The Absurd Work

Render as bands (experiment)

Render as voxels (experiment)

Description

The Absurd Work is a counter toward every possible image in a 16×16 grid: 2256, or 115,792,089,237,316,195,423,570,985,008,687,907,853,269,984,665,640,564,039,457,584,007,913,129,639,936 possibilities, to be exact. The counter increments through the work done by participants, by clicking a button, or blinking, in this context. Can 8,300,000,000 humans (as of 2026) perform that much work? Should we work anyway, regardless of the outcome?

Each work produces a unique pixelated image, each carrying meaning through its visual, the act that generated it, or whatever was in the participant’s mind at that moment. I hope the pleasure of looking at these images might help us endure the absurdity of these works. Read more at blog.

This project draws inspiration from Every Icon (1996) by John F. Simon.

Explorer and Discoverer

Alongside The Absurd Work, I built the Explorer, a tool to browse the images the grid has shown so far. While exploring, if you find a grid pattern that feels meaningful to you, you can collect it as an NFT and become its Discoverer, and leave an inscription that will appear next to the image. Each pattern can be discovered only once. This feature lets collectors support the project as patrons. I truly appreciate everyone who helps keep The Absurd Work running.

Note on NFT

  1. Mint fee is 0.01 ETH.
  2. This NFT collection includes a 5% royalty on all secondary sales. These proceeds go directly to the original creator, Norun, to support ongoing work.
  3. Contract: 0xeaB574d06282F1b7ecA24C7495597de8D3508e6B

Modular Absurd Work

The heart of The Absurd Work is its counter, which converts work (input) into possibility (output) within a 2256 space. Any incremental action can function as input—a click, a step, a blink, a shake. Output may take visual or audio form, generated by algorithms capable of exploring a 256-bit space: a 16×16 grid, 8×8×4 voxels, or other computational representations.

The Absurd Work is therefore modular: multiple input and output systems can be created by anyone. Details on API connecting to the project.