Goose is ground zero. The glitch that became gospel. A symbol born from code and chaos. What began as a generative glitch in Ringers by Dmitri Cherniak became one of the most iconic images in digital art. Ringers 879, known as “The Goose,” emerged from an algorithm exploring the infinite ways a string could loop around pegs. Its accidental resemblance to a goose captured the imagination of the NFT community, culminating in a 6.2 million dollar sale at Sotheby’s in June 2023 — one of the highest prices ever paid for generative art.
But the Goose did not retire into rarity. In a bold act of creative liberation, Cherniak released the Goose Generator under a Creative Commons license, inviting anyone to generate, remix, and share their own pixelated geese. As part of the MoMA Postcard initiative, a global blockchain art experiment, this moment marked the Goose’s transformation from a singular image into an open-source movement.
Goose stands as a living testament to the power of permissionless creativity. It shows how a simple symbol can become cultural infrastructure, evolving through collective authorship and public participation.