Editorials

Droitcour argues contemporary art with NFTs operates in the productive tension between two opposing aesthetics: schizocollage (which foregrounds visible seams and difference) and generative AI (which synthesizes difference into coherent wholes). The most compelling work—Mons and Little Swag World by Supermetal Bosch, as well as Ugly Bitches and Little Darlings by Ann Hirsch and Maya Man—uses this tension to surface and critique how desire, identity and collectibility function in culture.

Lu Yang’s DOKU! DOKU! DOKU!: samsara.exe at Amant in New York, on view through February 15, lands alongside MoMI’s presentation of Lu Yang: The Great Adventure of Material World (2019–20), on view through March 22, 2026. The artist speaks with Peter Bauman (Monk Antony) about solitude as an absolute truth, art as the perfect interdisciplinary cloak, and the illusory boundary between body, avatar, dream and “reality.”

As art shifts from objects to living (continuously executing) systems, institutional infrastructure and capacity must respond. We need living institutions that can preserve conditions of emergence rather than conserving artifacts. Peter Bauman explores how NODE offers one such model, as it showcases these precise capabilities with its opening show, 10,000, by artists Matt Hall and John Watkinson, curated by Amanda Schmitt and produced by Natalie Stone.

Famed investors and art collectors Micky Malka and Becky Kleiner speak with Peter Bauman (Monk Antony), sharing the story of their love for art. They also discuss how an attempt to showcase their own digital collection led to the founding of NODE, a Palo Alto hub designed for living, code-based art through dynamic exhibitions, artist-led presentation and hands-on education that brings new audiences into digital culture. NODE opens January 23, with 10,000, an exhibition by Matt Hall and John Watkinson curated by Amanda Schmitt and produced by Natalie Stone.

Simulation and world-building artist Ian Cheng speaks with Peter Bauman (Monk Antony) about change as a lived texture, worlding through systems and protocols, and how AI companions and “memory” are reshaping attention and daily life.

Luba Elliott co-chaired the Creative AI Track at NeurIPS 2025, one of the most important annual academic conferences on AI. The track presented 93 academic papers and artworks, exploring cutting-edge applications of AI across art and broader creative practices.‍‍ Here, Elliott interviews the artists behind two standout projects from the conference. She speaks with Ethan Chang and Quincy Kuang, who presented The Stochastic Parrot, a physical AI cohabitant. Then she exchanges with Jenn Leung and Chloe Loewith, authors of Assembloid Agency, an open-source Unreal Engine plugin that connects living neurons grown on a “brain-on-a-chip” to a 3D game world.