When Art Blocks launched in 2020, we made a foundational commitment: every artwork's code would live on the blockchain. Not in cloud storage, not on servers, but directly on Ethereum. Critical components of every artwork would live permanently on the blockchain, while artists could leverage widely used, external creative coding libraries for their work.
This was innovative at the time, but we knew it was only the beginning.
The Evolution of Preservation
In those early days, while the core artwork code was on-chain, we still relied on external tools and libraries that artists needed to create their work. We were careful about this—limiting artists to widely used, well-preserved libraries like p5.js. But as the artworks released through our platform became increasingly important to art history, we realized we needed to go further.
Today, on our fourth anniversary, I'm thrilled to announce a major leap forward: 90% of all projects released through Art Blocks—across our ecosystem, including Curated, Studio, and Engine on Ethereum mainnet—can now be generated entirely from the blockchain itself using a modern web browser. Every element needed to generate these artworks, including core dependencies like p5.js and three.js, now lives permanently on Ethereum.
What's Changed?
Previously, while your artwork was secure on the blockchain, you still needed external resources to experience it. Now, everything needed to create and display these works—from the artist's core script to the supporting libraries—lives directly on Ethereum. Using any modern web browser with JavaScript support and access to the blockchain, these artworks can be generated forever, independent of Art Blocks or any other platform.
What This Means For Our Community
For Artists
Your work is now truly permanent. Everything that makes your creation unique lives securely on the blockchain. Your artistic vision will remain exactly as you intended, accessible to future generations through the same tools used to create it.
For Collectors
You own more than just a token—you have everything needed to generate and experience your artwork, forever. While we'll continue providing an easy way to view and interact with your collection, you're no longer dependent on Art Blocks or any other platform.
For Institutions
We're providing everything needed to preserve these works independently. Run your own systems, host your own interfaces, or build your own tools—the artwork will always be accessible directly from the blockchain, ensuring these pieces can be studied and experienced for generations to come.
Building on Our Foundation
From day one, Art Blocks has been about more than just NFTs. Throughout history, art preservation has been a constant challenge—works lost to time, disaster, or technological change. Today, we're building something different: infrastructure for a new chapter in art history. Looking back at our evolution over four years—from storing artwork code on-chain, to today's complete on-chain generation—I'm incredibly proud of how far we've come.
But more importantly, I'm excited about what this means for the future of digital art. These works represent a fundamental shift in how art can be created, collected, and preserved. Now, we're ensuring they'll be available for future generations to study, experience, and build upon.
Join Us in Building Forever
We're making all of this technology openly available. Whether you're an artist looking to create, a collector wanting to ensure your pieces are preserved, or an institution working to document digital art history, you can be part of ensuring these works live on.
To the artists who trusted us with their work, the collectors who believed in this vision, and the entire community that's supported us these past four years: thank you. Today marks not just a technical achievement, but a promise fulfilled—true digital permanence of generative art.
Here's to the next four years of pushing boundaries and preserving creativity.
—Erick
For those interested in the technical details, our engineering team has published a comprehensive overview here.
