Hyperrhiz 29

Choreography over Cryptography: Operator’s Human Unreadable and the Evolution of Art in the Digital Age

Ridvan Özkerim

Citation: Özkerim, Ridvan. “Choreography over Cryptography: Operator’s Human Unreadable and the Evolution of Art in the Digital Age.” Hyperrhiz: New Media Cultures, no. 29, 2025. doi:10.20415/hyp/029.e06

Abstract: This paper analyses Operator’s seminal three-act generative art piece Human Unreadable, which critically examines the evolving intersection of performance art, blockchain technology, and notions of privacy, ownership and collectibility in the digital age. Operator redefines the notion of artistic resource and interactivity by transforming ephemeral human choreography into permanent but initially veiled on-chain digital entities. The work triggers the idea of drawing parallels between open source software and the notion of “open choreography,” while simultaneously navigating the complex legal debates surrounding copyright for digital art and embodied performance. Overall, Human Unreadable is an intriguing case study for understanding how art is adapting to and shaping an increasingly “phigital” world. It pushes the boundaries of traditional artistic definitions and anticipates future interdisciplinary practices.

Keywords: privacy, on-chain algorithmic generative artwork, non-fungible token, operator, human unreadable, choreography, obfuscation, collectibility.

Introduction

Blockchain technology is becoming increasingly present in the contemporary art scene, as human creativity and technological innovation intertwine.

In this dynamic environment, the artist duo of Ania Catherine and Dejha Ti, known as Operator, has emerged as an important voice that critically approaches the evolving relationship between the body, technology and the often blurred spaces of privacy and transparency. With an interdisciplinary background, Human Unreadable, through choreography, human-computer interaction, NFT and generative form, has transformed ephemeral performance art far beyond video and sound recording into collectible.

Indeed, what makes Operator special is that they are not just digital or performance artists, but artists who skilfully and thoughtfully combine these disciplines with cutting-edge technology, particularly blockchain, to create unique and impactful works that provoke critical thought and offer new ways of experiencing and appreciating art. This unique fusion, the bridge between the physical and the digital (phigital) is a fundamental element of their practice.

Attempts to Control the Internet and Freedom Debates

In fact, there are approaches that argue that the Internet should be free by its very nature, as well as approaches that argue that it should be controlled. While some approaches advocate internet ‘freedom’ as a matter of personal rights and freedoms, others advocate deliberately leaving backdoors to facilitate traceability and a ‘freedom’ that facilitates silent surveillance.

In addition to the centralized server-client architecture and traceability, the spread of P2P (peer-to-peer) architecture among internet users has unsettled the ruling class for the above reasons. As a matter of fact, torrenting, one of the most common examples of P2P architecture, has been banned in many institutions (Wikipedia, 2025).

Blockchain, another P2P technology, was developed 20 years ago and is now discussed by everyone. It has likewise been banned by sovereigns and used and supported mostly by property owners and states due to its direct impact on the economy (Wikipedia, n.d.).

Bitcoin, which operates on a decentralized and borderless blockchain, and the alternative cryptocurrencies that emerged afterwards, have acquired the ability to trade property owing to NFT technology, which was also developed on the same blockchain.

Thus, while it could have a closed economy within itself, it also interacted with the financial sectors of countries thanks to some experimental Bitcoin ATMs and various crypto exchanges.

The indirect commercial relationship with the outside world, which started with the example of buying pizza (Bitcointalk.org user, July 2010) before NFT technology, turned into a direct relationship after NFT technology and crypto exchanges.

We can say that interest in blockchain technology has increased since the advent of NFT technology, and that this has also yielded an economic return.

The Rise of NFTs and New Directions in the Art World

NFTs first emerged through graphic designs that we can call natively digital, or digital-born. As CryptoPunks became popular, many artists digitized their existing artwork and transferred it to the blockchain as NFTs.

On the one hand, interdisciplinary studies are increasing alongside innovations in the art world. On the other hand, we have entered a period in which many things intersect with technology. Although a legal system based on the concept of property has developed in many parts of the world, legal regulations for artworks and relatively new digital assets have not developed to the same extent.

