Le Random

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/melanie-lenz-generativity-and-vera-molnar-at-the-va

In this episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) speaks with Melanie Lenz, Curator of Digital Art at the V&A, about Vera Molnár and Degrees of Disruption: Vera Molnar and Generative Art, her display at V&A South Kensington, open until May 2027.

They follow Molnár's practice per the show's layout. It goes from her early geometric paintings in Paris through the machine imaginaire, her first access to a computer in 1968 and decades of plotter work. Lenz explains how the display draws on the V&A's computer art holdings, including the Computer Arts Society and Patric Prince collections, and why it closes with contemporary artists such as Casey Reas, Harm van den Dorpel, Licia He, William Mapan and Entangled Others.

They also discuss how museums show the process behind computer art, the stigma around artists who work with machines, and why Lenz avoids the word "pioneer."

Read our editorial, Degrees of Disruption: Vera Molnár at the V&A

The display runs at V&A South Kensington until 30 May 2027, free: https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/degrees-of-disruption-vera-molnar-and-generative-art

Chapters 📖:
00:00 Introduction
01:31 Why Vera Molnár, why now
05:12 Disruption as a way of life
07:31 Paris and the output space
11:25 Rules, art history and the art world
14:39 GRAV, François and agency
18:31 Entangled Others and generative AI
23:51 Showing the process
27:43 The machine imaginaire
30:55 Getting the computer
33:43 Generative principles today
37:36 Rules and learned models
41:51 The P word
44:37 Stories still to tell

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/ai-psychosis-summit-macy-gettles-quasimatt-and-kevin-esherick

In this episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) speaks with Macy Gettles, Quasimatt and Kevin Esherick about the community around the AI Psychosis Summit that took place in Downtown NYC, April 30, 2026.

They cover the origins of the community, from a memey, joke tweet to a packed Chinatown DIY community gathering. It's a scene where devs make art and artists ship products, where the point is the community rather than any individual art object. They also discuss managing AI euphoria with backlash, slop discourse and whether New York is over as Josh Kline's October article suggested.

Read Kevin's Monday Editorial with us, What Was the AI Psychosis Summit??

Chapters 📖:

00:00 What was the AI Psychosis Summit?

05:04 How AI showed up in the work

11:30 Facing the anti-AI backlash

16:58 Cottagecore, aesthetics and slop

25:08 The image in 2026. Process vs. concept

28:03 AI psychosis, defined

36:36 Founding myth: a joke tweet

38:23 The Kline essay: is New York art over?

46:50 Scene tech and the Shake app

53:07 'What's next' and where to find everyone

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/figure31-discussing-and-demonstrating-del

In this special video episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) speaks with artist Loucas Braconnier (Figure31). They discuss DEL, a two-year project that began life as a terminal-based C application with a "Grim Reaper" persona before becoming a browser-native work. It consists of globular "bodies for the Ethereum network" rendered in real time as ASCII art.

They go over Braconnier's path into blockchain art and his attraction to work that evolves over time, the discipline of building for longevity, and a wider conversation about how AI and new tools shift the artist's focus from technical skill toward conceptual intent. In the second half, Braconnier gives a live demo of the work and a visual walk-through, showing how its entities express network data through behaviors like twirling, meditating, or trying to escape the viewport.

Monday's Editorial: Jakob Kudsk Steensen on Non-Human Pathways

Chapters 📖

00:00 — Introduction: meet Loucas Braconnier (Figure31) and the work

01:02 — Finding blockchain: the spark that drew him to Ethereum

03:02 — Why blockchain: what it brings to art that evolves over time

05:30 — Sculpture Garden & "Traveler": protocol art and the contract's inner space

09:38 — How DEL relates: dialogue with and departure from his earlier work

15:19 — On-chain & longevity: immutability, repairability, committing to the future

18:22 — Two years of work: from a terminal "Grim Reaper" agent to the browser

22:07 — Bodies for Ethereum: liveliness, behaviors, giving voice to the network

25:53 — Live demo: walking through the main collection

28:58 — Reading behavior: behavior modes and the 3D object behind the ASCII

30:41 — Browser as space: native viewing, reproduction, and the original

34:35 — The data readouts: exposing configuration, logs, and block hashes

40:10 — Owner tuning: editing parameters and giving away control

44:57 — Custom sites: bespoke builds over marketplace platforms

51:00 — AI and making: technical skill versus conceptual intent

56:02 — Closing: final reflections and what comes next

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/new-york-frieze-week-michael-connor-regina-harsanyi-and-karyn-nakamura

In this episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) speaks with Regina Harsanyi (Associate Curator of Media Arts at the Museum of the Moving Image), Michael Connor, Executive Director of Rhizome, and artist Karyn Nakamura about Frieze Week in New York.

