A Bugged Forest #355

Name: Ragnar Digital, LLC
Price range: $

Michaël Zancan

2022

NFT/Digital

Description

In June 2022, Zancan unintentionally introduced a bug into what he calls his “tree algorithm,” a system that uses 3D equations and 2D projections to generate branching, blooming trees. The accident produced The Bugged Tree, a single work that inspired Zancan to create a long-form generative series built around the same flawed code. The resulting 1,000-piece collection, A Bugged Forest, celebrates imperfection as both a visual and conceptual theme.

The works span dozens of color palettes—sepia, emerald green, pink, red, and soft gradient greens, with one monochrome variation where only the leaves are colored. Each composition is unified by the presence of branches and leaves, typically emerging from the frame’s edges, though in some, such as #17, they appear unattached, suspended in space. Glitchy white or black lines often run vertically through the images, evoking marionette strings that hold the foliage in place.

A Bugged Forest was nearly not minted. Exhausted and facing a narrow window when the fxhash platform was open for new releases, Zancan enlisted a friend, the artist NFTBiker, to complete the minting process on his behalf. After multiple technical hurdles, the collection went live with only minutes to spare—a fitting origin story for a project born from error and persistence.