Voices of Hic et Nunc: The People that Shaped its History

James Paterson aka Presstube: The Grassroots Innovator

James Paterson, aka Presstube, known for his authentic and hands-on approach, embodies the spirit of innovation and the grassroots ethos that became a hallmark of HEN. His initial encounter with the platform’s rudimentary interface and his role in fostering a pay-it-forward culture showcase a commitment to community-building and open artistic exchange. His reflections offer a window into the soul of HEN, revealing a platform that championed the raw, the real, and the communal, and stood as a counterculture to the established art world.

Fakewhale: When you think back to the early days of HEN and the NFT landscape, what stands out the most to you?

Presstube: At the beginning, HEN was really hard to use. It had an impenetrable, buggy user interface. I had to follow a janky PDF marked up with hand-drawn arrows, underlines and circled items in order to mint my first piece. However, there was an energy in that moment which pushed the early users to get in there and move through the difficulty. It’s interesting bc we’re so used to expecting slick, smooth UX in our products, then here comes this thing that’s hard to use, crashy, cryptic and unstable, yet something about the energy of the moment made it obvious that the effort was going to be worthwhile. The difficulty of using it almost became part of the fun. It was like finding your way into a hard-to-reach, secret garden – not easy to get into, but once you arrive, it’s an untouched zone of fresh possibility.

At the time you needed a fair amount of money to operate on ETH. To mint could end up costing hundreds of dollars, you typically needed invitations for the popular marketplaces, and there was a lot of controversy surrounding ETH’s carbon impact etc. Yet here was this super underground grass-rootsy thing where all you needed was 1 TEZ to get going (at the time, worth about $4 USD). 1 TEZ provided a lot of minting power so that a new artist could discover if they had an audience and keep things rolling purely based on the quality of their work and their participation in the community.

This effort/talent over resources/access dynamic caused a massive surge of artists from all over the world to pour in and seeded a wildly multicultural scene. Artists from all over the globe got involved and in some cases, the TEZ they earned could pay for rent and groceries. That was a revelation for many of us, regardless of our location. Making any kind of a living off pure art. Wow.

So, during this early moment, HEN was beautifully egalitarian. It rewarded those who made an effort, not necessarily those who already had money or popularity. There was a deliciously anarchic/utopian flavour reminiscent of the promises of the dawn of the internet.

Fakewhale: Can you share any stories or experiences that epitomize the unique culture and community spirit of HEN?

Presstube: Two phenomena stand out:

In the beginning, it was normal for random strangers to gift a new arrival the ~1 Tez necessary to get started. This caused a snowballing pay-it-forward effect where artists were bootstrapping other artists to get going in a huge chain reaction of generosity and appreciation. This seeded the community with a sense of goodwill and friendliness which reminded me of skateboard culture. In the world of skateboarding any new skater, no matter how clueless, is accepted and encouraged with open arms. Unlike surfing, which by comparison is notoriously cliquey, aggressive and unwelcoming to newcomers.

Another thing I loved was the community-instigated events like #OBJKT4OBJKT where everyone would pile in behind a hashtag on Twitter and post their work for cheap/free and we would all collect each other’s work en-masse. It was like being at a massive digital zine bazaar. It was such a great place for the organic discovery of new artists.

Fakewhale: How did the ethos of HEN resonate with your personal vision of what an NFT platform should represent? 

Presstube: It was DIY, gritty, punk, and anarchy. I have always dreamed of making a living off art outside the institutional gatekeeping of the Fine Art establishment. HEN was a shiny beacon of possibility on that front.

Fakewhale: With the emergence of platforms inspired by HEN, such as http://objkt.com and TEIA to name a few, what lessons from HEN do you think should be carried forward and which should be avoided or approached differently?

Presstube: I may be too closely focused on making art to pretend to know how things should be handled at the platform level at this point. The magic of early HEN seemed to be highly serendipitous, flowing out of the moment and directed by the inspired, raw vision of Raphael and a small cadre of mostly volunteer contributors. All that come after are dealing with a different time and place and different cultural currents. Your guess is as good as mine about what makes sense for now! I’m happy to leave that to the grownups.

Fakewhale: In retrospect, what do you believe was HEN’s most significant contribution to the digital art community as a whole?

Presstube: I think HEN demonstrated a path for an art subculture where low operating costs and highly fractionalized art pricing/ownership could lead to a vibrant scene where artists support each other. In a time rife with “audience capture”, what better audience to be captured by than fellow creators whose art you adore!

Fakewhale: How do you see the current digital art ecosystem in contrast to the early days of HEN? What fundamental shifts have you noticed?

Presstube: To be honest I’m a bit out of touch and don’t have my finger on the pulse of what’s going on right now. Others are likely better qualified to answer here.

However, if I were to indulge in a hot take… Seeing the rise of generative art and then the rise of AI art, it’s going to be really interesting to see how the ease of automation and a glut of new creative technologies flood the landscape with passably aesthetically pleasing stuff. How do audiences react to that? How do creators react to that? What happens to artists who still use very personal/traditional processes? How do we find our bearings in a world where there is more and more automation in these very sensitive areas? Not just in areas of cold efficiency but in the most personal and creative areas: writing, drawing, painting, animating, music, movies, creative coding etc

To be clear I’m all for generative art (been at it since the early 2000s) and fascinated by the possibilities of AI all around. However, the relationship between automation, creativity and commodity raises some spicy spiritual questions for me.

Fakewhale: What legacy has been brought forward?

Presstube: I hope the legacy that can be brought forward is to herald rawness, ruggedness, and highly personal, inefficient expressions by and for beings who are steeped in the unavoidable challenges of the human experience.

Fakewhale: In the aftermath of HEN’s closure, what were your key takeaways from its journey? What would you have wished was done differently?

Presstube: My personal takeaway from the journey: Spend less time on politics and more time on making stuff. Also when in doubt, trust generosity, patience and kindness.

I’ll bow out of answering what I wish was done differently. It was a beautiful experience, warts and all.

The shared narratives of Mario Klingemann, Presstube, and Diane form a mosaic of HEN’s impactful history, underlining a legacy rich with innovation, connection, and artistic freedom.

As we continue present the full scope of HEN’s story through these individual insights, we invite you to explore the next chapter—focusing on the artists and collectors who represent the vivid threads in the fabric of HEN.

Read next: The Essence of HEN: In Conversation with the Artists and Collectors