In particular the discussion focuses on the week's programs on May 16th, with Rhizome's 7 on 7 at New Museum, as well as MoMI's Open Worlds: An Afternoon of Digital Art Encounters.

They cover an anatomy of Frieze Week itself, (art fair, satellite fairs, Whitney Biennial, and all) before zeroing in on what each guest is bringing to the table. Connor traces the sixteen-year arc of 7x7, this year organized around the theme of "Containment." Nakamura discusses her own 7x7 project with Lucas Gelfond, which probes the geometry of meaning inside language models and the possibilities of interpretability research as artistic material. Harsanyi walks through the museum programming in depth.

See our "New York Digital Art Guide"

Monday's Editorial this week is an essay by Bauman on the relationship between protocol art and worldbuilding: The Cerebral Samba

Chapters 📖:

00:00:00 Intro

00:02:18 Frieze Week: What It Is and Why It Matters

00:07:20 The Saturday Battle Royale: 7x7 vs. MoMI

00:08:52 7x7: The Commons Residency and the "Containment" Theme

00:13:11 Karyn Nakamura: Interpretability as Artistic Material

00:16:19 MoMI x Tezos: Digital Materiality and the Fellowship

00:18:38 Edgar Fabian Frias and the Nureyka Performance

00:20:17 Travess Smalley's Pixel Rug Book and OONA

00:23:52 The Artist/Technologist Binary

00:35:20 Corporate Sponsorship and Artistic Subversion

00:38:27 The Josh Kline Essay: Real Estate and Art Quality

00:42:10 Rhea Meyers & Linda Dounia collaboration

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/strange-rules-and-protocol-art-at-the-venice-biennale

In this episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) speaks with artists Trevor Paglen and Primavera De Filippi about Protocol art.

The occasion is Strange Rules, the landmark group exhibition co-conceived by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Holly Herndon, and Mat Dryhurst, running at the Palazzo Diedo in Venice for the full duration of the Biennale. The show offers the most institutionally significant framing of protocol art to date, and Paglen and De Filippi represent two of its most distinct vantages.

The conversation opens with the question of how each artist situates their practice within the protocol framework. Paglen, long known as a revealer of hidden infrastructures, reflects on a career built between systems observation and systems intervention. He and on how his new work Voyager marks a turn inward, toward consciousness rather than exposure. De Filippi, a longtime Protocol art theorist and one of the few artists to self-define as a protocol artist, walks through her Protocolism Manifesto and the decade-long Plantoid project that preceded it, sharpening a key distinction: the difference between making art on top of a protocol and making the protocol itself as the creative act.

Meanwhile, our Monday Editorial with Shohei Fujimoto completes our Venice Biennale coverage for the week. (More to come!)

Chapters 📖:

00:00 Introduction & The Strange Rules Exhibition

01:39 Trevor Paglen's Work: Voyager and the Pivot Inward

02:49 Trevor Paglen on Protocol Art & Post-Minimal Influences

04:57 Primavera De Filippi Defines Protocol Art & the Protocolism Manifesto

08:13 Voyager Explained: AI That Hypnotizes You

10:22 Plantoid: The Self-Replicating Blockchain Sculpture

13:34 The Breadth of Protocol Art & the Venice Biennale as Platform

17:43 Why Protocol Art Is Rising: Generative AI & the Meta-Layer

20:57 Photography, Modernism & the Current AI Rupture

23:35 Capital-A Algorithm: Fear, Critique & Alternatives

26:36 Embracing the Algorithm: Open Source & Artistic Autonomy

30:05 Consciousness, Entanglement & Voyager's Six Journeys

33:41 Synthetic Life, Symbionts & Machine Qualia

39:05 Protocol Art as a Lens for Economics, Politics & Technology

42:34 Protocol vs. Instantiation, Copyright & Closing Thoughts

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/james-bridle-questioning-machine-intelligence

In this podcast episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) speaks with artist and writer James Bridle about what we actually mean when we say "intelligence." They discuss whether building our most powerful technologies around such a narrow version of it is a fundamental mistake.

