The annual Art Blocks Marfa Weekend, held in Marfa, TX, is a cornerstone event celebrating creativity and connecting artists, collectors, and generative art enthusiasts. A highlight of the 2024 event was Mitchell F. Chan’s presentation, What Do You Do After You Change The World?, presented by OpenSea at the Crowley Theater.

While the original talk wasn’t recorded, a re-recording from Toronto’s InterAccess Media Arts Centre is now available. Due to its enthusiastic reception and lasting impact on the community, we’re pleased to share the video, along with insights into why it resonated so deeply.

What’s the Talk About?

Mitchell F. Chan discusses his views on defining good art, the essence of generative art, and how the last four years have been transformative for the medium. Throughout his presentation, he argues meaningful art must convey layered ideas, to be “about something,” and invites artists to journey through these landscapes of thought and discovery.

Why It Matters

As notable collector and community member sonso reflected:

“What Mitchell Chan has done with his talk What Do You Do After You Change The World? is to provide context. Through a wonderful talk that manages to touch on matters as diverse as “what makes art interesting?” to “parallels between generative art on the internet and conceptualism,” he gives a sense of where we have been and what may come next. 

It often takes time for the present day to be the past and become history enough to view it with clear eyes. And with this talk, now 4 years on from Art Blocks founding, Mitchell has provided thoughtful reflections and started a conversation that I hope continues for years to come.” —sonso

Highlights From the Talk

Generative Art as a Continuum: He frames generative art within a lineage of conceptual and modern art, showing how it blends fundamental principles with cutting-edge technology.

What Makes Art Good?: Generative art, like all great art, thrives when it balances innovation with emotional resonance and cultural relevance.

Technology’s Shadow: Technologies often overshadow artistic content, making it difficult for digital art to communicate its deeper meanings. Strategies like making technology invisible and emphasizing the conceptual depth of the artwork can overcome this challenge.

The Power of Models: Chan introduces the idea of generative art as a “modernist mental model,” a tool for understanding machine logic, algorithms, and systems that shape our digital world.

Join the Conversation

Mitchell’s talk invites us to reflect on generative art’s achievements, challenges, and future potential. He encourages us to learn from the past and approach the future with intention.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. What stood out to you? How do you see generative art evolving over the next few years?

Let’s keep the conversation going. Share your reflections in our Discord or on Twitter.