The debate over ownership of source code, which can be considered the basis of digital assets, has a long and deep-rooted history. Companies, organizations and individuals have various views on issues such as free software, open source code and obfuscation, and take different positions in accordance with these views. In this period when our privacy in both the physical and digital worlds is under threat, Dual Operator’s Human Unreadable, a long-form algorithmic generative artwork on blockchain, puts forward a concrete work to advance the discussions on the issues we mentioned.

Human Unreadable: A Conceptual Journey

Ania Catherine, who has a background in dance, choreography and performance art, and Dejha Ti, who has experience in human-computer interaction, came together in Los Angeles in 2016 to form Dual Operator.

Conceptual Evolution of Human Unreadable: The project consists of three acts (Catherine, and Dejha, 2023):

I-) Act One: Revealing (Art Blocks Mint)

• Platform: Art Blocks (on-chain generative art platform).
• Medium: Generative art output printed as NFT.
• Process: The artwork is generated through code influenced by human movement data captured from Ania Catherine. This data is processed and algorithmically transformed.
• Visual Properties: The outputs are described as chaotic and visceral, containing elements of the human body (albeit obscured), generative glass-like forms and an x-ray shader. The human element is deliberately obscured or not immediately recognizable.
• Conceptual Focus: This pitch presents the first layer of the artwork where the underlying human movement is concealed. It acts as a ‘veil’ that conceals the generative dance.

II-) Act Two: Decipher (Choreographic Score)

• Platform: On-chain and accessible to collectors who have printed Act One’s NFTs.
• Medium: A unique choreographic score, linked to a specific piece of Act One artwork, that exists on the blockchain.
• Process: An algorithm interprets the movement data associated with the Act One artwork to generate a movement sequence. This sequence is then visually represented as a choreographic score.
• Visual Features: The scores are hand-drawn stick-man figures that depict the movements that make up the corresponding Act One visual output.
• Conceptual focus: This screen offers a ‘peek behind the curtain’ of Act One, revealing the human movement that informs the generative art. It combines abstract visual output with original human action. The score is a concrete representation of the immaterial dance.

III-) Act Three: Witness (Live Performance)

• Platform: Physical performance spaces.
• Medium: A live dance performance interpreted from the choreographic scores of Act Two on the Chain.
• Process: Dancers learn and perform choreography based on movement sequences coded in the Act Two scores.
• Visual/experimental characteristics: This act reveals the hidden human element. It is the culmination of the artwork, in which the audience directly experiences the original movement that initiated the entire process. The layers of concealment are removed.
• Conceptual focus: This piece represents the ‘slow healing of human beings.’ It completes the cycle of the artwork by making embodied movement visible and tangible. It highlights the relationship between digital representation and the physical reality of dance.

The Role of Blockchain as an Artistic Medium and Environmental Impacts

Operator’s choice of blockchain technology as the core tool for Human Unreadable is not merely a stylistic or market-driven decision; it is deeply intertwined with the conceptual foundations of the project. The adoption of blockchain technology inevitably raises critical questions about its environmental impact, particularly with regard to the energy consumption associated with different consensus mechanisms. Although Operator acknowledges these concerns and emphasizes the shift towards more sustainable alternatives, such as Proof-of-Stake, the ethical implications of using energy-intensive technologies for artistic creation continue to be a pertinent topic of debate.

Thematic Depth: Privacy, Transparency and Traces of Human Presence

The thematic landscape of Human Unreadable is rich and multifaceted. The project addresses the complex relationship between privacy and transparency in an increasingly surveilled and data-driven world. While the deliberate obfuscation in Act 1 may be seen as a reflection on the concealment and encoding of personal data in digital spaces, the subsequent processes of deciphering and bearing witness imply the gradual revelation of the individual within these systems. This dynamic creates a unique “intimate relationship” between the operator and the audience of the artwork, especially collectors, who are given privileged access to deeper layers of meaning via the score on the chain. The three-act structure’s inherent delayed gratification further intensifies this relationship, encouraging anticipation and deeper engagement with the artwork's unfolding narrative.