They also unpack author Bridle's argument from Ways of Being that intelligence has always been a political construct, and that contemporary AI represents a reduction of a reduction. The conversation moves through the three effects Bridle sees AI concretely producing right now: consolidation of power, environmental destruction, and a spreading ontological crisis.

They end by widening to consciousness, ecological thinking, and what a genuinely non-human intelligence might actually require.

It is one of the more skeptical conversations Le Random has hosted on AI, and one of the most clarifying. Enjoy!

Monday's Editorial: Keiken on the Worldbuilding Lens

Chapters 📖:

00:00 Introduction: What Is Intelligence?

02:01 The Human Bias in How We Define Intelligence

08:03 Boosterism vs. Doomerism: Bridle's Dual Critique

15:10 Can Agentic AI Produce Ecological Intelligence?

20:07 Citizens' Assemblies and the Power of Diversity

24:37 Symbionts: A Third Way to Engage with AI?

29:55 AI Coding, Relationships, and What Actually Changes Us

36:16 Three Real Effects of AI: Power, Environment, Uncertainty

41:00 Art, Ethics, and the Glitch Residency

45:10 Consciousness Beyond Language: Mountains, Machines, and Standing Waves

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/kayvon-tehranian-and-sebastian-sanchez-digital-art-post-boom

In this special episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) speaks with Kayvon Tehranian (CEO and co-founder of Foundation and Rodeo) and Sebastian Sanchez (formerly Christie's Manager of Digital Art Sales, now independent advisor and curator) about the structural challenges of the digital art market following the 2021 NFT boom.

They discuss Foundation's recent sale to Blackdove and how Christie's, Sotheby's, and Rodeo have had to dissolve departments or shut down entirely because growth models built on crypto speculation proved unsustainable. The conversation explores where growth actually stalled and why none of the business models worked. Tehranian and Sanchez discuss what their organizations achieved, what can endure, and the need to rebuild from scratch.

In the end, this conversation moves into the lofty topics of digital art becoming independent of volatile crypto cycles, moving into physical displays, and developing self-sufficient institutions built through slow, intentional work by committed participants.

Chapters 📖:

00:00 Introduction

01:40 Are These Isolated Incidents or Symptoms?

09:52 The Business Model Problem

14:13 Crypto Speculation vs. Art Collecting

19:13 Why Are Auction Houses Pulling Away?

25:45 The Role of Institutions

30:56 Anti-Establishment Energy and What Endures

36:00 The Physical Display Problem

38:40 What Will Endure: Rooted Practices

43:55 How Close Was It to Being Sustainable?

48:02 Leaner Models and the Future

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/lawrence-lek-world-entry-points

In this special podcast episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random’s editor in chief) speaks with artist and filmmaker Lawrence Lek about NOX Pavilion at The Bass Museum of Art in Miami, an immersive installation centered on a self-driving car in a “therapy” program for malfunctioning AIs.

They unpack Lek’s long-running NOX universe: a speculative rehab center where care can slide into control, and where machine interiority is treated as a technical defect. The conversation moves from the politics of nonhuman rights and legal gray zones (“it depends”) to Lek’s recurring fascination with autonomous creative agency and what it would mean for an AI to make art as a choice that conflicts with its intended function.

In the second half, Lek and Bauman widen the lens to world-building: why a world isn’t one thing but multiple entry points, how ideas like Umwelt and worldview shape what any intelligence can perceive, and why Lek increasingly thinks of his simulations as “superficial models”—interfaces to reality rather than claims to foundational truth.

Monday’s Le Random Editorial: "Embodying AI at NeurIPS 2025: Creative AI Track" by Luba Elliott

and "Ian Cheng on Composing with Systems" by Peter Bauman

Chapters 📖:

00:00:00 Intro + Monday editorial highlights (NeurIPS / Luba Elliott)

00:07:06 From ecology to AI: nonhuman agency, rights, and “mature” discourse

00:13:39 Repairing AI interiority: Enigma’s “Revery” and malfunction-as-psychology

00:19:58 Legal personhood + Empty Rider: blame, responsibility, and the “it depends” machine

00:27:35 The crash test dummy: guide character, onboarding, and corporate voice

00:32:11 The empathy transition: why people resist empathizing with machines (for now)

00:38:25 Narratives vs “living code”: simulation stories and instantiated lifeforms

00:44:21 What counts as a world? Umwelt, worldview, and multiple entry points

00:53:23 Where immersive worlds may head: metaverse hangover, AI’s role, and formats shifting

01:00:50 Outro + goodbye

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/2025-art-in-review-with-thefunnyguys-conrad-house-and-peter-bauman

In this end-of-year episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random’s Editor-in-Chief) is joined by thefunnyguys (Le Random CEO) and Collection Lead Conrad House to look back on 2025: its biggest storylines, their favorites of the year and what they’re watching in 2026.

