Chris from NFT Calendar: Your project took me way back. Tell us what inspired you and the audience you want to attract?
ZX Error Art team: Growing up in the 80s we had this opportunity of witnessing the expansion of personal technology as only seen in our favourite sci-fi films of the time. All of a sudden you start hearing about the pioneers, the Commodore, Atari, and ZX, and it’s like hearing that fiction is becoming reality. But it still looked so unachievable to us until of one our friends called us up one day telling us his dad got the ZX Spectrum. Oh man, what a day that was. A room full of kids glued to the screen witnessing in front of our eyes one of the first-ever personal computers, something out of science fiction, in our buddy’s living room. We played the games we saw as masterpieces back then. We discovered worlds through it and quickly understood the insane potential of gaming and computing. We learned to love the ZX Spectrum as our own part of the family, even with its bugs and glitches, errors and everything. We sometimes even predicted and bet on when the errors would appear, having fun with that as well. Even then we saw the “common faults” as something so beautiful, so colourful and meaningful that you could hang it on the wall of your room.
It stuck you know, over the years. Never really forgot how it shaped and formed the technology we use today. And as time went by, I witnessed how the OGs of decentralized computing were not given as much recognition as I felt they deserved. There was this idea floating around in my head of giving new meaning to the origins of it all, but never really got the chance nor the medium to do this properly. It is with the rise of NFTs that I saw an opportunity of reaching the widest masses, both the people who grew up with ZX Spectrum as well as kids’ that have no recollection of how their monster PCs came to be. And what better way to do that than introducing the “common faults” we were so in love with back then as something that could be considered as the origin of the generative art form. What is in error if not a wonderful, unique generative art?
Chris from NFT Calendar: How many people are currently working on the project now, and how did your team come together?
ZX Error Art team: The core team consists of five people, including the two of us with the original idea leading the creatives and everything, as well as a world-class programmer helping with the scripts for the collection, plus our guys that are handling the website and the visual identity of our project. We outsource leading marketing experts to help us reach the audience this project suits the best, including the old schoolers, the gen Z and everything in between, as mentioned before.
After the two of us decided that we want to pursue this full time, the rest of the team just started coming place, as most were really nostalgic with the mention of ZX Spectrum and really wanted to contribute to our main goal of giving a proper meaning to the heritage of Sir Clive Sinclair.
Chris from NFT Calendar: The launch date is on January 6, 2022, how many NFTs will be launched, and how many NFTs will be on the pre-sale whitelist?
ZX Error Art team: The total collection consists of 7728 unique pieces. Whitelist is live with more than 20.48 ETH worth of NFTs! So anyone who hasn’t signed up should hurry up and do so, there are only a couple dozen places left!
Chris from NFT Calendar: There are 6 NFT tiers that cost different prices. Are there any other perks or benefits that are associated with each tier?
ZX Error Art team: Yup, six different and unique tiers. Each tier represents one generation of the ZX computer family, starting with the first ZX Spectrum which had 16Kb of memory and all the way to the ZX Spectrum 48Kb, 128Kb etc. We felt this was the best way to honor the different generations of the ZX computers, as well as bring something different and unique into the NFT market.
In the terms of perks and benefits, we do see potential in ranking different tier owners later in the roadmap with the launch of our digital museum where they could contribute with their own experiences with the ZX Spectrum.
Chris from NFT Calendar: One of the first things on your roadmap is to host an artist contest. Is this a way of giving back to the community or expanding the team? Maybe both?
ZX Error Art team: Definitely both. The main philosophy of the heritage we are building is to respect and cherish the origin and the future of generative art. With the contest, we are both encouraging and investing in generative artists with a goal of promoting their own work, and potentially building an artist base where we would do future error-inspired projects with the said artists we helped grow.
Chris from NFT Calendar: What are some of the main initiatives that the community aims to achieve in the coming years? I know one of your goals is to found a Sir Clive Sinclair Foundation.
ZX Error Art team: Other than founding a Sir Clive Sinclair Foundation dedicated to his contribution to the technologies we use today, and with a mission of researching the democratization of personal computers and gaming, we are definitely looking at helping young and aspiring artists with a goal of promoting generative art form in general, as well as helping them form as artists that we could later help with their own error-inspired projects under our own roof. Think of it as a generative art workshop where we help grow the artists into something beautiful that we could share with the NFT community. Not a future Sir Clive Sinclair imagined for his brand, but definitely something he would be proud of for keeping his heritage alive and well.
Chris from NFT Calendar: It seems many of your collectors will be deeply rooted in your goals and mission. Will they play a role in decision-making and progression of the project?
ZX Error Art team: Absolutely. As previously mentioned, the 6 tiers honor different generations of ZX Spectrum computers, and owners of NFTs in different tiers will have an equal amount of participation in decision-making and contribution in forming the digital museum and the foundation, as stated in the roadmap.
Chris from NFT Calendar: It’s always great to have passionate creators, which platforms do you most actively use to share news with your community?
ZX Error Art team: Definitely, Twitter and Discord We are active daily on both platforms, and we will be hosting pretty fun gameplay live streaming of the original ZX Spectrum games on our Discord with a few really nice gifts for the most loyal followers.