Copyright and Collection Building Paradigm

The historical trajectory of copyright law, particularly in relation to choreography, provides an important context for understanding the significance of Human Unreadable. The gradual recognition of dance as a copyrightable art form through landmark cases and legal developments underscores the ongoing struggle to define and protect intangible creative expression. Operator’s work offers a new approach to establishing ownership and provenance for performance-based art, going beyond traditional documentation methods by encoding choreographic data on blockchain and linking it to a unique digital asset. This raises intriguing questions about the applicability and potential evolution of copyright regulations in response to such technologically innovative artistic practices. With its on-chain choreographic scores, Human Unreadable can be seen as a new step in this direction, exploring the possibilities of encoding and sharing choreographic information digitally and in a potentially more accessible format. Of particular interest is the question of whether Human Unreadable will lead to the creation of a new notation system for choreography. The algorithmic processes underlying the motion capture data and generating these scores have the potential to develop more standardized and machine-readable forms of dance notation. This in turn could influence a debate about whether creating a notation system inevitably mechanizes dance, and draw parallels with the relationship between music notation and music performance. Just as music notation provides a framework for interpretation without fully capturing every nuance, a new digital choreographic notation could offer a balance between precision and artistic freedom.

Open Source Philosophy and Its Reflections on Choreography

We can draw an analogy between the philosophical tensions between obfuscation, used in the first phase of Human Unreadable, and disclosure, used in the last phase, between copyright and open source software principles that advocate transparency and accessibility. Obfuscation is a method used to make copyright-licensed source code difficult to understand. On the other hand, the philosophy of free software advocates open and comprehensible source code to increase productivity and contribution, allowing collective production to spread rather than relying on individual talent and dominant centers (Berry, 2008). Based on this analogy, a new notation system could be developed by standardizing and disseminating the choreographic scoring method created by Operator, enabling other choreographers to use it. In fact, the Opera de Paris's Coddess Variations was the first example of this (Operator, 2024).

Just like public code on a Git server, these scores can be used, modified, improved and reproduced by other participants. This allows us to introduce the concept of 'open choreography'. This would provide a basis for licensing and protecting existing choreography, as well as developing new choreography more efficiently.

The Position of Human Unreadable in Art History and Its Impact on the Future

Rather than adhering strictly to traditional art-historical categories, Operator establishes its own identity by engaging actively with the contemporary cultural landscape and technological evolution. As artist Ania Catherine explains, rather than focusing on specific technologies, Operator’s work seeks to understand where culture emerges and spreads. This approach situates art within cultural and technological transformations rather than defining it solely by the medium used.

Operator’s practice builds on the historical legacy of performance art while pioneering the emerging field of digital and blockchain-based art. His work builds on the conceptual explorations of early performance artists who challenged traditional art forms and embraced ephemerality and corporeality. At the same time, they contribute to a pioneering history that explores new aesthetic and conceptual possibilities of on-chain generative art, using blockchain technology to redefine artistic ownership and experience.

Deciphering the Body in the Digital Age and Expanding the Boundaries of Art

In conclusion, the innovative approach of Human Unreadable and Operator has important implications for the future of performance art. By exploring new methods of capturing, encoding and disseminating embodied movements using digital technologies, they are challenging the inherent limitations of ephemerality and opening up new possibilities for preservation, collectibility and audience engagement.

Operator’s Human Unreadable suggests a future in which performance art can transcend the boundaries of physical presence and temporal constraints, existing as dynamic data sets capable of generating diverse artistic experiences in both the digital and physical realms. The legacy of ‘Unreadable Human’ may lie in its pioneering role in bridging the tangible and the intangible, the embodied and the digital, and in paving the way for a new era of interconnected and evolving artistic practices.

References

Berry, David M. Copy, Rip, Burn: The Politics of Copyleft and Open Source. Pluto Press, 2008.

Bitcointalk.org user. “Message 1195.” Bitcointalk.org, July 2010, bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=137.msg1195.

Catherine, Ania, and Dejha Ti. Human Unreadable. Operator, 24 Nov. 2023, operator.la/human-unreadable.

“Countries Blocking Access to The Pirate Bay.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 June 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countries_blocking_access_to_The_Pirate_Bay. Accessed 7 July 2025.

“Legality of Cryptocurrency by Country or Territory.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, n.d., en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cryptocurrency_by_country_or_territory.

Operator. Coddess Variations | Opera de Paris. Operator, 26 Sept. 2024, operator.la/blog/coddess-variations-opera-de-paris.

Moritz, Wendl, My Hanh Doan, and Remmer Sassen. ”The environmental impact of cryptocurrencies using proof of work and proof of stake consensus algorithms: A systematic review.” Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 326, Part A, 2023, doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116530.