Art Basel photo
Boy, things sure have changed since the Dobychina Art Bureau presented “The Last Futurist Exhibition of Painting 0,10” in Petrograd 110 years ago, haven’t they? For one thing, you can now Google it — something that wasn’t possible on, say, its 50th anniversary in 1965 — to find the University of Chicago Library essay that decrees it “one of the most significant exhibitions in the history of the pre-revolutionary Russian avant-garde,” which “marked an important moment of transition” for modern art.
Of course, time, culture, and technology marches on and, with apologies to our friends in the pre-revolutionary Russian avant-garde, “The Last Futurist Exhibition of Painting 0,10” wasn’t the first important moment of transition for modern art — nor the last, as evidenced by the announcement from Art Basel yesterday that a new “curated platform for art of the digital era,” christened Zero 10 after the Petrograd exhibit, will debut at the organization’s Miami Beach show set for December 5 to 7.
“Zero 10 reflects a strategic conviction: digital art is no longer at the margins — it is integral to how art and the market are evolving in real time,” Art Basel CEO Noah Horowitz said in a statement announcing the venture.
Curator Eli Scheinman — “a digital art strategist focused on new models of collecting and engagement,” which sounds pretty futurist-y, to be honest — will lead this amplification. “Zero 10 brings together key forces across the digital art ecosystem — artists, studios, and galleries whose practices are reshaping how art is made, seen, and collected,” Scheinman adds. “From generative and algorithmic systems to robotics, sculpture, painting, light, and sound, the presentations highlight the diversity and conceptual sophistication of a field that has become integral to contemporary art and is now claiming its place within the broader market.”
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So what, precisely, populates this “digital art ecosystem”?
Art Basel’s statement offers some intriguing clues via its description of the work to be featured by the inaugural edition’s 12 participating international exhibitors. Nguyen Wahed, for example, will show a “triadic presentation [that] unites XCOPY’s dystopian glitch worlds, Kim Asendorf’s algorithmic minimalism, and Joe Pease’s hypnotic video loops, mapping the architectures of digital consciousness.” Beeple Studios plans to “reinterpret pop portraiture through robotics and blockchain, interrogating the shifting boundary between human and machine agency.” Bitforms gallery will trace “the evolution of generative art through pioneers and innovators — from Manfred Mohr’s early computer drawings and Casey Reas’ neural-network Earthly Delights to Maya Man’s live generative work on online desire — revealing how code has become a language of culture.”
The plan is for Zero 10, which is presented in conjunction with official Basel partner OpenSea, to use the Miami debut as a launchpad to expand to Art Basel Hong Kong and other global fairs in 2026. The platform is designed to work synergistically with the AI-powered Art Basel App and the Art Basel Shop, which is expanding digital edition wares.
Art Basel leadership appears bullish about its prospects in the digital realm.
“Zero 10 represents both an artistic evolution and a curatorial statement,” says Vincenzo de Bellis, the organization’s chief artistic officer. “The initiative reflects a shifting artistic landscape — one in which digital processes and new media are expanding how artists create and audiences engage — and reinforces Art Basel’s responsibility to lead with foresight: to recognize where artistic practice is heading and to provide infrastructure and credibility to enable it to flourish.”
Art Basel Miami Beach 2025. Friday, December 5, through Sunday, December 7, at the Miami Beach Convention Center, 1901 Convention Center Dr., Miami Beach; 786-276-2600; artbasel.com. Preview days on Wednesday, December 3, and Thursday, December 4.
