The Broken Keys

The Broken Keys is a set of 48 one-of-one works by Alpha Centauri Kid, each built around a piano. ACK calls the instrument "my first gateway to the Muse," and he tried to tell as many stories with it as he could. The scenes run from bright, clean renders such as Serendipity, a yellow grand sunk in roses, to the noisy surface of Ackstract Concerto. In Vogue the piano is barely there, painted on a model's big toe.

He began building pianos in Cinema 4D right after an August 2021 release, and a red one he modeled and then smashed gave him the idea for a series. He first pictured 666 pieces, but too many came out alike, so he made each one different and ended with 48. The renders then went through Photoshop, where he layered in his own textures and noise. On May 9, 2023, all 48 went up at once as live auctions on his own site, which asked visitors to play a song to get in. Every one had sold by the next day. The winner of Rage also received a score written for it by the composer Ryan Elder.

With no traits to sort by, the works are told apart by their titles and by the captions ACK gave nearly half of them. The Void reads "sound not permitted." A few form groups, such as three gods, of shadows, light and earth, and two pieces about his demons. The Mad Pianist pictures the studio he wanted, and the Grand Skull Piano grew out of it. Olga Kern played that piano at Carnegie Hall in September 2025, where all 48 works were also shown. The event's announcement that April, Roger Dickerman told nft now, set off a surge of interest that spread into the series.