When Code Becomes Canvas
Born from the early experiments of blockchain art, bootloader: revives the overlooked expressive potential of SVG and JavaScript.
Projects pictured: (Top) Nanoholiday by Piter Pasma, Meditations in Color by Pixel Symphony, Polygon by loackme; (Bottom) Sashiko by LIA, Yesterday by qubibi, WarpField by Tezumie
Developed by the team behind objkt, bootloader: positions itself as an experimental, fully open-source platform on Tezos, designed to revive and extend the possibilities of long-form minting. Its transparent and flexible framework offers artists, collectors, and creative coders a tool that is both technically precise and artistically empowering.
The concept of embedding executable code within an SVG has deeper roots in blockchain art, and bootloader: reintroduces this idea in a deliberately minimal and open format. Rather than packaging work in polished interfaces, it exposes the generative system itself. The code sits side by side with the resulting visual, allowing collectors to see not just the artifact but the algorithm that produces it. Each mint stores a full SVG code, seed, and mint number directly on-chain. The artwork is not a static file but a living script, replaying its instructions to regenerate the same image every time, preserving both artifact and algorithm.
In this open framework, collections like Polygon by loackme show how minimal code can yield striking variations. With just a few lines of JavaScript, the generator defines the SVG canvas as a normalized square, and lays down a white rectangle as background. It then calculates between 10 and 40 random coordinate pairs using a deterministic random function. These points are stitched into a polygon element, producing angular, hard-edged forms that remain sharp across iterations. The simplicity of the logic places emphasis squarely on geometry itself. Each seed reconfigures the polygon, turning randomness into endlessly recomposed variations of pure form.
In contrast, WarpField by Tezumie expands bootloader:’s possibilities into painterly terrain. Here, the geometry begins with circles but is warped by smooth noise functions, bending into fluid, amoebic contours. The code is long and intricate, defining gradients, palettes, and interpolation methods that layer depth and motion into the image. The result is not angular clarity but organic complexity, flowing in composition.
Meanwhile, in Meditations in Color, Pixel Symphony constructs precise grid-aware compositions. The script divides the canvas into bold color fields with rectangles, circles, and quarter-arcs, then selects from predefined five-color palettes that are lightly mutated to keep each seed unique yet harmonious. Over this geometry, hundreds of flowing curves are drawn with soft-light blending, introducing a delicate texture that enriches the surface without obscuring the underlying structure. The result is a measured interplay of form, color, and texture that highlights the algorithm’s balance and restraint.
As a platform, bootloader: sits at the intersection of experimental coding culture and the collectible art economy. It combines the spirit of early net art, where process was as important as output, with a clear economic framework. Storage is priced transparently at 250 mutez per byte. This makes code itself part of the aesthetic: every line break, indentation, and naming choice leaves a permanent trace in both the cost and visual legacy of the work.
By lowering barriers to experimentation while ensuring permanence and transparency, bootloader: establishes itself as a hub for open, innovative generative art. It is a statement: art as algorithm, artifact, and community, carried forward on-chain.