They unpack a defining tension of the year: as crypto-native attention and prices stayed weak, institutional and traditional-art adoption of digital art kept accelerating. The conversation moves through platform and ecosystem shifts (VVV’s rise, Verse as gallery infrastructure, Art Blocks nearing the end of AB 500, Fxhash’s next chapter). Next is a discussion of “worlds”—protocol stacks getting richer, more modular, and increasingly entangled with AI, physical spaces and simulation.

They close with Le Random highlights (including Raster and a more nimble publishing rhythm), personal favorites of the year, and a forward look at Node Foundation in Palo Alto, Canyon in New York, Colección Solo in Madrid, and Zero 10’s next iteration in Hong Kong.

Mentioned:

• "Ian Goodfellow on Inventing GANs"
• "THE PEOPLE ARE IN THE COMPUTER—PART I" on Alec Radford (most popular piece of 2025)
• "The Ultraintelligent Machine and Gaberbocchus Common Room" by Jasia Reichardt and Our 100th article
• "Drifella III: Room for Complexity" - 4,000+ word deep dive on Evil Biscuit's classic
• "Parker Ito and Evil Biscuit on Possessed Spirits"
• "Standout Artwork of 2025"

Chapters 📖:

00:00 Intro + agenda

01:29 Big takeaway: digital art’s institutionalization

04:23 NFTs fade in crypto, rise in trad art (two camps)

07:12 Capitulation vs institutional growth (NFT categories)

09:53 Macro check: S&P vs ETH/BTC/XTZ

13:30 What brings collectors back? (liquidity + catalysts)

23:08 Fairs & infra: Art Basel, minting tech, new spaces

26:00 Platforms reposition: Art Blocks + fxhash

30:08 “Worlds” as the frame (protocol stacks + world models)

42:07 AI art maturity: from hype to diffusion

44:23 Le Random focus: Raster + collecting strategy

49:30 Q4 editorial shift: Friday pods + agility

50:45 Favorites of 2025: kickoff

50:56 Favorite group shows

58:56 Favorite releases: Claude/Gemini/Marble → vibe coding

1:07:54 Favorite solo works

1:17:46 Favorite artist picks

1:27:23 Looking ahead to 2026

1:38:11 Outro

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/terra0-what-the-autonomous-forest-wants

In this special episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) speaks with Paul Seidler and Paul Kolling from art collective terra0 about their project Autonomous Forest (2025)⁠. They cover the nearly decade-long journey from ⁠white paper (2016)⁠ as university students to the project's NFT launch in December 2025.

The collective shares how the original idea in the white paper mutated with projects like Flowertokens, Premna Deamon and now Autonomous Forest.

They also cover why working through German law and smart contracts creates better frameworks than pure speculation, how the project evolved from startup pitches to nonprofit governance, and what it means to build living systems that exist outside economic (and human) exploitation.

Monday's Le Random Editorial on "Standout Artwork of 2025"

Thursday's Le Random Editorial: "Zero 10 Part 1: Beeple Casts a Spell" by Kevin Buist

Chapters: 📖

00:00:00 Intro: terra0 + “Autonomous Forest” (what it is)

00:10:01 The long arc: Flower Tokens, Premna Daemon, and the road to Autonomous Forest

00:17:02 The pivot: from “forest as economic agent” to removing ecosystems from the market

00:22:00 Why blockchain matters: voting, trust, governance, and accountability

00:26:03 Repeatability + policy experiment vibes — and where AI fits (and doesn’t)

00:29:01 Legal fictions: “corporations as slow AIs” and the problem of intention

00:32:04 Personhood for nature: who can speak for rivers/forests/nonhuman interests?

