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- Future+ Access | Issue2
Art Blocks Marfa returns this weekend for its 4th edition from November 15th-17th, celebrating the vibrant world of code-based generative art, in Marfa, Texas, a small town in the middle of nowhere, 3 hours away from the closest airport.
Three years ago, Erick Calderon, the founder of Art Blocks, and his wife bought a home in Marfa to use as an exhibition space for the Art Blocks collections. They invited the Art Blocks community to join them and to their surprise, over 200 people showed up the first year, 400 people the second year and 700 people the third year. The event, now in its fourth year, is a much awaited event that gathers creators, collectors, and digital art enthusiasts to explore and share their passion for generative art and blockchain-driven creativity, fostering meaningful connections around this pioneering art form. It will feature exhibitions, panels, installations, and more—each designed to bring the art community together for lively debate, discussion, and discovery.
For this special culture spotlight, we highlight TRAME Paris, a dynamic and pioneering gallery and collaborative studio to discover and collect limited-edition design pieces and artworks with digital provenance.
They will present Code Meets Craft, three exhibitions featuring physical works by a diverse group of global artists, including IX Shells, Linda Dounia, Fingacode, A.A. Murakami, in collaboration with Art Blocks Engine, The Black Digital Art Collective, and Ledger.
Join TRAME: Code Meets Craft in Marfa to experience a boundary-breaking fusion of tradition, digital art, and innovation. RSVP here.
UPCOMING LIVE STREAM: SAVE THE DATE
Future+ will be hosting Live Stream Mondays on the 25th of November, featuring Ashumi Sanghvi, Founder of Future+ in conversation with Ismail Tazi, Founder of TRAME Paris + more artists and guests to be announced soon! Sign up here and join us to discuss the growing popularity of the Art Blocks movement, understanding the TRAME exhibitions and how the intersections of code, craft, art and innovation is defining what culture stands for today. Link here to RSVP.
Exhibition Highlights
Desert Threads: Weaving Tradition and Technology
Desert threads, courtesy of TRAME Paris.
TRAME presents Desert Threads: Weaving Tradition and Technology, an exhibition inspired by two desert landscapes—the Moroccan Sahara and the West Texas Chihuahuan Desert—that intertwines the heritage of Moroccan craft with the free-spirited, artistic experimentalism that has come to characterize Marfa, TX.
A collection of tapestries, developed during a research trip to Morocco in 2023, by renowned digital artists IX Shells, Linda Dounia and Fingacode, will be showcased within a recreated Berber camp situated on the open, canvas-like landscape of Marfa. The exhibition is an immersive gathering space and point of connection that invites visitors to explore the shared spirit of two deserts, where the boldness of digital art meets the tactile richness of Berber weaving tradition.
The tapestries embody the harmony between the visions of the digital artists and the heritage craft of Moroccan artisans, opening a powerful dialogue about technology and tradition across continents and cultures.
Ismail Tazi, Founder of TRAME Paris
“The Desert Threads collections bridge code and craft, using generative design to celebrate diverse voices from the African diaspora and inspire young people across Africa to see themselves in a global creative future. For me, with my Moroccan roots, this journey is deeply personal—it’s about honoring tradition while embracing generative algorithms to show how heritage and innovation can thrive together. Our hope is that this work reaches beyond borders, sparking connection, craftsmanship, and creativity in a world that’s changing fast.”
A Thousand Layers of Stomach
A thousand Layers of Stomach, courtesy of TRAME Paris
Inspired by the intricate patterns found on the shell of the ancient Asari clam, A Thousand Layers of Stomach is an abstract work by A.A. Murakami, that explores the intersection of nature and technology through a creative code that replicates the natural processes of Asari clam shell formation. An on-site custom knitting machine translates the artist-generated code to produce expansive textile wall pieces that capture the evolutionary beauty of the clam’s mesmerizing array of abstract shell patterns.
Accompanying the installation is a film shot in the mudflats of the Pearl River Delta and the wet markets of Hong Kong, offering a visceral, transcendent exploration of the primordial connection between humanity and the sea. A Thousand Layers of Stomach poses questions about existence, the origins of life, and explores whether mathematics is an intrinsic part of nature or a human construct.
Launching at Art Blocks Weekend in Marfa in partnership with TRAME and Art Blocks Engine, the work will then tour to different museums around the world where the knitting machine will continue to grow the textile work, based on the evolving generative pattern.
A.A. Murakami
“We are incredibly excited to be debuting our new project 100 Layers of Stomach in Marfa with TRAME and Art Blocks. It's a passion project that explores the biggest questions about the origins of life, emergent patterns and the future of technology in the ongoing story of evolution. To be working on it with TRAME who pioneer ‘On Chain/Off Screen’ is a dream.”
Punks in Marfa: Reflections on Counter Culture
CryptoPunks in Marfa, courtesy of TRAME Paris
Located in the vast landscape of the West Texas Chihuahuan Desert, Punks in Marfa: Reflections on Counter Culture, is an exclusive exhibition of handcrafted Venetian mirrors that reimagines CryptoPunks as timeless works of art.
Much like Donald Judd's iconic sculptures, the CryptoPunk mirrors create a dialogue between the physical environment, Judd’s “anti-museum,” and experimental art culture. As viewers stand before these pieces, they engage with both the crafted world of the past and the digital art shaping our future.
Each mirror is a symbol of the disruptive digital art age; it is also a portrait or distinct digital identity—a “PFP” in the lingo of CryptoPunk culture—reflecting the intersection of art, technology, and personal expression.
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