An Introduction to Autoglyph

What is a framework or application of technology that would assist in the maximisation of individual liberty? Autoglyph is a speculative future about a fully automated society where cultural activity revolves entirely around an exchange and creative play with tokenized images. These ‘Autoglyphs’ function both as a manner of currency and as components of the world’s self-assembling architecture, incentivizing a physical engagement with highly democratized built spaces, and a nomadic exploration of the sprawling labyrinths and leisure chambers in its metropolitan centers. Taking inspiration from Vilhem Flusser’s vision of an application of technology that could ‘bring an end to the traditionally oppressive relationship between image creators and image consumers’, Autoglyphs are often windows into customizable virtual worlds and visual ecosystems. They cross-pollinate their displays and can be rearranged upon and attached to nearly everything; from cosmetics to clothing, to the public monuments dotted throughout the world’s artificial landscapes. Corridor walls undulate in response to events both physical and digital, and every surface is encrusted with opportunities for unexpected adventures. The project has developed in parallel this year to a boom in an economy of non-fungible tokens, anticipating a convergence of modular robotics, machine learning, digital media, and finance, in a future where lifestyle and aesthetics are explicitly categorized, inventoried, and produced.