By Anayansy Hernandez
Last week, thousands flew to experience Art Basel’s 22nd exhibition. Miami became the center of the art world with over 300 exhibitions and artists from over 38 countries displaying their creations. Vibrant pieces showcased all art concepts from contemporary to abstract art and digital installations.
Tech enthusiasts and leaders also took the stage and created dynamic events that showcased blended art experiences, educated on art assets, and spotlighted founders solving problems in the creative space. Take a look at three tech-driven events that shed light on the innovations.
The Underline unveiled its first augmented reality (AR) piece
“Is Blue The Color of The Ocean?” a piece by Dominican artist Bony Ramirez, now sits at the Underline’s Urban Gym. The fiberglass circle, made of silver coconuts and a single gold-colored conch shell, represents migration and identity. “The work is a portal that transports you back home,” Ramirez said. Each coconut is native to Miami and combined, symbolizes the shell necklaces commonly sold in Caribbean tourist shops. Ramirez created the piece to reflect the passage of time and the experience of immigrants as they try to assimilate to a new country. The “necklace” highlights how a place far from home can feel welcoming and familiar.
The piece’s AR experience allows the audience to hear Ramirez’s explanation of the artwork and what it symbolizes in both English and Spanish by scanning a QR code. This component was provided by its funder Niantic, a software development company encouraging people to explore the world through AR. Niantic partnered with Florida International University’s Lee Caplin Immersive Studio for Altered Reality (i-STAR) and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to provide an immersive experience. The added piece is transforming an underutilized space into a vibrant, linear section of the park that enhances community engagement. “It’s transforming all the neighborhoods around it. Since it’s art that is accessible to everyone, people can engage with it differently from a museum. Here, it’s free, there’s no charge, and all these artworks have a lot of meaning,” said Rina Gitlin, The Underline’s open space curatorial manager.
Nex Cubed’s Demo Day featured Miami founders and their solutions for the creative industry
Venture firm Nex Cubed celebrated the completion of its accelerator program at Kuffa Gallery and featured six businesses and tech solutions at Demo Day. This specific cohort is part of its $40 million Historically Black Colleges and University (HBCUs) Founders Fund which seeks to foster and invest in startups where at least one founder is an HBCU student, alumni, or faculty member.
For Aaron Jordan, founder of Miami-based Pebble, being part of this cohort was a full-circle moment. Pebble emerged when Jordan attended college and created a Juneteenth celebration for the city of Lousiville. While scaling the festival, he encountered problems with revenue streams. According to him, many event organizers involved in festivals, concerts, sporting events, and farmers’ markets, need more insight into their revenue streams. Current solutions lack cohesiveness, communication, and coordination tools. Pebble addresses this by providing a centralized platform for managing vendors and tracking revenue. Nex Cubed’s $120,000 investment will fund the launch of the platform early next year and support its developer internship program created with the help of makeitMVP, a development studio.
“Black founders are under-resourced, over-mentored, and under-funded. I just really appreciate this accelerator being focused and intentional about the founders they selected understanding the numbers we’re working against and the numbers looking forward in terms of representation,” Jordan said.
For Jem, another Miami-based company showcased, being part of the cohort has helped it expand. Brianna Flemings shared in a post the accelerator opened doors to advisors from leading marketplaces and consumer apps that have helped the platform gain more traction, product-market fit, and revenue. Jem is connecting individuals to creators like photographers and videographers and simplifies the process of finding and booking vetted creative talent while offering tools for collaboration and community building. Both Jem and Pebble are on their way to raise a pre-seed round of $1 million.
Recharge Miami, a new club committed to amplifying connections and creativity, made its debut
Retired athletes, investors, artists, and philanthropists came together to explore the power of art as an asset class at Villa Miami. Recharge Miami, a new partnership between The Source and the original Recharge which began in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a member club of about 1,500 black and brown executives, venture partners, and academia among others that come together to have provocative conversations and panel discussions. “This is about building community and having a sacred space where people feel they can be themselves and not transactional,” said Marc Spencer, founder of Recharge.
The Art Basel event featured a panel discussion by NBA star and art collector Amar’e Stoudemire, Mikhaile Solomon, Founder of Prizm Art Fair, designer Malene Barnett, and Gus Udo, CEO of 54 Projects. The speakers shared their journey in the art world and advised on navigating it from both a collector and investor perspective. Three main themes emerged: being multidisciplinary, viewing art investments from a balancing risk perspective, and collecting art with a vision in mind.
Concluding the panel, Udo gave insights into how he views technology will shape the future of art. “Technology within the art realm has been around for quite some time and I think it will continue as a medium. It does have relevance, it has had relevance, and artificial intelligence is likely to have a growing influence in the art market,” he said.
Beyond the stunning artwork, these tech-driven events highlighted the potential of technology to reshape art, foster creativity, and empower artists. As we look to the future, the fusion of art and technology is likely to reshape the cultural landscape.
ReCharge event photos by Robert Diaz
anayansy@yansymedia.com.