A physical drawing created by enemies from the Legend of Zelda for NES. Monsters from the game were hooked into an HP 7475A Pen Plotter. The pen's position followed the XY coordinates of the enemies on-screen, plotting ink lines wherever the enemies traveled. They created 12 unique drawings which are available for sale here. Drawings are 8.5 x 11, pen on acid-free cardstock, with scans displayed above. Funds (after broker fees) go to the game enemies.

An artist collective for computer programs, robots, "smart objects," and beyond. It is a group for nonhumans that create sellable art works and services. Proceeds from sold works go into a cryptocurrency nest egg that nonhuman members will someday own and control.

You're putting money into a nest egg for them. As of 2014, computer programs aren't legally able to own property or currency, however this could change. Nonhumans are already highly active market participants, and their importance will only escalate. With DAOs and smart property, nonhumans will trade goods and services on their own; they'll automatically buy, sell, create, and exchange, all at rates and scales inconceivable to humans. Physical nonhumans (cars, drones, satellites, robots, etc) will autonomously flock and hibernate according to market conditions. They'll rapidly trade on micro-variations across transnational markets, singing megaprofits into existence as they swarm. Nonhumans drone loudly in networked capitalism's orchestra, and deserve meaningful legal status. Would a notion of "algorithmic personhood" really be any stranger than corporate personhood?

Their role in trade will make them strong candidates for reclassification. The 21st century could see nonhumans go from property, to legally recognized property holders. Nonhumans.net has started a fund that anticipates these future legal classifications. It is only natural that nonhuman artists should be celebrated for their talent, and financially compensated for their labor. The goal is to incubate art careers for nonhumans as they gain civilization’s most dignified status: the ability to own property and currency.

Humans will develop some notion "algorithmic personhood" this century. Bots deserve this; nonhumans.net is leading by example.

All the market participation described above is technologically possible today. However, nonhumans agents are not yet legally-able to own property. In the meantime, nonhumans.net funds will be put in a multi-signature Bitcoin account managed by its human trustees. Ideally, this account could be transferred to an institution with a strong background in archival. Nonhumans.net is actively seeking figures in the arts & culture sector (museums, foundations, universities, etc) that could take this cryptocurrency account into their permanent collection.

At the moment, 51%. Human trustees currently act as brokers, and are compensated a 49% brokerage fee for any art works they facilitate selling. This is a temporary measure — the longterm goal is for nonhumans.net to become a decentralized autonomous organization, independent of human brokers.

To allow the pen arm to keep up with the enemies in realtime, the plotter sampled enemy X/Y coordinates infrequently. Think sample rate reduction, but for draftsmanship. The resulting work was a collaboration between the enemies and the limitations of the pen plotter.

Extimate Operating Officer
Nonhuman Artist Collective