determined.ink

determined.ink is a generative art project that employs cryptographic proof-of-work to mine images pixel by pixel.

Everything begins with the seed, the first pixel in the top-left corner. This pixel captures the precise moment when the work is initiated, recorded as a Unix timestamp. This timestamp is hashed using SHA-256. The hexadecimal hash is then converted into decimal format and transformed into three numbers ranging from 0 to 255, representing the RGB channels, which determine the colour. The algorithm searches for a nonce where the resulting color meets criteria.

Each subsequent pixel is mined through proof-of-work: the algorithm tries thousands or millions of candidate colours (nonces) until finding one that satisfies strict cryptographic and aesthetic constraints. These constraints determine both the difficulty (computational power required) and the visual character of the artwork.

Many of them have been tried before finding the current one.

Below are some of the experimental pieces created during this process, each representing computational attempts to find the right balance between cryptographic constraints and visual appeal.

After many trials, the wheel motif was found to be satisfying enough to serve as the basis for creating larger and more resource-consuming pieces.

Mining a single pixel takes on average, 1 - 3 seconds. The small 300×300 piece requires around two days of continuous computation, consisting of 90,000 pixels, each representing a solved cryptographic puzzle. A 4K resolution image (8.3 million pixels) was estimated to require months of mining time with the current computational power.

The method is fully deterministic, meaning that the same seed would always yield the same artwork.

Yet despite this determinism, the seed, born from a specific moment in time, transforms the artwork into a unique temporal signature. The machine can preserve that exact moment with mathematical precision, yet this perfection does not equate to genuine recreation of that moment. The pieces, minted as NFTs and inscribed on the blockchain, exist as singular originals, echoing the irreproducible nature of the moments they capture. Even with its technical capabilities, the machine cannot reproduce the exact moment of creation. It can only confirm that the moment was captured with the certainty of its deterministic nature, far surpassing human memory's ability to preserve the past, yet remaining equally impotent in truly recreating it.

Below is a piece being mined in real-time. Each pixel appears as it's solved through proof-of-work computation. Click on the canvas to activate zoom and pan controls. Hover over pixels to see their mining data: RGB values, computation time, and attempts (nonces) required to solve the puzzle.

The mining is powered by 100% renewable energy.