2021

Acid Ajam is an NFT collection on Ethereum that explores altered states, collective hysteria, and the fragile boundary between culture and chemistry. The project draws inspiration from historical records of ergot poisoning, a phenomenon that has been linked to mass hallucinations, religious visions, and social upheaval across different periods of history. These accounts form the conceptual backbone of the collection, reframed through a contemporary lens that questions perception, authorship, and belief.

Visually, Acid Ajam fuses the ornate symbolism and flattened perspectives of Persian miniature painting with the rigid geometries of contemporary architecture. This collision of visual languages creates scenes that feel both ceremonial and destabilised: figures, patterns, and structures exist in a state of tension between tradition and modernity, order and delirium. The work intentionally blurs temporal boundaries, presenting history not as a fixed record but as something continuously reinterpreted through cultural memory and visual systems.

As a collection, Acid Ajam was conceived as a cohesive body of work rather than isolated tokens. Each piece functions as a fragment of a broader narrative, inviting viewers to consider how collective experiences of intoxication, fear, and transcendence have shaped aesthetics, rituals, and power structures. By situating the project on Ethereum, the collection also reflects on permanence, provenance, and the preservation of digital artifacts, positioning blockchain as both medium and archive for contemporary myth making.

Created as Nightwatcher in collaboration with Homadokht