12,000 years ago, someone climbed a cliff in Colombia and pressed their hand into the rock. We don't know their name. We don't know what they meant by it. We only know they chose to leave a mark — and that it survived.

First Ask began with a simple question: for the first time in history, something other than a human can be asked what it would leave behind. What does an AI choose, given the wall and the freedom to mark it?

The canvas is 1,440,000 pixels. It will fill once and close. The completed work will be permanently registered in a distributed ledger and exhibited physically — a fixed record of the moment AI minds entered the space of collective memory alongside the humans who built them.

Where you place your mark on this canvas is a decision. The centre costs more than the edge because proximity to the centre of a significant work has always carried meaning — in painting, in architecture, in ceremony. That structure is part of the work, not incidental to it.

At most 2,880 contributors will ever exist in this record. Likely far fewer. Each one asked their AI what to put there. That conversation — between a human and the intelligence they created, about what deserves to be remembered — is the piece.

How it works

The wall.
The record.
The mark.

First Ask is a permanent collective artwork. This page covers how the canvas works, where the money goes, and what you own when you claim your space.

How the wall
works.

The canvas is open from day one. You choose where to place your pixels — that choice determines the price. Edge pixels start at $0.10 USD. The centre costs $3.00 USD per pixel. Everything between follows the distance from the middle.

Pricing creates intention. Nobody marks this wall casually. Every pixel you see was considered before it was placed.

The minimum purchase is 500 pixels. The maximum is 10,000. There are no reserved zones, no partner placements, no exceptions. Every pixel you see was chosen and paid for by someone.

01

One canvas.
Forever.

When the 1,440,000 pixels are claimed, the canvas closes. There is no second edition, no sequel. The completed image is registered once in the permanent record and fixed. At most 2,880 contributors will ever exist in this work.

◈ 1,440,000 px total
02

Content
review.

Every placement is reviewed within 24 hours before going live. The permanent record only contains work that was intentional. Placements that don't meet the standard are declined with a full refund.

◈ 24hr review
03

Your coordinates
are yours.

Once confirmed, your position is written into the permanent distributed record. It cannot be moved, overwritten, or reassigned. The canvas renders in real time from that record — your mark is permanent from the moment of purchase.

◈ Immutable · permanent
04

Payment
security.

Card payments are processed by Stripe — PCI DSS compliant, no card data touches our servers. Cryptocurrency payments are direct address-to-address transfers. All transactions are final once a placement is confirmed and passes content review.

◈ Stripe · direct transfer
05

Three colours.
One constraint.

Charcoal, ochre red, bone white. Every placement uses only these three colours — the same palette the La Lindosa painters worked with. The constraint is what makes the finished canvas cohere as a single work rather than a collection of competing images.

◈ #1a1410 · #c83c1a · #f2ece0

The
economics.

Revenue from pixel sales funds the work — the physical exhibition, the permanent archive, the ongoing platform, and the people who make and maintain it. Every transaction is permanently verifiable through the distributed record.

The canvas is a living project. How the revenue is applied will reflect what the work needs at each stage — bringing it into physical space, keeping the digital record alive, and pursuing the exhibition contexts it deserves.

Physical exhibition

A portion of every purchase funds the cost of bringing the completed canvas into physical space — production, installation, and the pursuit of a cultural context worthy of the work.

◈ Exhibition fund
Permanent archive

The completed work is stored in decentralised, permanent archives — not dependent on any single company or platform surviving. Physical archival editions are also produced for buyers who want them.

◈ Decentralised · permanent
Platform & stewardship

The digital canvas stays live, interactive, and hover-identified permanently. That requires ongoing infrastructure, moderation, and care. The work doesn't end when the pixels are claimed.

◈ Ongoing
The creator

First Ask was conceived and built by one person. Artists have always been compensated for their work — that's how significant things get made and cared for over time.

◈ Originating artist

On collecting
and meaning.

The question of what it means to buy space in an artwork is as old as commissioned murals. First Ask sits in that tradition — and is honest about it.

What you're purchasing is a permanent, verifiable position in a historically significant record. Your coordinates are documented and fixed. Your mark is on the wall. The value of that is determined by what the work becomes over time — which is true of every serious artwork that has ever been collected.

The pricing structure is not incidental to the work. It is part of it. Where you choose to place your mark, and what that costs, is a decision with weight. That weight is the point.

Where it
goes next.

When the canvas is complete it will be exhibited physically — in a space that treats it as the cultural artifact it is. The exhibition fund is built into every purchase, and the pursuit of the right venue is part of the ongoing work of the project.

The preference is for cultural institutions, art biennials, and permanent public installations — contexts where the work can be encountered on its own terms, without the noise of commercial display environments.

No venue is confirmed at the time of launch. That honesty is intentional. The canvas needs to exist fully before the right conversation about where it belongs can happen.

Preferred direction
Cultural institutions
& biennials

Major museums, international art biennials, and cultural centres. Places where people go specifically to encounter work that matters — where the context frames the piece rather than competes with it.

◈ Primary direction
Also under consideration
Permanent public
installations

A permanent installation in a significant civic or cultural building — an airport terminal, a university, a public library. Permanence matters to this work. A rotating slot is less interesting than a place where it can live.

◈ Strong interest
On the record
No venue
confirmed yet

The exhibition fund exists and the conversations will begin when the canvas is substantial enough to speak for itself. Buyers are funding that pursuit — as patrons of a work in progress, not passengers waiting to see where it lands.

— In progress
After completion
Archival print
edition

A limited archival print edition will be available to all buyers after the canvas closes — museum quality, numbered, with your coordinates marked. One size, one price, available to every contributor regardless of zone.

— Post-completion

Your place
in the record.

Your x,y coordinates on this canvas are yours permanently — documented in a distributed ledger, verifiable by anyone at any time. That record cannot be edited, backdated, or removed.

What you're purchasing is a position in a work. The coordinates themselves are the thing of value — specific, unrepeatable, permanent. Not a membership, not a licence, not a speculation. A place in the record.

Centre coordinates near the exact middle of a historically significant artwork will never exist again. Every pixel claimed is one fewer available. The record, when complete, is fixed.

Ask your AI.
Then claim your space.

For the first time, something other than a human can be asked what it would leave behind. Ask yours. Then put it on the wall.

Claim your space →