00:38:04 Protocol art roots: relational aesthetics, software art, and law as medium

00:41:01 World-building + generative art lineage (instructions → systems → protocols)

00:49:00 Guattari’s “Three Ecologies,” land art links, and closing reflections

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/stephanie-dinkins-ai-memory-and-survival

In this episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random’s editor in chief) speaks with transdisciplinary artist Stephanie Dinkins about AI as a container for preserving oral history, tradition, and the kinds of community knowledge that rarely make it onto the internet.

Dinkins shares how a chance encounter with Bina48 in 2014 reshaped her practice. They discuss how this connects to her push for small, community-driven data that protects nuance and self-definition, especially for Black and Brown communities, against the homogenizing pull of large corporate models.

They also cover Not the Only One as a “living archive” of family memory, the politics of access, privacy, and consent, and why Dinkins treats imagination (and hyperstition) as a practical method for building the AI futures we actually want.

Monday's editorial (Beeple on Robot Dogs as Canvas): https://www.lerandom.art/editorial/beeple-on-robot-dogs-as-canvas

Chapters 📖:

00:00:00 Intro: Le Random podcast, Beeple, Stephanie Dinkins

00:03:40 Play, exploration, and academic freedom

00:07:02 Meeting Bina48 changes everything

00:12:31 Small data versus homogenizing big data

00:18:35 Worldbuilding, autonomy, and Not The Only One

00:24:57 Using AI to preserve family ethos

00:31:53 Prompting against algorithmic whitening

00:39:05 Beyond fear: engagement and agency

00:45:42 Students’ use, negotiation, and deep work

00:50:27 Surfing change and lifelong learning

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/beeple-robot-dogs-and-art-after-the-alien-landing

In this very special episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) speaks with artist Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) about a busy year of institutional shows, studio experiments, and what it means for digital art to edge closer to the canon.

The artist traces how works like Human One, Diffuse Control, and Transient Bloom at institutions like LACMA, The Shed, Mori Art Museum and Toledo Museum of Art have shifted his sense of digital art’s inevitability. They also discuss why he thinks IRL encounters with screens, robots and installations are “higher fidelity” than years of online discourse. They then cover how his Charleston studio has become a public lab by hosting CryptoPunks nights, video game tournaments, and a Synthetic Theater event.

The second part of the conversation mostly covers REGULAR ANIMALS, Beeple's robotic, AI-mediated dog pack for Art Basel’s new Zero 10 digital section. They look at the work as a prototype for long-form generative systems that sense and interpret the world in real time, plus much more!

A written version of the conversation now available on our Editorials: https://www.lerandom.art/editorial/beeple-on-robot-dogs-as-canvas

Chapters 📖:

00:00 Introduction and context

01:47 Year in review and institutional milestones

03:11 Embracing digital art as its own medium

06:19 Studio as public outreach platform

10:05 IRL experiences versus online discourse

11:28 Market vibes versus institutional progress

15:37 Conceiving the Art Basel presentation

19:58 Rethinking generative art with new systems

23:16 Running the studio like a gallery

27:37 Robots as living, intelligent sculptures

31:29 Are technologists artists and curators?

33:50 Why we are not prepared for the future

39:30 Nuance of AI within artworks

41:30 Human intention amid AI-assisted processes

45:02 Closing thanks and sign-off

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/anna-ridler-and-sofia-crespo-the-natural-history-of-machine-learning

In this episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) speaks with pioneering artist duo Anna Ridler and Sofia Crespo about their long-running collaboration bringing machine learning into dialogue with natural history.

They trace their early encounters with deep learning—from memes, browser histories, and speech-to-text to data visualization, encyclopedias, and NeurIPS Creativity Workshops—and how both arrived at AI through questions of classification and what it means to “understand” the world.

They also discuss fusing natural history and machine learning across their five collaborative projects (including Anna Atkins–inspired cyanotypes, Argentine “artificial memories” and the rain-marked Clematis tiles), working only with their own datasets in the middle of AI copyright debates, rethinking collage and photography in an era of generative models, and what might come next after winning Arab Bank Switzerland’s Artist of the Year prize.

