The Price of Oil

This series is inspired by the works of Sol LeWitt, Paul Kremmer, Gerold Miller, and Andy Warhol; fxhash projects Lost Twins by Yazid, Hexagones - Art for Bots by Rev Dan Catt, Cuts by Todemashi; and also that old iPod campaign with the silhouettes of people dancing around on colourful backgrounds.

The animated cylinders were initially meant to represent an infographic that might display the current price of (or demand for) oil, or an oil companies’ profits in their digital annual report, or an oil-rich nation’s GDP, or post-industrial revolution global climate measurements. By varying the diameter and length of the cylinders throughout the series, many other oil-related themes spring forth: a barrel of oil, a storage tank, a pipeline, a transport truck, a train car, a smokestack, a tailpipe—or a myriad of oil byproducts: a can of paint, a plastic cup, a pastel/crayon, a pill, a button, a trash bin, a water pipe, a tire, a smart speaker, a nerf dart, a hockey puck, a straw, an above ground swimming pool, etc. “The price of oil” refers to the duality of our relationship with oil — it can improve the quality of life for many, or be used to enrich a few; it can be traded and transported all over the world, but sometimes it spills and makes an awful mess; it can be used to create an endless array of materials and products, but many end up in landfills or oceans.

While making this algorithm and watching hundreds of cylinders grow I found myself constantly making a pop sound effect right when the top layer would fill in, so I decided to record and incorporate it to the piece. I hope you enjoy your output and thank you for your support.

Fluctuating Commodity Price: The starting price will be determined by a Price of Oil number generator that will select a starting cost between 0.5 - 1.5 tez (inspired by Zancan’s 8bidous), and then rerolled each day with a possible increase or decrease of up to 0.25 tez until minted out or burnt. When the daily price adjustment is rolled, the generator will also have a 1 in 50 chance to trigger a burn countdown, which will initiate the last price cycle and any remaining editions will be burnt 24 hours later. A poster with the current day’s price and number remaining editions will be posted to my twitter account and in the fxhash #promotions discord channel.

Follow me on twitter or instagram @fauxjebus.

Co-released in partnership with Rasterly May 10, 2022.