‘What The Punk’ Film Traces the History of Ethereum’s Iconic NFT CryptoPunks

The story of essentially the most iconic venture in crypto-art begins in a depressing neighborhood in Brooklyn. “Probably the most polluted waterway in the entire nation,” Matt Corridor says of the environment that impressed his work with Larva Labs co-founder John Watkinson within the new documentary “What the Punk.”

This 80-minute story of counterculture follows two humble Canadian programmers who began experimenting with tech and artwork in 2005, and are actually featured in Centre Pompidou in Paris, the place CryptoPunk #110—donated by present IP proprietor Yuga Labs—has been exhibited since 2023.

Within the late 2000s, whereas growing cell apps, Corridor and Watkinson began engaged on the Pixel Character Generator, a enjoyable characteristic to create distinctive profile footage with overlays of fundamental pixelated parts.

Then got here the rise of Ethereum. As long-time sports activities card collectors, they sensed that the blockchain provided large improvement potential that might assist them create a digital equal to their childhood ardour: a brand new sort of collectible.

Composed of 10,000 algorithmically generated pixel photos with 87 distinctive attributes, CryptoPunks impressed the ERC-721 customary and gave beginning to the profile image (PFP) motion that later unfold by means of Yuga’s Bored Ape Yacht Membership and numerous different non secular successors.

Matt Corridor and John Watkinson launched CryptoPunks in June 2017. The primary week, the discharge went principally unnoticed within the proto art-tech group. However a Mashable article drew consideration to the free declare. In a matter of days, the entire provide was minted out.

Secondary gross sales regularly gained momentum, finally yielding quite a lot of gross sales in extra of $10 million price of ETH. The hype and inflow of cash would assist drive the rising scene of NFTs.

“What The Punk” gathers among the most outstanding personalities who’ve helped propel blockchain momentum in artwork historical past: former Christie’s digital artwork lead Noah Davis (who went on to go up CryptoPunks below Yuga), artwork knowledgeable Yehudit Mam from Dada, collector Dan Polko, and longtime Punk Discord moderator Tschuuuly.

Erick “Snowfro” Calderon additionally acknowledges how his expertise as a Punk collector and lively group member helped him envision Artwork Blocks, the profitable Ethereum generative artwork platform.

As a counterpoint, “What The Punk” highlights the apply of Robness, an early crypto-artist. Robness disapproved of the hype round CryptoPunks, which stole consideration from the inventive side of the venture to gas speculative investments. So in 2021, he purchased the Punk #2317 and instantly burned it as an artwork gesture.

Nonetheless in love with the inventive core of the venture, Robness coined Punks “the Warhol of crypto artwork,” including that it represented “a motion—we’re simply at first of it.”

Behind the movie

Hooked by the story of the CryptoPunks, director Hervé Martin-Delpierre—who beforehand helmed “Daft Punk Unchained”—and producer Marc Lustigman spent three years uncovering the secrets and techniques behind the Punks and interviewing massive names in crypto artwork. From artists to gallery homeowners, collectors to auctioneers, they’ve captured a wealthy tapestry of voices that reveal how this assortment revolutionized the artwork world.

Lustigman instructed Decrypt that the idea for the documentary got here amid the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, earlier than the NFT craze of 2021 that supercharged Punks costs.

“A good friend instructed me, ‘That is the way forward for artwork; you can purchase some.’ At first, I assumed he was joking,” Lustigman recalled. “I used to be solely centered on the visuals. Steadily, one thing began to attract me in, even obsess me! Six months later, I grasped the genius behind it, and the story I uncovered was so wild that I wished to make a movie about it.”

“It was the Punks that launched us to crypto artwork,” Martin-Delpierre added, noting that their use of good contracts to allow on-chain artwork tasks “enabled digital artwork to flourish. They’re behind the genesis of what adopted: the event of a complete inventive ecosystem.”

The filmmakers purposely prevented getting mired within the technicalities of the blockchain, as an alternative specializing in the influence of CryptoPunks, each supporting and dissenting voices, and the rising attain of the gathering throughout the conventional artwork world. Even so, there have been some quirky parts to clarify, such because the glitched “V1 Punks” that have been deserted and changed, but live on on the blockchain.

“The problem was explaining extraordinarily advanced issues—just like the V1 Punks—to folks unfamiliar with [the crypto] world,” mentioned Martin-Delpierre. “We sought the suitable narrative kind to do that as a result of these key moments assist [people] higher perceive how artwork capabilities on the blockchain. This is not a movie concerning the Punks; it is concerning the journey of three modern artists.”

“From the beginning, we wished to transcend a easy success story, to delve deeper into the event of artwork on the blockchain,” Lustigman added. “Robness joined halfway and echoed Matt and John’s trajectory: artists preventing for his or her artwork to be seen and acknowledged. He acts as a catalyst.”

CryptoPunks launched earlier than most poeple knew what NFTs have been, then blew up and generated billions of {dollars} in buying and selling quantity—however have seen cooling buying and selling momentum over the past couple years, regardless of the occasional large sale that also turns heads and grabs headlines. The documentary covers the highs and lows amid that rollercoaster trajectory.

As filmmakers, they have been additionally tasked with telling a narrative of a comparatively area of interest venture—aiming to each honor and fulfill that group of followers whereas additionally increasing its attain and produce that story to a a lot wider viewers.

“As documentarians, we take a broad view and ask questions,” they mentioned in a joint response. “We’re neither professional nor anti-NFT. We merely wish to present this materials to most people—to allow them to kind their very own opinions with out cultural biases. This movie is a snapshot of our time: Inventive, considerably naïve folks being both swallowed up or preventing towards overwhelming forces.”

“What the Punk” was launched internationally on June 11 on VIMEO OTT for a restricted 3-month interval and on ARTE in France and Germany. The European Premiere was held on June 11 throughout Artwork Basel 2024, as a part of Digital Artwork Mile, a brand new digital artwork truthful format in Basel.