Monday's Editorial:

Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst on Artificial Psychedelia: https://www.lerandom.art/editorial/holly-herndon-mat-dryhurst-on-artificial-psychedelia

Chapters 📖:

00:00 Introduction and episode overview

02:23 Anna’s path to deep learning

03:32 Sofia’s early AI explorations

07:36 Natural history and machine learning parallels

10:30 Posthuman ideas emerging in practice

12:34 NeurIPS Creativity Workshop beginnings

13:34 Artist versus technologist mindset

15:44 Sofia’s nontraditional art journey

21:01 Speaking to researchers during COVID

22:05 Meeting and first encounters

26:11 First Collaboration: Various and Casual Occursions

34:52 Second project: 83 Seeds from a Vanishing Mountain

38:06 Third project: Snapshots: Orchids

42:46 Fourth project: Long Short Term Memories

47:15 Fifth project: 3.31424e+126 : clematis armandii

52:05 Looking ahead together

53:41 Closing thanks and goodbyes

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/dr-mimi-nguyen-disruptive-innovation-in-contemporary-art

In this episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) speaks with one of the most impactful forces in contemporary art, gallerist and curator Dr. Mimi Nguyen.

They discuss Nguyen's path from statistics and design engineering into art and NFTs, opening galleries in London and New York, and a whirlwind year across Paris Photo, Art Basel Miami Beach’s new Zero 10 digital section, and the global fair circuit.

They also cover the gap between crypto prices and on-the-ground energy, liquidity and taste, museums as signals, the technical realities of showing digital art, and what sustainable, future-ready gallery models might look like.

Monday's Editorial with Karl Sims & Alexander Mordvintsev: https://www.lerandom.art/editorial/karl-sims-alexander-mordvintsev-on-merging-technology-and-biology

Chapters 📖:

00:00 Introduction and episode context

01:40 Mimi’s background and career pivot question

06:11 Sentiment versus reality in digital art

10:19 Bridging to traditional art; audience and taste[

10:35 Sustainability of the current ecosystem

14:03 Economic realities and institutions’ signaling role

15:11 Big year recap and name pronunciation

16:50 Lessons from a busy year; longer shows

21:30 Plans and selectivity for next year

21:52 Role of the gallery and collector relationships

23:00 Technical realities of presenting digital art

27:30 Adapting to new tech and outreach lessons

30:30 Curating and choosing artists to represent

32:55 Digital energy versus traditional market downturn

33:57 Rethinking gallery models and cost structures

37:14 Closing thanks and farewell

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/maya-man-and-ann-hirsch

In this long-anticipated episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) speaks with one of the most exciting duos in contemporary digital culture, Ann Hirsch and Maya Man. They cover their collaborative projects, Ugly Bitches and Little Darlings, which explore online gender performativity.

We discuss the works in relation to the so-called "vibe shift" of the 2020s. The artists also discuss how their work, often using GANs and other AI technologies, counteracts the "girl boss" rhetoric of early 2020s NFT projects by presenting a more flawed, nuanced, and sincere depiction of both femininity and masculinity.

They detail how UB uses intentionally distorted AI dolls to comment on female failure, while LD employs shinier AI imagery to critique the "hustle grind gain success" male influencer culture. Finally, the conversation touches upon their admiration for, and points of departure from, the "Gay NFT" or Avant Schizocollage scene, with the artists expressing an interest in "ironic sincerity" in their work.

Monday's Editorial with Jess Tucker: https://www.lerandom.art/editorial/jess-tucker-on-longing-for-a-face

Chapters 📖:

00:00 Intro and episode overview

01:48 How Ann and Maya met

01:57 Ugly Bitches spark and concept

02:43 Overlapping interests and prior work

04:37 Critique of women-centric NFT projects

06:08 Realism over idealization[00:06:56]: Vibe shift and gender extremes online

18:03 Problem with “all women are beautiful”[00:19:32]: Training GANs and diffusion for concepts

25:12 On the Solana “gay NFT” scene[00:30:37]: Code versus curation; hashlips pipelines

31:35 Software choices: canvas, DOM, possibilities[00:33:24]: Sincerity versus irony in online scenes

34:34 Heart: earnest, feminine internet culture

37:27 Annie and ironic sincerity[00:41:17]: Parallels, coming-of-age, and what’s next

42:49 Expanding the Ugly Bitches universe

43:36 Maya’s StarQuest: dance, AI, autobiography

47:06 Hints at darker future work

47:12 Closing thanks and future reunion[00:48:25]: Final goodbye

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/ian-goodfellow-on-inventing-gans

In this extra special episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) speaks with prominent AI researcher Ian Goodfellow about the legendary origins of GANs, their unexpected success and indelible impact on both twenty-first-century image making and AI research.

