video game engines and ongoing inquiry into cognitive science and psychology, Cheng produces simulations that are never fixed. His practice implies the question, will static artworks that are frozen in time soon be a thing of the past? Cheng has produced a series of simulations that combine characters and landscapes, exploring (and experimenting with) forms of agency, relation, and the capacity to deal with ever-shifting environmental forces. These works culminated in the Emissaries trilogy, which introduced a narrative agent whose motivation to enact a story was set into conflict with the open-ended chaos of the simulation. Most recently, he has developed BOB (Bag of Beliefs), an AI creature whose personality, body, and life story evolve across exhibitions, what Cheng calls “art with a nervous system.” Several of his projects have taken the form of simulations—self-playing engines whose courses change each time they run within parameters and narratives set by the artist. While Cheng favors detailed environments often involving figures, he follows a compositional principle that encourages viewers to identify with characters and imagine themselves in the richly elaborated on-screen world. Cheng’s projects are informed by science fiction, and like the best storytellers of that genre, he connects the potential of sophisticated technology to the impact of ancient archetypes—the deep forms and habits of the human mind.
