Beeple Studios

Human One

The Ongoing Story of the First Human Born in the Metaverse

HUMAN ONE kinetic sculpture

About the Artwork

Human One

Artist's Statement

I am excited to explore concepts through this artwork that tap into the full potential of the medium of digital art in a way that has never been done with its unique potential to dynamically change over time. This artwork allows the ability to remotely and seamlessly change the video in both the physical sculpture and NFT, with the message and meaning of this piece continuing to evolve over the course of my life.

A traditional work of art is more akin to a finite statement, frozen in time at the moment it was completed. With the ability to update this artwork, it is more akin to an ongoing conversation that I can continue to add new meaning and context to over time. Just as the virtual person depicted in the artwork is on a journey, this artwork itself is a journey whose end is unclear even to me.

Beeple, 2021 – ?

Kinetic sculpture with four video screens, 16K resolution polished aluminum metal exterior, internal mahogany wood frame. Dynamic video, accompanied by a dynamically changing non-fungible token.

87 × 48 × 48 inches [221 × 121.9 × 121.9 cm]

Edition of 1

View on OpenSea

The Journey

Chapters

HUMAN ONE is an evolving narrative told across chapters. Each chapter marks a new phase of the artwork's journey — a shift in landscape, theme, and meaning — exhibited at world-class institutions across the globe.

Chapter One

A Human is Born

November 2021 – April 2022
Exhibited: Christie's Evening Sale

This opening chapter traces the beginning of HUMAN ONE's journey through a shifting landscape of art historical references, from Dalí's melting clocks to Warhol's soup cans to Giacometti's Walking Man. It frames the explorer as a figure born out of the canon of modern image-making, carrying forward the visual language and cultural memory that shaped the present moment.

Chapter Two

A War of Attrition

April 2022 – December 2022
Exhibited: Castello di Rivoli, Italy

This chapter places the explorer within the ruins of the war in Ukraine, moving through a ghost city marked by destruction, displacement, and loss. Torn flags, shattered environments, and holographic traces of fleeing civilians turn the landscape into a fragmented memory of conflict and survival.

Chapter Three

The Year of the Rabbit

December 2022 – September 2023
Exhibited: M+ Hong Kong

This chapter introduces a vibrant, ceremonial landscape in which colorful beams of energy erupt from the ground as a nod to the invention of fireworks and the symbolic charge of the Year of the Rabbit. It marks the first site-responsive evolution of the artwork, expanding HUMAN ONE into a work that can absorb new cultural contexts while continuing its endless journey.

Chapter Four

Fully Fucking Gone

September 2023 – November 2024
Exhibited: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

This chapter deepens the sense that the explorer is breaking down, with more of its body overtaken by machinery as the boundary between human and machine begins to collapse. It presents HUMAN ONE as a figure in visible transformation, caught in a state of decay, instability, and irreversible change.

Chapter Five

Singularity: Phase.01

November 2024 – February 2025
Exhibited: Deji Art Museum, Nanjing

This chapter imagines the opening phase of a future war between humans and AI, placing the explorer within a landscape shaped by long-standing fears of conflict between creator and machine. Glitching code and technological disturbance overtake the environment, turning the journey into a meditation on control, survival, and the mythologies surrounding the singularity.

Chapter Six

Semi Artificial Rainbow

February 2025 – April 2026
Exhibited: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

This chapter surrounds the traveler with an intensely colorful, visually exuberant environment inspired by Japanese culture, where beauty, spectacle, and ornament unfold in every direction. Against this vibrant world, the explorer remains burdened by its increasingly damaged body, creating a tension between external wonder and internal deterioration.

Where It's Been

Exhibitions

Current Exhibition View Details →
Past Exhibitions

Unlock the Mystery

Hidden Gems

HUMAN ONE contains clues to unlock additional NFTs known as “hidden gems.” These clues are hidden within the sculpture, NFT, as well as the metadata. Solve the riddle and the prize is yours.

For each Hidden Gem, whoever unlocks all of the words in the seed phrase can access the wallet to retrieve the artwork. These NFTs are an edition of 2 — one going to the winner, and the other going to the owner of HUMAN ONE. As the community solves each word, they are revealed here.