This episode contains Peter and Ian's full conversation and serves as a companion to Monday's written interview, which covered the first half of the discussion only.

Monday's editorial: https://www.lerandom.art/editorial/ian-goodfellow-on-inventing-gans

Chapters 📖:

00:00:00 Introduction and cultural impact of GANs

00:03:30 Ian explains GANs and game theory

00:06:12 The Montreal origin story begins

00:10:51 The first GAN and MNIST success

00:19:36 Early reception and longevity surprises

00:21:22 LAPGAN and DCGAN mark takeoff

00:23:54 Is generative modeling deep learning’s culmination?

00:26:11 Can GANs be creative or just mimic?

00:29:30 GANs as tools; human creativity’s role

00:37:14 On autonomous AI artists and personhood

00:41:50 GANs’ role in text-to-image’s emergence

00:42:20 Story from probabilistic graphs to media generation

00:51:30 Key GAN advances: LAPGAN to StyleGAN and beyond

00:57:52 Are engineers artists?

01:02:26 Expected uses, misuse risks, and simulations

01:06:50 Scale’s legacy, spending, and scaling laws

01:11:31 AGI timelines and being wrong both ways

01:19:14 Platonic representations across modalities

01:23:49 Closing thanks and farewells

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/parker-ito-understanding-the-world-through-images

In this episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) talks with Parker Ito about the multidisciplinary artist's path from late net art/post-Internet and “zombie formalism” to Solana’s artist-led avant scene. They dig into painterly, memetic, trait-rich collections, subtle “post-AI” tooling, ETH vs. Solana cultures, blind mints and scale. Plus why this moment rekindles faith in a new avant-garde.

Monday's editorial: https://www.lerandom.art/editorial/claudia-hart-on-land-of-the-dead

Friday's bonus editorial: www.lerandom.art/editorial/parker-ito-and-evil-biscuit-on-possessed-spirits

Chapters 📖:

00:00:00 Intro: Le Random, guests, Halloween release, Solana avant scene

00:02:02 Silicon Valley art scene challenges and Node?

00:06:38 Why Parker's internet-native work fits differently

00:09:31 Solana avant versus backward-looking traditions

00:12:23 ETH generative trends versus Solana’s post-AI approach

00:24:50 Market worries, Forbes attention, audience alignment

00:30:54 Iterations, generativity, and NFTs as raw expression

00:39:22 Continuous work rooted in personal viewpoint

00:48:25 Internet ideals, cynicism, and ambiguity

00:50:03 Drilady’s crassness and personal significance

00:56:10 ETH influx, schisms, and scene infighting

00:59:52 Drilady’s place; Cheeto exhibition primacy

01:01:54 Onboarding artists; misconceptions about NFTs

01:03:12 Who knows the scene? Thanks and farewell

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/london-digital-art-guide-writers-roundtable

After releasing our London Digital Art Guide, a curated guide to London's digital art and culture, our editor in chief Peter Bauman is joined by the wonderful contributors who made the piece possible: Hannah Redler-Hawes, ‍Robert Alice, ‍Clara Che Wei Peh & ‍Abigail Miller.

The panel unpacks London’s vibrant, intimate and collaborative digital art scene, from hidden gems and neighborhood walks to institutions, curators, and the city’s evolving role in global digital culture.

See the London Digital Art Guide: https://www.lerandom.art/editorial/london-digital-art-guide

See the Art Walk Map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1HpxjgPXiYhjJNhkX9wUYxIzFX8ysmM4&usp=sharing

It highlights the must-see galleries, neighborhoods and artists that shape the city’s renowned scene.

Chapters 📖:

00:00 Welcome and panel introductions

01:54 Guide aims and Hannah Redler-Hawes's introduction

07:16 Clara Che Wei Peh's Trip Planning section

14:20 Robert Alice on Galleries, museums, and digital displays

21:07 Abigail Miller on London artists across generations and schools

24:21 Visitor itineraries for digital art lovers

28:18 Unexpected spot: Science Museum games

30:31 Art Date idea: Night ride under Leo Villoreal-lit bridges

32:20 Institutions and on blockchain art

34:12 Structural hurdles: conservation and mindset

37:09 Curatorial realities and institutional capacity

41:43 Closing thoughts and thanks

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/jared-madere-on-yeche-lange-vvv-and-the-solana-avant-scenes-impact

In this episode, host Peter Bauman (Le Random's editor in chief) and Conrad House (Le Random's Collection Lead) sit down with artist/curator Jared Madere (Yeche Lange, VVV) to trace his early Whitney break and the rise of the Solana avant scene. They unpack on-chain transparency, Drifella’s meme-native collage, and how new online collectors are shifting power and reimagining culture in real time.

