Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 10: On-Chain Era (2020s)
2023
Human Unreadable by Operator

This 2023 Lumen Prize Metaversal Generative Art Award Winner and Art Blocks Curated long-form generative art project fused code, choreography and cryptography into a visceral, three-act experience. This author, Peter Bauman, spoke to artist duo Operator’s Ania Catherine and Dejha Ti about the project in “Operator on Human Unreadable” at Le Random Editorials.
The work challenges the clean, universal aesthetics of modernism by introducing vulnerability, risk and the human body into the digital realm in the vein of pioneers like Analivia Cordeiro and Rebecca Allen. Each piece in the collection is driven by on-chain choreographic data, creating a dialogue between human expression and technical systems. Human Unreadable invites audiences to engage with the chaotic and embodied aspects of human experience, probing the possibilities of human-machine collaboration on the blockchain, while liberating the movement from the screen.
“As Conceptualism liberated the ’60s art world from the canvas. Operator’s Human Unreadable liberates the on-chain generative art world from the screen.” -Peter Bauman
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
People
Analívia Cordeiro, Ania Catherine, Dejha Ti, Rebecca Allen
Movements
Chance Dance, Ethereum Art, generative art, Generative Choreography, NFT Art
Filed under
- Ideas
- Blockchain Art, Chance Dance, choreography, cryptography, embodiment, Ethereum Art, generative art, Generative Choreography, Modernism, NFT Art
- Technologies
- blockchain, Human-Computer Interaction, long-form generative art, on-chain, on-chain generative art
- People
- Analívia Cordeiro, Ania Catherine, Dejha Ti, Rebecca Allen
- Works
- Human Unreadable
- Organisations
- Art Blocks, Lumen Prize, Operator
Related moments
Echoes across time
- 1982 · L’Art et l’ordinateur in Paris
- 1973 · M 3x3 by Analívia Cordeiro
- 1976 · Ruth Leavitt Publishes Groundbreaking Book, Artist and Computer
Le Random editorials
- Operator on Human Unreadable, Peter Bauman, November 21, 2023
- Operator Profiles Rebecca Allen, Operator, August 13, 2024
- Analívia Cordeiro on Perpetual Motion, Peter Bauman, July 17, 2024
- Infinite Images, Finite Control, Kevin Buist, July 28, 2025
Le Random podcast
- Protocol Art & Blockchain Formalism—Mitchell F Chan, Ania Catherine, Dejha Ti, matto & maltefr — listen with transcript on Le Random (04 Mar 2025, 64 min). Featuring Ania Catherine, Dejha Ti. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- "Electric Dreams" in Conversation—Rebecca Allen, Analívia Cordeiro & Eduardo Kac — listen with transcript on Le Random (23 Dec 2024, 68 min). Featuring Analívia Cordeiro, Rebecca Allen. 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