Headwind

Name: Ragnar Digital, LLC
Price range: $

Mario Klingemann

2017/2021

NFT/Digital

AI The Ragnar 100

Description

In 2021, Mario Klingemann minted an older work of his, Headwind, for the first edition of Objkt4Objkt, a popular and ongoing event where artists create and swap NFTs, often for free. Klingemann’s contribution exemplifies the efforts of successful NFT creators to promote diversity and accessibility in the space.

Klingemann, a pioneer of machine learning in art, made the GIF for _Headwind _on November 19, 2017. It incorporates the machine-learning technique of upscaling, which increases the resolution of digital images; Klingemann’s preferred term is “transhancement,” because, per the artist, the process “does not just upscale but create[s] new details which might not be present in the original image.” Here transhancement is applied to a walk cycle—a series of images looped to resemble a walking figure.

Klingemann minted the NFT in a free edition of 500 on Hic et Nunc, the Tezos-based platform which co-organized the first Objkt4Objkt with the Diverse NFT Artists collective in April 2021.