24 Hours of Art with Roger Dickerman
In August 2023, Roger Dickerman, Founder of Artifex, art curator and advisor, set out on an ambitious project: “24 Hours of Art.”
What began as daily social media posts offering insights into the digital art market soon transcended its initial scope, evolving into a groundbreaking project at the intersection of art and blockchain technology. By the end of 2023, in collaboration with Transient Labs, Dickerman propelled the project into its next phase: a blockchain-based archive that would chronicle the digital art history of 2024 and beyond — a transition made specifically before the beginning of 2024 that was not technical, but purely symbolic, celebrating the foundational contributors through the auction and gifting of the first 24 tokens.
The following sections provide an overview of “24 Hours of Art“, including its operational features, overall impact, and innovative possibilities complemented by an exclusive interview. In conversation with Fakewhale, Dickerman shares the inspiration, present and future ambitions that fuel this ambitious project, shedding light on how “24 Hours of Art” is redefining the norms of art documentation and preservation
24 Hours of Art: A New Concept of Art Documentation
At its inception, “24 Hours of Art” introduced a novel concept to the art world, merging the immediacy of digital expression with the depth of historical documentation. Roger Dickerman’s journey from daily social media insights to a blockchain-based archive is not just a progression but a radical reimagining of how art is documented and experienced.
The project’s foundation on social media, already an advancement compared to traditional documentation methods, allowed for an immediate and dynamic interaction with art, engaging a broader audience and fostering a community around the digital art narrative. This initial traction showcased a clear appetite for a more fluid, accessible approach to art discourse, setting the stage for the project’s ambitious blockchain transformation.
With its evolution to blockchain, “24 Hours of Art” transforms the practice of art documentation, introducing a model that blends the transient nature of daily experiences with the enduring capabilities of digital technology. This shift underscores a significant redefinition of art’s legacy, moving from traditional, often isolated instances of documentation to an active, interactive continuum that engages the global community directly in the narrative process.
In embracing blockchain, the project not only secures a digital footprint for each piece of art but also fosters a participatory culture where every token—each representing a unique day—serves as a collaborative platform. This framework elevates the process above mere preservation, turning it into an active, ongoing creation that reflects the collective memory and evolving sentiments of its community, challenging the conventional hierarchies that have long governed art ownership and appreciation.
In other words, “24 Hours of Art” exemplifies how digital platforms can empower artists and audiences alike, making art’s documentation a shared journey rather than a curated selection — a living dialogue, continuously enriched by diverse contributions and perspectives.
Understanding “24 Hours of Art”: A Detailed Overview
Developed in collaboration with Transient Labs, at its core, the project leverages the power of blockchain technology to create a living, breathing archive of the year, with each day represented by a digital token.
These aren’t just any tokens. They are implemented using the ERC-7160 standard, a pioneering approach that allows each token to evolve over time, mirroring the dynamic nature of art itself. This standard facilitates each token’s journey from a “blank canvas” state, associated with a specific date, through to its final form as a piece of art that encapsulates the essence of the day it represents.
As of now, for 2024, the project elaborately brings together the events of 366 days (accounting for the leap year) through these tokens — each token’s journey divided into three distinct stages.
The Three Stages of Token Evolution
1. Initial State: Initially, each token is akin to a blank canvas, assigned to a specific date in 2024 without any additional context or detail.
2. Art Collection Phase: Following its assigned day, the token metamorphoses into a unique piece of the 1/1/366 art collection. This stage represents the fusion of art and data, where the day’s events, trends, and narratives start to shape the token’s identity.
3. Final Artwork Form: The token’s final transformation culminates in a distinctive, 1/1 artwork that encapsulates the collective experiences and significant moments of 2024. This final form represents a unique piece of art history, capturing a moment in time through the lens of digital art.
Token Design and Creation Process
The artistic process behind each token’s creation involves sophisticated analysis and design techniques. Utilizing Houdini software, the project analyzes data from each day to generate the visual representation of the token, incorporating a blend of procedural generation and artistic input to achieve deeply meaningful representations of their respective days.
Community Collaboration through Story Inscriptions
A defining aspect of “24 Hours of Art” is its embrace of community participation via Story Inscriptions. This feature, realized through the collaboration with Transient Labs, empowers token holders—including artists, collectors, and enthusiasts—to inscribe their own narratives and insights onto the blockchain, adding a personal and collective depth to the artwork.
The project extends its community engagement through a dedicated Telegram channel, fostering an active space for discussion, insight sharing, and exploration of digital art trends where token holders and art enthusiasts alike can connect, share, and contribute to the unfolding story of “24 Hours of Art”.
Roger Dickerman in Conversation with Fakewhale
Fakewhale: At what point in your career did you begin to explore digital art, and what inspired this shift?
Roger Dickerman: The path to digital art had a few twists. It began with cryptocurrency conviction, then finding the acronym ‘NFT’ as a token of physical provenance. Soon after I discovered the existence of digital art. The intersection of art, market, and community connected each of the disparate dots in my life from art appreciation to finance to business creation and evolution.
Fakewhale: As a curator and advisor, your contribution to the art world has been influential and inspiring. Could you take us back to the origins of this path? Specifically, how did your initial interest or involvement in art evolve into a professional commitment to curating and advising?
