Squigglecore
Squigglecore is a critical term coined by Charlotte Fang in 2025 to describe a category of generative blockchain art characterized by abstract, algorithm-generated patterns. The term specifically references "Chromie Squiggle" by Snowfro, a foundational project on the Art Blocks platform, and uses it to critique a broader aesthetic movement within NFT fine art.
Squigglecore refers to generative art projects on blockchain platforms that emphasize algorithmic aesthetics. According to Fang, these works represent an approach to blockchain art that focuses on technical implementation rather than deeper engagement with the medium's social and financial dimensions. The term is used within Fang's theoretical framework to contrast conventional approaches to blockchain art with what would come to be known as Avant NFT, which focuses on crypto's potential for creating new relationships between artists, audiences, and markets.
Origin
The term directly references "Chromie Squiggle" by artist Snowfro (Erick Calderon), one of the earliest and most iconic generative art projects on the Art Blocks platform. Launched in 2020, Chromie Squiggle became emblematic of the generative art movement within NFTs and achieved significant status within blockchain art circles.[1]
The term was introduced by Charlotte Fang in October 2025 during discussions about different approaches to blockchain art. In these discussions, Fang positioned squigglecore as representative of an "entire other world of 'art on the blockchain'" that she characterized as "larping as an avant-garde for doing squiggle NFTs."[2]. The term emerged alongside related concepts like firstslop to articulate distinctions between different approaches to blockchain creative practice.[3]
Related Concepts
- Firstslop: Fang's term for art that claims significance primarily for being "the first" to implement a particular technical approach
- Avant NFT: The alternative approach advocated by Remilia, focusing on crypto's potential for creating new relationships between artists, audiences, and markets
References
- ↑ Charlotte Fang (@CharlotteFang77). "Look at the replies, there's an entire other world of 'art on the blockchain' out there larping as an avant-garde for doing squiggle NFTs, who would cancel you in a second if they were able to make out the milady pfp behind the three degrees of derivative and sticker edits." Twitter (X), October 15, 2025. https://x.com/CharlotteFang77/status/1978431825262317676
- ↑ Charlotte Fang (@CharlotteFang77). "OK, my critique of 'blockchain art' is it follows a rule of novelty—scrambling to be 'the first' to do something in new media, no matter how obvious or trite—and simple punchlines—by this I mean, something like Banksy's art; it has a single explanation and the explanation is the intent and reception of the work—'oh, I get it. that's clever, I guess.'—the cheapest form of conceptual art, essentially a populist form: Rhea Myer tokenized her soul. That's clever, I guess. Who cares? No, she did it TEN YEARS AGO! Who cares? The squiggles are generated by an algorithm. It uses Ethereum for the random hash. It was FIRST. Seriously, who cares? You guys were too busy being pretentious Marfa polluting midwits gassing up squigglecore firstslop to realize the actual avant-garde opportunity provided by giving artists a market-as-audience, especially one tied intimately to the timeline: using crypto memecoins and PFP NFT's as a medium to break into new scales of finance & network art never previously possible..." Twitter (X), October 16, 2025. https://x.com/CharlotteFang77/status/1978816814533554468
- ↑ Charlotte Fang (@CharlotteFang77). "What is the term for the OG approach to blockchain art—conceptually engaging with the tech stack with 'commentary' pieces—in contrast with avant NFT—conceptually engaging with the social, financial, citational affordances of crypto within a market-audience? Is there one?" Twitter (X), October 15, 2025. https://x.com/CharlotteFang77/status/1978587921570738326