Deafbeef

Biography

DEAFBEEF, also known as Tyler de Witt, is a Canadian artist who pushes the boundaries of on-chain generative art using nothing but the bare-bones C programming language. He holds a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto, where his academic research into algorithmic simulation later became the technical foundation for his Series 0-5 collection. Before establishing himself as one of the most rigorous technical artists of the blockchain art era, de Witt spent years working as a professional blacksmith, producing furniture, decor, sculptures, and jewelry, a background he considers deeply connected to his computational practice: both blacksmithing and generative coding require crafting one's own tools and production systems from immediately available materials. His work often doubles as social commentary on the financialized culture surrounding NFTs, even as it remains some of the most technically demanding and aesthetically refined output in the field. At Art Basel's Zero 10 sector in Basel in 2026, presented by Asprey Studio, de Witt exhibited Matter and Signal, combining blacksmithing, audio synthesis, and code; its centerpiece, Glitchbox, is an interactive sculpture that permanently records participant-generated outputs on the blockchain. The presentation also included works from his Synth Poem: Oscilloscope series and pieces from Chronophotograph, a series inspired by Eadweard Muybridge's early motion photography. His work is held in the permanent collections of LACMA and the Toledo Museum of Art.