06 Jul Pixel art: Closed State Piyupil

by @GeranKlim

This article was written by @GeranKlim and was originally published here in Russian – thank you Klim for sending this in!

“Closed State Piyupil” is an exhibition that is a project from Yusuke Takasaki (who wrote the code) and Hermippe (who recreated pixel art into art).

_{In the photo on the right is Yusuke Takasaki and on the left is Hermippe.}

Pixel graphics (low resolution) powered by the NEM blockchain, the work of a new genre called blockchain art.

The exhibition “Closed State Piyupil” was held at the Japanese art gallery “Asagaya VOID” from January 31 to February 17, 2019. Nine “Piyupil Tokens” were sold out before the end of the exhibition.

The interest of the people who came to see the exhibition was very diverse. Since “Closed State Piyupil” uses the NEM blockchain and users from the NEM community also came to see the exhibition. The article, written by the author of Nemuguma, who makes accessories with the NEM logo, received a lot of interest.

This is a project expressed by the fantasy location “Piyupil no Kuni” through pixel art and blockchain. It was possible to purchase digital data called “Piyupil People”.

The program operates using a laptop. You need to have a card with a QR code to get started with the system. Based on the address and QR-code, you get access to the pixel art, which is stored on the NEM blockchain, in the form of a “mosaic”.

Each pixel art has its own individual mosaic address. This means that if you recreate this data and it turns into pixel art.

Pixel art is a form of digital art in which changes are made at the pixel level, where a small amount of information is contained. Pixel art is still popular in games and as an art style associated with video game graphics from the 80s and 90s.

Pixel Art “Closed State Piyupil” is classed as a work of art (NFT) and can be purchased. On the blockchain, only the owner of the private key can transfer his NFT token (work of art) to another user. The important point here is that the pixel art data itself is written to the NEM blockchain.

“With the invention of the blockchain, every digital pixel can be identified, tracked and programmed. Today’s artists are just beginning to embrace this format, which starts on the Internet and culminates in the real world, and its development is a new social and artistic experience.”
The reason blockchain is used in works of art is to perpetuate pixel art and transfer ownership. If you buy NFT art, then the blockchain will prove that this work of art belongs only to you and not to others. As long as the NEM blockchain exists, the pixel art records will remain and no one can erase it. Pixel art consists of a 128 x 64 pixel binary format. That is, there is very little data and the NEM mosaic uses this data to record ownership of the blockchain. More details here.

The reason Takasaki used NEM for his work is because it was easy to fix bugs thanks to the NEM architecture. For example, in ERC-721 Ethereum, contracts are implemented as intra-chain contracts (programs that are managed and continue to run on the blockchain). Network contracts require careful validation due to security issues and cannot be updated quickly. Therefore, when using the NEM architectural style, changes are made safely and quickly, which was a good reason why Takasaki chose NEM.

Of course, on-chain and off-chain contracts have different goals and characteristics and cannot be compared. Therefore, you should choose depending on what the emphasis is on in the development project.

Persistent data

In the field of NFT games, Ethereum ERC-721 is used for in-game assets (including characters). The first known game was CryptoKitties, and among the Japanese industry – My Crypto Heroes. However, in these games, character parameters are stored in the blockchain, and the image data expressing the character is stored outside the blockchain.

Takasaki said: “If the image data is off-chain, it cannot be called permanent data, as it may someday disappear. The data on the blockchain must be persistent. Recently, many websites have disappeared due to the discontinuation of Yahoo! Geocities. Therefore, if you think that the Internet is a secure infrastructure for storing data, then you are mistaken, because something can happen and the data stored outside will be lost. ”

Additional links

「閉鎖国家ピユピル」は、高崎悠介氏（コード）とヘルミッペ氏（アート）による、ピクセルアートとNEMブロックチェーンを組み合わせた作品である。1枚1枚のピクセルアートを、モザイクを応用したNFT（非代替トークン）として表現している。#NEM #Symbolhttps://t.co/YJ95LeP7M4

— ? NEMの学校（bot） (@SchoolofNEM) July 5, 2021

https://crypto.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/column/akiohoshi/1171564.html

https://mobile.twitter.com/nembear/status/1116914877547679745

https://nemlog.nem.social/blog/19969

https://www.cinra.net/news/20190129-heisakokkapiyupiru