Art Dubai

Zach Lieberman (b. 1977), an artist based in New York City, creates performance and installation works centred around coding, experimental drawings and animated objects. He makes drawings come to life, creates images of his works’ voices and transforms people’s silhouettes into music. Lieberman was nominated one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People and his projects have won the Golden Nica from Ars Electronica and Interactive Design of the Year from the Design Museum, London. He was also listed in Time magazine’s Best Inventions of the Year. He writes the software for his artworks and is the co-creator of openFrameworks, an open-source C++ toolkit for creative coding, as well as co-founding the School for Poetic Computation which examines the lyrical possibilities of code. Lieberman is a professor at MIT Media Lab, where he leads the Future Sketches group.

Iskra Velitchkova (b. 1988) is a Bulgarian self-taught artist who lives and works in Madrid. With a focus on the interplay between machines and humans, her works speak to the limitations of the human condition in contrast to the constant evolution of new technologies. Velitchkova’s practice is influenced by Balkan and Mediterranean culture, and explores artificial intelligence in tandem with the nuances of the artistic process. From an art-historical perspective, her works are grounded in both abstraction and figuration, as she highlights the slippages between two different modes of communication: language processed by the computer and language transmitted verbally between humans.

Junior Ngoma, (b.1993) operating under the digital username Fingacode, is a multi-disciplinary creative with an interest in audio visual and interactive technologies. Originally born in Cameroon, and now living and working in the UK, as a software engineer Fingacode has been experimenting with creative technologies for the past ten years. Working closely with the system TouchDesigner, Fingacode uses movement to reflect patterns, examining human interactions in increasingly digital cultures and landscapes. He has released many highly creative projects on fxHash, foundation and SuperRare. Most recently in 2022, he created Translucent Panes, a live minting generative art project with ArtBlocks through BrightMoments.

Maxim Zhestkov (b.1985) is a pioneer of digital art who examines the synchronicity of physical and digital realities. Zhestkov acts on their intersection: building hypnotic virtual works that blend architecture, sculpture, colour, movement and sound. Employing geometric shapes, such as spheres, dots, and planes, Zhestkov bends the rules of physics to give these objects movement, as his work alternates between the use of simulation and animation.

Some of his most notable series include Computations (2018), Elements (2018), Artificial Organisms (2021), and Waves (2022). Zhestkov’s work speaks to his background in architecture and graphic design, both subjects which he studied at The Ulyanovsk State University. Maxim’s works have been exhibited at Times Square, MIT, Art Basel Miami, Ars Electronica, as well as featured in major sales at Christie’s. His list of past clients include Google, Fox, Microsoft, Nokia, MTV, among other renowned international media establishments; prominent collectors of Maxim’s work include Ryan Zurrer and 33NFT.

Krista Kim (b.1976) is a digital artist based between Toronto and Los Angeles. Her work is imbued with a sense of transcendence and meditation, created using a visual language that she intends to act as a digital consciousness. One of Kim’s most notable works is Mars House, the first digital house NFT, which sold on the SuperRare platform for 288 ETH, equivalent to $512,000 at the time. Often compared to surrealist depictions, her works exemplify the sublime, while she produces experiential zen moments through her multidimensional light installations. In 2014, Kim founded the Techism movement, which promotes the convergence of art and technology. In June 2022, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art acquired Continuum Los Angeles, her work which takes inspiration from the vibrant, ever-changing skies of the city, visually represented as a 40-minute gradient display. 

Tyler Hobbs (b.1987) is a visual artist from Austin, Texas. His work focuses on computational aesthetics, how they are shaped by the biases of modern computer hardware and software, and how they relate to and interact with the natural world around us. By taking a generative approach to art making, his work explores the possibilities of creation at scale and the powers of emergence.

Hobbs’ most notable project, Fidenza, is a series of 999 algorithmically generated works comprising one of the most sought-after fine art NFT collections of all time. His drawings, paintings, and digital works have been privately collected around the world. He has presented two solo exhibitions, Progress (2018) at Galería Dos Topos in León, Mexico, and Incomplete Control (2021) at Bright Moments Gallery in Manhattan, New York. In 2022, Hobbs was part of the generative art group exhibition, IN OUR CODE at Unit London, and his work has been included in auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s. Unit London will be presenting Tyler Hobbs’ first solo show in Europe, titled Mechanical Hand, opening 7th March 2023. Hobbs holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin.