VIEW 💖HEARTSLEEVES: PORTRAIT COLLECTION

💖heartsleeves is a multifaceted generative video project. Part one is code-based, abstract video art that then becomes the basis for community portraits once minted. In this layered generative process, the artists take advantage of the distributive nature of art on the blockchain to elevate the community to co-creators who can generate their own portraits within the environments LoVid has defined.

The work is both a culmination and a departure point for the celebrated artistic duo, LoVid, weaving together disparate shapes and symbols that evoke projects from their decades-long career as video and performance artists. These icons are organized on grids that weave above and below each other, moving across the screen to form an abstract video fabric.

The live generator will play forever without looping, suggesting an infinite abstract plane only visible in the square window of the art object, to be passively observed. The work exploits two unique qualities of the blockchain—the ability to store code on-chain allowing for the transmission of this never-ending generative video, and the unique aspect of verifiable ownership.

The second part of this work is only unlocked by this ownership. Each video skin becomes an immersive environment in the portrait studio, but only the owner can access the specific skin. Opening the portrait studio shifts agency away from the artists, as the collector becomes the co-creator.

Through the portrait studio, the portrait sitter is pulled into the video environment created by the original code-based generative video. Faces slip inside it, get pulled in, and become defined by color woven amongst the shapes along the three-dimensional planes of the face. While the studio distorts color and projects shapes onto the face, the participant has their own agency in the portrait’s color, exposure, zoom, and more predetermined elements.

This opens up a second phase of generative production. The artists leave the community with instructions and parameters to produce the final stage of the work—video portraits created in collaboration with the generative mechanic the artists predetermined.

The portrait subject transforms from a passive participant into something much more integral. They are physically present, engaged, and able to directly influence the final product. This means radical sharing of agency, as collaborative portraits created away from the artists can be automatically entered into the canon.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

• PORTRAITS AND SKINS: Each skin is eligible to mint up to five portraits. Portraits cost 0.05 ETH each for the first month following the auction, and 0.1 ETH afterwards. The number of portraits remaining will be tracked and displayed in the skin’s metadata. Portrait credits purchased during the presale will be associated with the wallet used to purchase and can be used across skins.
• PORTRAIT STUDIO: Each video skin acts as a video environment in the Portrait Studio. The Studio includes both manual and biometrics; responding to movement, facial expression, and even heart rate. You can record as many times as you like in the Portrait Studio before finalizing which portraits you would like to mint.
• CANVAS PORTRAITS: Your choice of portrait is paired with an additional artwork created by LoVid, serving as the portrait's border. The portrait and the border are printed through dye sublimation on poly canvas and stretched on a 12 x 12 x 1.5" wood and aluminum stretcher so that the portrait occupies the front face and the border occupies the edge of the stretcher. LoVid's signature is included on the back of the stretched poly canvas.
• RESERVED WORKS: 150 skins will be made available through the auction and the presale. There are an additional 150 reserved skins: 50 skins already spoken for and 100 skins earmarked for events & installations in development.
• NYC LAUNCH PARTY: Works available for preview in New York, NY on the evening of Thursday, February 8.
• PRE-AUCTION PURCHASES of a limited number of available works will be available starting on Thursday, February 1, 10AM PT. During the pre-sale only, you will be able to select which work you would like to buy.
• PRE-REGISTRATION OF BIDS using a credit card can be submitted anytime before the auction begins. Bids will execute on a first-come-first-served basis. Use the pre-bid button on this page to submit your pre-registered bid, starting on Saturday, February 3, 10AM PT until 24 hours before auction starts. Learn More.
• AUCTION REBATE: Collectors will receive a rebate to the auction sell-out price. Note that all rebates will be issued in ETH, regardless of original payment method, after the auction concludes.
• COPYRIGHT LICENSE: At the artist's discretion, this specific collection is governed by the copyright license: Click here for collection-specific terms.

CREDITS

• 💖sleeves by LoVid
  Generative Pattern Coder: Douglas Repetto
  Portrait Studio Developer: Tyler Henry
  Curatorial Advisor: Michael Connor
  Artist Manager: Ben Simon
  Produced with E.A.T__WORKS
• Special thanks to:
  Cabelle Ahn, Amy Benson, Jeff Bergman, María Paula Fernández, Roxy Fata, Lindsay Gilbert, Regina Harsanyi, Ariel Hudes, Lulu Hedstrom, Julia Kaganskiy, Karen Lawler, Danika Laszuk, Rama Lapidus, Dlisah Lapidus, Lo’am Lapidus, Alex Mills, Shayna McClelland, Jennifer McCoy, Kelani Nichole, Aaron Penne, Derek Piech, India Price, Sarah Ridgley, Tyler Rutledge, Magda Sawon, Betsy Seder, Alice Scope, Sarah Rossien, Benjamin Tischer, Ben Tritt, Oriana Wang, and Soren Wrenn