Art critic Ben Davis reflects on the cultural landscape of early 2026, identifying a chaotic aesthetic defined by AI-generated imagery, esoteric Nazi dog whistles, internet trolling, and gaudy luxury, which he calls the "Chaotic Style." He also discusses the muted response to the 2025 Fall of Freedom initiative, the ongoing credibility crisis of liberal institutions over Gaza, and the need for serious AI criticism that moves beyond dismissing it as "slop."
The Toledo Museum of Art has opened "Infinite Images: The Art of Algorithms," an exhibition tracing the history of code-based art from the 1960s to the present. Curated by Julia Kaganskiy, the show features 24 artists including pioneers like Sol LeWitt, Josef Albers, and Vera Molnár, alongside contemporary digital creators such as Larva Labs, Snowfro, Dmitri Cherniak, Operator, and Emily Xie. Works range from Molnár's "Interruptions" series (1968–69) to recent generative and on-chain pieces like CryptoPunks (2017) and Chromie Squiggles (2020), many drawn from the collection of hedge fund manager Alan Howard.
The second edition of the Aspen Art Fair opened at the historic Hotel Jerome with over 40 exhibitors from more than 15 countries, more than doubling its size from the previous year. The fair is one of three major events during Aspen Art Week, alongside Intersect Aspen Art and Design (now in its 15th edition) and the AIR Festival, a $20 million initiative by the Aspen Art Museum. Dealers and advisers, including Paul Henkel of Palo Gallery and Christian Gundin of El Apartamento, noted that while there are too many art fairs globally, Aspen's smaller, hyper-focused format attracts serious collectors and fosters stronger relationships. Blue-chip galleries like Sean Kelly and Marianne Boesky also participated, with Boesky having a long history in the town.
SuperRare, the digital art trading platform, is opening a permanent New York gallery called Offline in the East Village at 243 Bowery, the former home of Salon 94. The inaugural exhibition, “Mythologies for a Spiritually Void Time,” curated by X.S. Hou and Jack Wedge, opens July 8 and features 15 artists working across animation, painting, sculpture, and networked media. The launch includes a week-long festival with dance performances, panels on art and A.I., and a choreographed NFT auction ritual.
Artist Sarah Meyohas has unveiled her first public art installation, "Truth Arrives in Slanted Beams" (2025), for the 2025 edition of Desert X in California's Coachella Valley. The monumental curved structure uses no electricity; instead, precisely milled mirrored discs reflect sunlight onto a white wall to form legible patterns and messages through the optical phenomenon of caustics. The work was created in collaboration with the Swiss company Rayform, which specializes in calculating caustic light patterns, pushing their technology to its largest scale yet.
The article highlights nine must-see art exhibitions in the Bay Area for October, despite recent gallery closures like KADIST and Gallery 16. Key shows include the Museum of the African Diaspora's twin exhibitions 'Continuum' and 'Unbound' for its 20th anniversary, Drew Villanueva's first solo exhibition at Good Mother Studio inside Ikea, Jim Melchert's retrospective at di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, and Mills College Art Museum's '100 Years of Creative Visions'. The programming is anchored by the second edition of Nexus, a Bay Area art week spotlighting Black voices and bridging regional divides.
Emily McDermott's article, published July 15, 2025, gathers perspectives from artists including Refik Anadol, Arthur Jafa, Marilyn Minter, and others on how AI will change art. It references the controversial Christie's 'Augmented Intelligence' auction in February-March 2025, which generated nearly $730,000 despite an open letter signed by nearly 4,000 individuals urging cancellation over claims that AI models exploit copyrighted material. The artists quoted offer varied views, from Anadol seeing AI as a collaborator that augments creativity to Jafa dismissing most AI-generated work as generic.
Artist Sarah Meyohas and architect Ben Dobbin, lead of Foster + Partners' San Francisco office, discuss their creative processes in a conversation published by Cultured. Meyohas, known for her conceptual work exploring technology across film, cryptocurrency, and holograms, recently installed a serpentine wall at Desert X and served as an executive producer on the Oscar-winning film *The Brutalist*. Dobbin, whose portfolio includes Apple Park and Vivaldi Towers, collaborated with The Dalmore distillery on the third Luminary series masterpiece, creating a sculptural display for two rare 52-year-aged whisky bottles, one auctioned at Sotheby's. The pair compare notes on designing spaces that shape human experience, from Meyohas's Bell Labs-inspired film *Cloud of Petals* to Dobbin's intimate restaurants in Tuscany.
The Dalmore whisky distillery hosted a private panel discussion in San Francisco, featuring architect Ben Dobbin of Foster + Partners and artist Sarah Meyohas, moderated by CULTURED Executive Editor Mara Veitch. The event, held at Studio at Mission Rock, brought together local gallerists, designers, and art enthusiasts to explore the intersection of fine art, architecture, and commercial practice. Dobbin was recently selected for the third iteration of The Dalmore's Luminary series, collaborating with master distillers to create limited edition whiskies housed in his custom bronze sculpture and bespoke case.
The Toledo Museum of Art will open "Infinite Images: The Art of the Algorithm," a special exhibition curated by Julia Kaganskiy that explores digital and generative art from the 1960s to the present. The show features works created using custom software, algorithms, and machine learning models developed by the artists themselves, emphasizing rule-based systems and automation as part of the creative process. Associate Curator Paige Rozanski notes that the exhibition contextualizes generative art within a longer tradition of analog algorithmic processes, distinguishing it from AI-generated images produced by large language models like ChatGPT.