"In the end, we’re all here for the art." This week we chatted with @antagonist4ever, who’s building a collection shaped by early AI, generative art, and cultural memory. Read below 👇

🔵 How long have you been collecting digital art? When and how did you start collecting on objkt? A4: I wouldn’t say I was there at the very beginning... but I was early enough to form my own idea of how to build a collection, rather than following the mainstream. In August 2021, shortly after registering my handle for a Tezos name, I acquired works by Memo Akten @memoakten and Mario Klingemann @quasimondo on Tezos. On objkt, some of my first acquisitions were a 1/1 by Frederik Vanhoutte @wblut and the Alps series by Leander Herzog @lennyjpg. Shortly after the works by Memo Akten and Mario Klingemann, I acquired a piece by Sofia Crespo @soficrespo91 on Ethereum, followed by a work from Refik Anadol @refikanadol. At that point, I thought: this is a good starting portfolio for AI art. On fxhash, there was genuine excitement around projects like Garden Monolith by Zancan @zancan, Dragon by William Mapan @williamapan, or Uninhabitable by Iskra Velitchkova @pointline_. At the same time, I was fascinated by experiments that felt truly unique...like the TeleNFT drop, broadcasted on German teletext in January 2022 and preserved on-chain. Or the works of Kim Asendorf @kimasendorf, especially Monogrid (I could watch it for hours, waiting to be surprised by the next move of the pixels). That’s when I started researching more systematically. I wanted to understand which artists were globally important, and why. The deeper I went, the clearer it became to me that certain figures were creating something truly special...shaping an entirely new medium before anyone knew what its future would look like. And to be honest: I’ve always collected chain-agnostic. For me, there are periods of time where sweet spots can be found on different chains and marketplaces. Tezos has been one of those, offering both discovery and depth. What struck me early on was the price gap between Ethereum and Tezos... sometimes only justified by provenance. Tezos has true grails, but for a long time they weren’t treated as such. For me, that felt like a contradiction: I thought we were all here for the art. 🖼️ Pictured: Quantum Vacuum #442 by @memoakten

🔵 What’s one piece in your Tezos collection that means a lot to you? A4: Several works hold a special meaning for me. The acquisitions of Memo Akten @memoakten and Mario Klingemann @quasimondo in August 2021 were foundational...they set the tone for everything that followed. I’m also deeply grateful for Sarah_Giaco by Mike Tyka @mtyka, which represents an important moment in the evolution of AI art. Beyond that, I value early works by @RiversHaveWings and @advadnoun, both of whom explored AI before they were widely understood. And there are many others: artists who found AI as their medium and pushed it into unexpected directions. Together, they chart the contours of a field still in the making. 🖼️ Pictured: 0xFACE01.599BAFC9147B by @quasimondo

🔵 We notice you have a particular interest in early GAN or AI art — is that correct? When did it start, and why? A4: Yes. In 2021 I acquired works by Memo Akten @memoakten, Mario Klingemann @quasimondo, Sofia Crespo @soficrespo91, Refik Anadol @refikanadol... and at that moment I thought: this feels like a good starting portfolio for AI art. For a while, my focus drifted more into generative art and fxhash. It wasn’t until mid to late 2023 that I consciously expanded my AI collection again. At that point I encountered the work of Mike Tyka @mtyka , Helena Sarin @NeuralBricolage, Linda Dounia @LindaDouniaR, Ivona Tau @ivonatau, and others... artists who each opened up a different dimension of what AI art could be. Looking back, I see the pioneers of AI art as working with tools that were new to everyone, without a roadmap. RNN, CNN, GANs: these weren’t just techniques, they were turning points. They mark the moments when machines began shifting from tools to collaborators. Collecting and documenting these works became central to me. Without mapping these early epochs, a whole cultural layer risked disappearing. That conviction is what ultimately led me to shape Eternal Opposition as a collection. 🖼️ Pictured: Mami Watta by @LindaDouniaR

🔵 In your opinion, which artists on objkt deserve more recognition? A4: I think everyone develops their own taste, and that’s part of what makes this space so rich. For me, the best way to share what I believe deserves recognition is through my own collection. If you’re curious, you can look into my wallets or visit my online gallery (linked in my pinned tweet). You’ll probably find a lot there. 🖼️ Pictured: Mythic Latent Glitches #188 by @ivonatau