Harm van den Dorpel launches Mutant Garden Seeder Mutations: new functionality brings eternally evolving NFTs further on-chain
Harm van den Dorpel launches Mutant Garden Seeder Mutations: new functionality brings eternally evolving NFTs further on-chain
Harm van den Dorpel introduces a new chapter for his acclaimed Mutant Garden Seeder NFT collection. With the launch of Mutant Garden Seeder Mutations (MGSM), collectors and the public can now capture and preserve individual mutations of these endlessly transforming digital artworks as standalone NFTs.
In 2021, Harm van den Dorpel released Mutant Garden Seeder, a collection of forever-mutating NFTs in collaboration with Folia. Each token has a unique mutation rate - some mutate daily, others only a few times per year. Upstream Gallery got the opportunity to sell the first 64 editions to their clients in a pre-sale during Harm van den Dorpel's solo exhibition Mutant Garden and at Art Rotterdam that year. The full collection sold out within hours of its release on Folia.
Each MGS NFT reflects its current mutation state. Because the metadata of Mutants is always evolving, until now, all previous mutations have been exclusively archived on a web server. With the new MGSM functionality, these temporal manifestations can now be minted as permanent "snapshots" and stored on the blockchain via decentralized storage on Arweave.
Van den Dorpel explains: "Storing and maintaining the ever-evolving Mutant Garden Seeder ecosystem requires a powerful and expensive server, as royalties on trading MGS tokens are no longer enforced, the project needs a new stable source of revenue to guarantee future resilience. At the same time, the new functionality strengthens the conservation of the work. While the original MGS collection remains closed and complete, minting mutations on-chain adds value in terms of preservation for the future.”
MGS token holders can mint mutations of their own tokens for a small fee. This fee is used for maintaining the ecosystem and decentralized storage. Additionally, anyone can mint mutations from "unlocked" Mutants. When this happens, the owner of the original MGS automatically receives ETH in their wallet. Holders determine the minting amount themselves and can unlock their Mutant for public minting.
Van den Dorpel advises collectors: "If you really love your Mutants, I recommend browsing through their evolution over time and minting key moments for the future."