Roger Dickerman: When initially evaluating digital art, I did so through a purely financial lens, observing market behavior and participants. Very soon after I began falling in love with the art itself and forming fast friendships with artists and collectors. We were figuring it out together, and I was able to help make sense of mechanics, pricing, supply and demand, etc.
This organic progression put one foot in market analysis and another foot in art appreciation. If I have a superpower, it’s being able to see both sides of the coin.
After beginning to discuss digital art publicly in late 2020, I formed artist interview avenues ‘NFT Origin Stories’ (alongside artist Parrott) and later ‘The Future of Art’ and launched ‘Artifex’ as a brand at the intersection of fine digital art and 3D sculpting. The Artifex team has collaborated with almost 50 artists and entities since then, including Alotta Money, Raf Grassetti, Skygolpe, and TIME and Deepak Chopra.
Fakewhale: “24 Hours of Art” initially began as a series of daily art summaries on Twitter, providing insights into the digital art market before transitioning to a blockchain-based platform. What initially inspired you to share these art summaries on social media, and how did this initiative evolve into the comprehensive blockchain project it is today?
Roger Dickerman: Things felt bleak in Summer 2023. The art market was stagnant and morale was not great. At the time I was working a lot behind the scenes and made a conscious decision to use my voice. The question became: “How?”
Digital art lacked dependable information and resources, especially unbiased ones. It still does. That became my focus. ‘24 Hours of Art’ was born.
It exists as a daily, independent report covering digital art as a medium and marketplace. Remaining unbiased is a feature, and for that reason it leverages mainly financial data as its foundation. It’s important that anyone who interacts with ‘24HOA’ understands what they are seeing and why.
Somewhere in those first few months as interest in the report grew, ‘me’ became ‘we’, and it was clear the brand needed to establish a foundation. That led to a robust community of 366 tokens (1 per day of the 2024 leap year), a partnership with Transient Labs to support the technical vision, and a tag team with Justin Wetch to add art to the equation.
Fakewhale: This project facilitates a more democratic process of documenting art and history. What effects do you anticipate this democratization having on the art world, especially concerning traditional roles of authority and gatekeeping?
Roger Dickerman: The future is a hybrid. Authority and gatekeeping, to an extent, are inevitable.
Equally inevitable (I hope) is a pathway for democratization, resting on differentiated blockchain and provenance fundamentals. This is the pathway that keeps me up at night. Importantly, this does not mean anything will be easy for anyone involved. Quite the opposite. It feels like a difficult path that will yield opportunities for innovators.
Fakewhale: Are there any artists, technologists, or thinkers who have particularly inspired your vision for this initiative along the way? How have their ideas and contributions influenced its direction?
Roger Dickerman: There are more than fits a list. Here are a few:
Mando: The literal first day of ‘Mando Minutes’ was an important spark. He provided a TL;DR informational download across crypto that nudged me to create what I wished to see: one for the art.
Sam Spratt: Participating in his ‘Monument Game’ was a formative experience. Through it I reconnected with a fire inside, one that fuels 24HOA.
Chikai & Selkie: From the beginning, these two (along with countless others) expressed conviction in 24HOA and emboldened the vision. Chikai won the first ever token in auction and generously onboarded 4 others for the community’s benefit. Selkie contributed from day one, including spearheading the first ever gathering at NFT Paris.
Fakewhale: The community is central in this project. Does “24 Hours of Art” have mechanisms for community governance or collective decision-making processes regarding the project’s direction or the curation of art? If so, how do these processes work, and what has been the community’s impact on decision-making so far?
Roger Dickerman: It’s important that no one – even the community – can influence the core 24 Hours of Art report contents.
With that fundamental in place, there are a host of other ways we can make magic together. We are producing the first ever 24HOA curated report with 24 artists in the community in partnership with Transient Labs. After Q1 of 2024 concludes, together we will look back at the first 3 months of the year and make decisions together regarding what days, moments, and milestones were most meaningful.
Fakewhale: As we look past 2024, what developments do you envision for “24 Hours of Art”? Are there plans to integrate other technologies, like AI or virtual reality, to further connect art, memory, and experience?
Roger Dickerman: 24 Hours of Art is now in infrastructure phase: a better home, cleaner distribution, and exploring information pathways that unlock further growth.
We view the daily artworks as forming a tapestry of 2024. They have intentional optionality. Each is created by Justin Wetch in 3D via Houdini and rendered in 4K. You may have seen experimenting with AR across socials. Doors within mixed reality and beyond are wide open.
You have seen 24HOA create based on current days, and soon we will go back in time. That’s a bit of news for those who read this far.
Fakewhale: How do you hope “24 Hours of Art” will be remembered in the archival records of art history? What legacy do you aim to leave for future generations of artists, technologists, and thinkers?
Roger Dickerman: I hope it is remembered as a brand that contributed to the growth of a digital art renaissance and one that stood for the beauty of the blockchain, which unlocked digital art ownership in the first place.
As for legacy, I hope it encourages artists, technologists, and thinkers to get busy creating the things they wish to see. We need you.
To learn more about the project, follow:
fakewhale
Founded in 2021, Fakewhale advocates the digital art market's evolution. Viewing NFT technology as a container for art, and leveraging the expansive scope of digital culture, Fakewhale strives to shape a new ecosystem in which art and technology become the starting point, rather than the final destination.
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