The Janus Project is a unique, fine art meta-narrative NFT universe built on Hedera. Taking its cue from sci-fi concept art and world-building (in novels and films such as Frank Herbert’s Dune series and Ridley Scott’s Alien) the collection of exclusively 1/1 all-original pieces combine like fragments of a puzzle to tell the fictional story of the ill-fated Janus 1 expedition to the exoplanet Kepler 90b in the year 2145. Together, they build an entire world, a mystery, and a (future) history.
Each NFT is a ‘found’ artifact from the doomed mission and the story is told documentary-style: the images offered by The Janus Project span all communications received on Earth for the duration of the expedition — from development to launch to landing to the final mysterious disappearance of the crew when all communications with mission control ceased without explanation.
The Janus Project, with the intention of preserving the historical import of the discoveries and eventual sacrifices made by the Janus 1 crew, offers a curated selection of the spectacular images the crew sent back during the 11 days they occupied the planet before disappearing.
They span every category, from blueprints and design renderings of the Janus 1 spacecraft itself:
To renderings of the crew in CryoSleep:
To the atmospheric phenomena of Kepler 90b:
To the flora and fauna of the new world:
The story, then, and the true fate of the crew is open-ended; the fragmentary nature of the images received and incomplete data collected challenge each of us to ‘fill in the blanks’, so to speak, and create for ourselves the meaning and story however we see fit by interpreting the clues they left behind, like fractured fossils in limestone.
The Janus Project is primarily an experiment in creating a fantasy, world-building sci-fi narrative that explores the idea of storytelling itself, often by drawing attention to its own artificiality, in two parallel tracks that are symbiotically dependent (like the two faces of the Roman god Janus himself). These two ‘faces’ are 1) the written narrative and 2) the visual narrative. Meaning is generated in the space between the two through juxtaposition and tension — more than simply illustrate the language-based story that accompanies (describes) it, each visual piece reflects back on its description and calls into question its ‘validity’.
Artistic Process
All of the NFTs are based on original photographs taken by the artist, first and foremost. The completed multimedia pieces created are 100% from the artist. Nothing is cannibalized from clip art or any other pre-made public domain or licensed sources. They are all originals. Photographs are taken both in-studio and in the ‘wild’. Most of the works also include found natural materials, such as driftwood or ice, incorporated in-studio to add in digital post-production. Many pieces incorporate ink-on-paper drawing, charcoal on paper sketches, or physical painting in-studio as components.
The project culminates in a physical book currently in production, which combines all the NFTs into an exclusive, limited edition fine art volume that tells the complete story in both images and words. Provenance of each NFT is included in the book and all owners of the collection receive a physical copy of the completed book upon purchase, once the volume is published (Summer 2022).
Inquiries and more information (including Whitepaper) can be requested via DM on Twitter: @JanusProjectNFT or @hcaulfield8148 or join the project’s Discord.
This is part of the NFT Spotlight series brought to you by Hbar News. For information on how to get your project featured please email info@hbar.news.
To view other NFTs in the Spotlight series, click here.