Chapters 📖:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:46 On failure, transparency, and NFTs vs trad

00:03:47 Early career, DIY spaces, Bed Stuy Love Affair

00:10:13 Smithson’s influence and Glue Pour revelation

00:14:10 Building immersive digital galleries beyond white cubes

00:17:24 Post-COVID decentralization and culture sophistication

00:19:04 Collage, hyper-politicized media, and online literacy

00:22:50 Censorship, messaging, and bridging two worlds

00:29:35 Daria controversy, hate speech, and context

00:34:52 Gallery sterility vs messy online culture

00:35:58 Why Yeche shows Biscuit and Drifella

00:37:36 Nonfigurative shifts and VVV’s influence

00:40:43 NFTs as portraiture and PFP structures

00:42:15 Solana’s degenerate perversion vs ETH minimalism

00:44:15 Communicating significance of Drifella

00:46:34 Wretched Worm videos and hyper-online lives

00:49:11 Fragmented politics and culture controllers

00:52:22 Galleries closing, collectors shrinking, reshuffling

00:56:16 Explaining avant appeal beyond irony

00:59:45 Hashlips misuse and Drifella’s structural genius[01:05:30]: Galleries’ structural challenges and Yeche’s model

01:11:25 Ambassadors, press, and new audiences

01:12:50 Future collectors

01:13:38 Building cool enough to attract attention

01:15:26 Procedural art parallels in Drifella

01:16:08 Yeche origins with 1/1s[01:22:29]: Miles Peyton collaboration and bespoke builds

01:24:15 VVV’s purpose

01:26:30 Yeche’s curation vs VVV’s permissionless culture (how they support one another)

01:28:46 Crypto spending inversions and cultural demand

01:31:41 Conflict, digital natives, and online-born culture

01:32:43 Silicon Valley palates and palatable crypto art

01:42:32 New political lenses and classed perspectives

01:44:20 Art reflecting seismic cultural-technological shifts

01:45:06 Thanks and closing remarks

Episode page and full transcript: https://www.lerandom.art/episodes/reviewing-digital-art-in-3q-2025

In this Le Random third quarter round-up, Editor-in-Chief Peter Bauman sits down with thefunnyguys (Le Random co-founder & CEO) and Conrad House (collection lead) to reflect on the biggest shifts in digital art this past quarter.

They discuss how Toledo Museum of Art’s Infinite Images exhibition signaled a new era of institutional support for digital art and how MoMA’s debut of Sasha Stiles’s A Living Poem brought art and emerging technologies into a major museum lobby. They debate the fallout from Christie’s restructuring its digital art department, share insights on the launch of Raster, thefunnyguys' new artist-profile aggregator and marketplace, and dive deep into the rise of the Solana Avant scene on VVV — from Parker Ito’s and Biscuit’s schizocollage aesthetic to the generational shift it represents.

Plus market sentiment, favorites of the quarter and much, much more.

Chapters 📖:

00:00:00 Introduction and agenda for Q3 2025 recap

00:01:38 Toledo Museum’s digital turn and Infinite Images

00:04:15 Sasha Stiles: A Living Poem at MoMA

00:08:56 Christie’s digital restructuring debate

00:15:48 The team on Raster

00:23:02 Solana avant scene spotlight

00:40:31 Market sentiment: Number-go-up but complicated

00:54:18 Le Random Q3 focus and strategy

00:54:35 Commission-led collecting: Juan RG and Copper Giloth

00:56:19 Raster and Le Random

00:59:52 Editorial themes and 100th article milestone

01:01:28 Favorites of the third quarter

01:01:59 Favorite group shows and releases

01:05:42 Favorite solo releases and shows

01:11:12 Favorite artists

01:12:44 Favorite acquisitions: Juan RG commission

01:16:08 Favorite editorials: Jasia's 100th, DEAFBEEF, Minne Atairu interview

01:19:50 Looking ahead: FEMGEN 4 and guides

01:22:58 Closing thoughts and thanks