Black Void: Pioneering a New Era of Digital Art and Environmental Consciousness

In April 2024, the art collective “Black Void“ participated in the Hong Kong Web 3 Festival and the Hu Shi Guang Art Eco Site. Their project “Twin Cloud“ at the Hong Kong Web 3 Festival integrates innovation in blockchain technology and climate-conscious generative art, making crypto art an entry point for green practice.

The other project, “Biosphere 3,” uses a digital life generative system and 3D printing technology to present an interstellar species, leaving a series of sculptures at the Hu Shi Guang Art Eco Site. As a fusion of art and science, Black Void’s works exemplify how digital technologies can address current ecological issues, both within digital realms and real-world settings.

The digital world is giving rise to new life forms, such as Bitcoin, artificial intelligence, and any living organisms combined with machines or automatic systems. They all thrive, breathe, and draw energy in this decentralized network, where even ‘I’ am expanded into various nodes of the network.

Meanwhile, the concept of energy undergoes a transition from fossil fuels to data and computational power in the digital age. Similarly, the ecology shifts from a system supported solely by sunlight, water, oxygen, and soil to a hybrid ecosystem intricately interwoven with natural elements, informational layers, algorithms, and infrastructure.

Black Void’s artistic endeavors center around this hybrid ecology, where living organisms, AI, data, digital avatars, and currency serve as distinct nodes in a decentralized network. Themes explored include “cloud,” “carbon,” “blockchain,” and “interstellar life,” all manifesting as transmaterial entities existing across physical and digital realms.

Speaking about their vision, Black Void’s founder Yixuan Cai stated, “Our aspiration is to contribute to the emergence of a transformative ecological paradigm, unfolding within a hybrid realm where life, energy, and ecology undergo revolutionary redefinitions—spanning from pixel to planet, from Earth’s atmosphere to the Martian landscape.”

Twin Cloud

Twin Cloud is a climate data-driven generative art collection and a Web3 art IP focused on sustainability that links crypto art to green practices. Chemicals produced by mountain fires, car exhaust, and industrial production travel far distances in the air, reflecting ground activities.

The project has gathered meteorological data worldwide from the Copernicus Ecological Satellite, creating the climate identity of 300 cities through its digital sculptures. The datasets include greenhouse gases, aerosol pollutants, humidity, temperature, location, etc., all of which affect the shape, movement, color, and texture of the digital cloud. With the accumulation of chemicals, a soft and sparse cloud may change into a chaotic and violent one.

At the Hong Kong Web 3 Festival, Black Void showcased two special pieces: “Twin Cloud Hong Kong” and “Twin Cloud Bitcoin” in response to the support from the Hong Kong Web3 ecosystem and the Bitcoin Greening Action.

“Twin Cloud Bitcoin“ is based on the Cambridge Blockchain Network Sustainability Index, depicting the carbon footprint fluctuations from the genesis block in 2009 to the present. Simultaneously, the artwork collaborates with GreenBTC.Club, incorporating contributions from clean energy to offset the carbon emissions of the Bitcoin network.

Everyone participating in the Twin Cloud event will also receive one on-chain green certificate, which equals 1000 kWh of green energy usage, offsetting 0.5 tons of carbon dioxide. Engagement with the artwork serves as an entry point for individuals to engage in green practices.

Biosphere 3

Biosphere 3 builds a new vocabulary for interstellar species as a new life form composed of matter and information, while also connecting its digital form to corresponding physical sculpture through blockchain technology. Inspired by the Astromycology laboratory under NASA, the project is derived from a simple scientific hypothesis: what if fungi were to immigrate to Mars before humans? How will they thrive and communicate as an interstellar species?

The work creates a system for generating Martian mushrooms. Martian climate factors—from deserts to plains, glaciers to volcanoes, perihelion to aphelion—affect the fungi morphology. As the forms of matter and energy are completely different from those on Earth, interstellar life may transmit signals through electromagnetic waves, take cosmic radiation as food, and reproduce by copying its code.

At Hu Shi Guang Art Eco Site, the project exhibits as a digital work with its corresponding 3D-printed sculpture. The changing light and shadow of the sculpture also present the day-night and seasonal changes of Mars. At the Hong Kong Web 3 Festival, the project connects its digital and physical assets through blockchain technology, making the piece an example of RWA art assets.

The team composition of Black Void also reflects its ambition to blend contemporary art with science. The collective comprises Yixuan Cai, Stella Miao, Yuhan Xiao, Hong Yun, and members from diverse backgrounds, including art, curation, architecture, algorithms, data science, and music. Some members hail from the Future Laboratory at Tsinghua University and the Rhode Island School of Design, establishing a strong foundation for collaboration between art and science.

The art collective also builds an extensive collaborative network. Their projects have drawn data from diverse sources, including the Copernicus Environmental Satellite, the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, and the NASA Planetary Data System, among others.

Additionally, they have partnered with initiatives like the Greening Bitcoin Initiatives and decentralized photovoltaic power generation networks for on-chain green practices. They’ve also collaborated with sustainable brands such as L’Oreal, Genesis Motor, and Tencent SSV to increase public awareness of sustainability. The institute and enterprise collaboration allows Black Void to connect art to a larger network of action.

Black Void

Black Void is an art and science collective directed by Yixuan Cai, in partnership with Stella Miao and Yuhan Xiao, as well as Hong Yun and other members from various fields, including architecture, digital art, data science, algorithms, and experimental music. Their artistic endeavors center around a hybrid ecology interwoven by nature and technology. Through new technologies such as AI, blockchain, and intelligent manufacturing, they explore themes including “cloud,” “carbon,” “blockchain,” and “interstellar life,” all manifesting as transmaterial entities existing across physical and digital realms.

Their representative works, “Twin Cloud” and “Biosphere 3,” have been exhibited at various venues such as the Venetian Arsenal, The Guardian Art Center, the Power Station of Art, and more. They won first place in PacificVis 2023 Visual Data Storytelling and have been featured in a documentary produced by China Media Group. Past brand collaborations include L’Oréal, Tencent SSV, Audi, Genesis Motor, and others.

Twin Cloud

Biosphere 3

Black Void

Login