Frederik De Wilde CryptoSpirits

CryptoSpirits

CryptoSpirits: Animism, Environmental Data, and the Digital Sublime

“Because data exists in an intangible space, the only way to coax it into the physical world is through artistic expression—just as our ancestors found new ways to create meaning with pigment and stone.”
— The Age of Data: Embracing Algorithms in Art and Design

Conceptual Framework

CryptoSpirits is an ongoing exploration at the intersection of contemporary technology, ancient animistic traditions, and the environmental crises of the Anthropocene. Through the creation of dynamic, data-driven NFTs, the project examines how pollution—often an invisible yet pervasive force—can be rendered into aesthetic, symbolic, and tangible form.

The project’s foundation is twofold: first, it employs real-time environmental data, gathered primarily from polluted sites, to generate digital artworks that visually articulate ecological degradation. Second, it seeks to democratize access to state-of-the-art technologies by developing a low-cost, portable solution that empowers communities to engage in environmental monitoring. By embedding artificial intelligence (Jetson Nano) and leveraging blockchain technology, CryptoSpirits merges artistic innovation with social and ecological activism.

Using a combination of custom hardware, sensors, and computational algorithms, the project transforms environmental pollutants into dynamic NFTs. These digital entities serve as real-time indicators of ecological health, preserving historical climate data within a decentralized and immutable blockchain framework. The result is a fusion of generative abstraction and empirical data, translating invisible environmental threats into perceptible aesthetic forms.

Aesthetic and Art Historical Resonances

The visual language of CryptoSpirits is shaped by a confluence of historical and contemporary artistic traditions. Each series within the project draws upon specific formal references, ranging from the intricate geometric patterns of Islamic and Renaissance textiles to the glitch aesthetics of digital culture and the chromatic fields of modern abstraction.

Data Weaving: The Textile-Computing Continuum

One of the project’s key installments, Data Weaving, engages with the historical entanglement of weaving and computation. The Jacquard loom (1801), which encoded weaving instructions via punched cards, is widely regarded as a proto-computational device, directly influencing Charles Babbage’s design of the Analytical Engine (1834)—a foundational moment in the history of algorithmic thought. The punched card system, integral to both the loom and early computers, persisted as a programming tool well into the 20th century.

In Data Weaving, this interrelation is materially reinterpreted: a phygital artwork (comprising an NFT and a corresponding Jacquard-woven tapestry) embodies the deep historical link between Eastern and Western textile traditions and their algorithmic counterparts. The generative patterns emerging from environmental data mirror the algorithmic logic of historical weaving, underscoring the continuity between analog and digital modes of knowledge transmission.

The ultimate manifestation of this project, the Magnum Opus, is conceived as a digital deity—an emergent entity generated from numerous dynamic NFTs sourced from pollution recordings across the globe. This monumental work will also have a physical counterpart in the form of an intricately woven tapestry, reinforcing the dialogue between materiality and immateriality.

For more information and existing iterations:

Philosophical Framework: The Cyber Sublime and Techno-Animism

CryptoSpirits operates within the conceptual landscape of the cyber sublime—a philosophical framework that encapsulates the awe, disorientation, and transcendental experience elicited by emerging digital technologies. As theorized by Vincent Mosco in The Digital Sublime: Myth, Power, and Cyberspace, the technological sublime mirrors earlier artistic and philosophical responses to vast, unknowable forces, from the natural sublime of Romanticism to the industrial sublime of modernity.

Simultaneously, the project is deeply rooted in techno-animism—a worldview in which technology, human consciousness, and spiritual forces are integrated into a unified system. Here, environmental NFTs function as contemporary digital deities, embodying the health of specific ecological sites and serving as both aesthetic artifacts and ritualized data memorials. Through this lens, CryptoSpirits extends animistic traditions into the digital domain, reconfiguring blockchain technology as a medium for ecological reverence and intervention.

Technical Infrastructure

Hardware Components

Gas Sensors:
- MQ2 (Methane, Butane, LPG, smoke)
- MQ4 (Methane, CNG gas)
- MQ5 (Natural gas, LPG)
- MQ9 (Carbon Monoxide, flammable gases)
Water Pollution Sensor (newly integrated)
SHTC3 Digital Temperature & Humidity Sensor
Microcontrollers: Arduino Mega, Jetson Nano, Raspberry Pi

Software Components

The project employs Glumpy, a scientific visualization library that integrates OpenGL and Numpy, ensuring seamless multi-platform functionality (including compatibility with Raspberry Pi, Jetson Nano, and Windows).

The core data visualization algorithm follows a structured pipeline:

Data Acquisition: Environmental sensor data is read into a multidimensional array.
Dimensionality Reduction: t-SNE and K-Means clustering algorithms condense the dataset into three-dimensional visual representations.
Clustering & Color Mapping:
- The dataset is divided into four clusters, each assigned a distinct color.
- Overlapping signals generate dynamic visual effects, with increasing environmental deviation amplifying the distortion.
- Water quality readings dictate color shifts: degraded water correlates with a shift toward red, while purer conditions shift toward blue.

Key Software Components for Jetson Nano:

/home/user/cspirits/ → Core directory
Configs.py → Adjustable parameters (resolution, video storage, data limits)
Controller.py → Initiates rendering and playback processes
Main.py → Governs sensor data collection, processing, and visualization
/demo/index.js → JavaScript + GLSL script for generative animation

Automated Workflow:

Web player loops recent dataviz and art videos.
Concurrent data accumulation and visualization rendering.
On completion, the gif art video renderer initiates via web-based GLSL scripting.
Upon completion, the gif converts to MP4 format.
The updated video files replace the previous iteration, and the cycle repeats.

CryptoSpirits and the Future of Environmental NFTs

In the evolving landscape of digital art, CryptoSpirits positions itself at the vanguard of environmental NFTs—transforming abstract ecological data into aesthetic, interactive, and immutable digital artifacts. By forging connections between blockchain technology and animistic traditions, the project reimagines NFTs not merely as speculative assets but as ecological inscriptions—data-driven spirits that bear witness to environmental change.

Through its engagement with digital animism, textile-computational legacies, and the cyber sublime, CryptoSpiritsoffers a radical reconceptualization of how art, technology, and ecology intersect. By making visible the unseen forces shaping our planetary future, the project provokes critical reflection on the nature of environmental responsibility, technological agency, and the evolving role of digital art in the Anthropocene.