Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 10: On-Chain Era (2020s)
2021
Bright Moments Opens in Venice Beach

In May, Bright Moments, co-founded by Seth Goldstein and Louie Ryan, began its journey. In a few short years, the ambitious organization traveled to ten—eight—cities around the world, organized a collection of 1,000 contemporary works and created a 10k NFT collection, CryptoCitizens.
The journey began at Bright Moments’ genesis location, Venice Beach, California. Starting as a community space for people to enjoy themselves around NFTs in person, Bright Moments from the beginning was able to incorporate a sense of playful seriousness into the physical appreciation of digital art.
The location also serves as the beginning of the community that Bright Moments would build over the course of the next few years, bringing many of the prominent names from this chapter together in places across the planet.
What Bright Moments in general and this event in particular signified was the increasing overlap of generative art, performance and real-life experience. Bright Moments made generative art something communal and experiential in a way it perhaps hadn’t been since Jasia Reichardt’s 1968 Cybernetic Serendipity or the early 1980s SIGGRAPH computer art fairs.
In December 2021, Bright Moments would travel to its first location outside of California with its New York event. The exhibition featured work by Tyler Hobbs and Emily Edelman, among others, signaling the beginnings of a rising global community.
Goldstein and Bright Moments artist and Art Blocks founder spoke to Le Random about the power of participation and community in art, fostered by Bright Moments.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random.
Sources
People
Emily Edelman, Jasia Reichardt, Louie Ryan, Seth Goldstein, Tyler Hobbs
Movements
Art Nouveau, Blockchain Art, Ethereum Art, generative art, NFT Art, Participatory Art, Performance Art
Filed under
- Ideas
- Art Nouveau, Blockchain Art, community, Ethereum Art, generative art, NFT Art, Participatory Art, Performance Art
- Technologies
- NFTs
- People
- Emily Edelman, Jasia Reichardt, Louie Ryan, Seth Goldstein, Tyler Hobbs
- Works
- CryptoCitizens
- Exhibitions
- Cybernetic Serendipity
- Organisations
- Art Blocks, Bright Moments, SIGGRAPH
- Places
- California, New York, Venice Beach
Related moments
Echoes across time
- 1988 · Computers and Art at the IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York
- 1979 · Cybernetic Symbiosis, Berkeley: Lawrence Hall of Science
- 1990 · Computers and the Creative Process at the University of Oregon Museum of Art
Le Random editorials
- Bright Moments on Prioritizing the Personal, Peter Bauman, April 16, 2024
- Tyler Hobbs on Algorithmic Aesthetics, Peter Bauman, December 12, 2023
Le Random podcast
- Timeline Ch 9—AI Era (2010s) with Tyler Hobbs, Helena Sarin, Rhea Myers & Gene Kogan — listen with transcript on Le Random (30 Jul 2024, 51 min). Featuring Tyler Hobbs. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- "Infinite Images" in Conversation—Erick Calderon, Sofia Crespo & Tyler Hobbs — listen with transcript on Le Random (06 Jul 2025, 42 min). Featuring Tyler Hobbs. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 10—On-Chain Era (2020s) with Erick Calderon, Lauren Lee McCarthy, Itzel Yard & Rafael Lozano-Hemmer — listen with transcript on Le Random (02 Sep 2024, 63 min). Chapter 10’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify