Artwrld

One of the reasons the intersection of art and technology is such an exciting space to be is its sheer vivifying complexity, with each side of the dyad containing long histories of innovation that can take a lifetime to appreciate on their own, but when married together flower into something close to magic. If you really want to get complicated, however, there's a third force involved that you can’t ignore if you hope to get the full picture, and that’s capitalism.The artist, technologist, and venture capitalist Sarah Meyohas has been doing remarkable things at the center of this trinity for over a decade. A graduate of both Wharton Business School and Yale’s vaunted MFA program, she first made headlines in 2015 when she forked bitcoin to create Bitchcoin, a token (now we’d call it a memecoin) backed by the value of her art. In 2016, she took over 303 Gallery to trade stocks in order to move markets, using an oil stick to chart the changes in the companies’ performance on canvas: paintings. A few months later, she took over a former Bell Labs facility to photograph 10,000 rose petals and use them to train an algorithm that could infinitely create new versions. So, Meyohas has always been dramatically early to harness her art to revolutionary tech. And for years, she has been capitalizing on her vision, literally—working as a venture capitalist to fund deep-tech startups that align with her moral and aesthetic values.How do all of these things braid together? And what frontiers is she exploring today in both her artwork and VC work?

One of the challenges of spotting an original artist is that we tend to judge new art based on the criteria of the past—causing a major blind spot when it comes to disruptive innovation that’s playing different games with different rules.Today, when so many artists are incorporating emergent technology into their work, this might be more challenging than ever. And it’s probably the reason the broader art world has been slow to appreciate the brilliance of Sam Spratt, who has somehow managed to fuse Old Master painting, crypto, video games, and a dash of Zuckerbergian social-networking into something pretty groundbreaking.A former commercial artist who parlayed an early job doing $20-a-pop illustrations for Gizmodo into a thriving career working on everything from album covers for Donald Glover and Ty Dolla Sign to concepts for Red Dead Redemption 2, Spratt only pivoted to fine art in 2021 with the release of his NFT series “LUCI.” It’s safe to say he nailed the debut. Sold through Nifty Gateway and Christie’s, his work has already generated about $6 million in primary- and secondary-market sales, including the sale of his 1:1 magnum opus The Monument Game to Ryan Zurrer’s 1OF1 Collection for $700,000.But what’s really interesting about Spratt’s work is the way he hitches his intricate digital paintings to crypto’s inherent capacity for gamification in order to build a richly intimate storytelling world of personal significance and human connection. And, yes, it’s about monkeys.This week, for our 10th live Artwrld conversation, we're pleased to talk to Sam Spratt about the ambitious ideas behind his “LUCI” series, where he’s taking it next, and how he’s harnessing the “devil’s casino” of the NFT marketplace to help lost people find their tribe.

Matthieu Lorrain is a creative and technology pioneer in the fields of digital experiences & content innovation.​He is currently Creative Lead, AI & Creativity Research at Google DeepMind. He is also the co-founder of fAke Artists, a creative collective exploring the future of post-reality experiences.​Matthieu Lorrain has a long history working with recognized artists and global organizations to reimagine interactive storytelling. He has been exploring creative applications of emerging technologies for the last 20 years: ranging from interactive video to connected objects, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. His most recent work focuses on how generative AI can supercharge the creative experience. His past projects have received multiple accolades from global organizations including Emmy Awards, Cannes Lions (Gold), Clios (Gold), Webby’s, Tribeca Film Festival, ‘#1 Product Hunt of the Day’ and FWA.​Matthieu is a guest lecturer at Columbia University, where he delivered the inaugural masterclass on AI & Filmmaking in 2024. He is also frequently invited as featured speaker at major conferences. He has previously spoken at Cannes Lions (3x), SXSW, Spike Asia, 4A's Createtech and the NYC Tech Forum.​Born & raised in the French Alps, Matthieu has lived in Rio de Janeiro, Montreal and Paris before moving to New York City in 2011. He holds a Master’s degree in Cultural Studies from Institut d’Etudes Politiques and another in Marketing & Communication from ESCP Paris Business School.

Since AI broke into public consciousness with ChatGPT's launch in November 2022—just two years ago—the race for artificial general intelligence, or AGI, has dominated headlines as a climactic drama with humanity's fate in the balance. Will creating a digital god redeem us, or will it destroy us? Is it even possible? ​Now, go down a few rungs on the ladder of existentiality, and a parallel race is underway in the art world that’s freighted with its own sublime promise and high-stakes quandaries. I’m talking about the effort to create great AI art—or GAIA, if an acronym is useful—and there is likely no more visible, accomplished, or powerfully backed paladin of this quest than the artist Refik Anadol.​Having spent years perfecting an approach to alchemizing large datasets into jaw-dropping generative artworks, Anadol is a rare figure who can move with equal ease through the art and tech sectors’ corridors of power, in part because his work can offer the impression of looking upon the face of AI itself. He’s even become a spokesperson of sorts, recently seen at Meta Connect trying on a prototype of their Orion AR glasses and declaring, “This can be a whole new world.”​And he’s putting his fingerprint on the museum landscape, too. When his masterwork Unsupervised went on view in MoMA in 2022, its massive popular success helped spark an internal pivot at the institution toward digital art. Last month, he announced that Refik Anadol Studio will be unveiling a museum of its own next year. Called DATALAND and sited in a new Frank Gehry building in downtown LA, it promises to be the world’s first “museum powered by generative AI and ethical tech.”