MICAH JOHNSON (B. 1990)

Aku is a young black kid created by Micah Johnson (b. 1990) as a response to his nephew's question, “Can astronauts be black?”. Empowered by his magical space helmet, Aku is on a mission to prove that he can be anything. First released as an NFT in February, Aku quickly inspired people across the world and became the first NFT to be optioned to become a feature film. After seeing the overwhelming responses to the inspiring message about what Aku meant to them, Johnson realized the importance of collaborating directly with the community to shape the characters and stories within the Aku movie.

“Hi, my name is...” is the unveiling of the newest character in the Aku story. Created with the help of the Aku community, this collaboration concludes by giving the final control to the owner of the work. This programmable NFT enables the collector to ultimately decide if and/or when to remove the character's helmet to reveal their identity. Furthermore, because of it's programmability, this work changes every hour to reflect the rising and setting of the sun, symbolizing the determination it takes to achieve our dreams. The final element of the work is to work directly with the Aku team to name the newest member of Aku World.

Learn more about the programmability features at: https://async.art/featured/hi-my-name-is