In the ancient streets of Basel, where medieval buildings have witnessed centuries of human creativity, a new chapter in art's evolving story is being written. The Digital Art Mile returns for its second triumphant year, transforming the historic Rebgasse into a luminous corridor where the past and future of artistic expression converge in breathtaking harmony.

A Canvas of Light and Memory

From 16th to 22nd June 2025, during the revered Art Basel week, this landmark event weaves together strands of artistic innovation spanning six decades. Here, humanoid robots share space with historic drawing machines, autonomous AI agents commune with pioneering computer art from the 1960s, and the revolutionary Quantel Paintbox—the digital painting tool that forever changed broadcasting and defined the visual language of the MTV generation—pulses with renewed creative life.

There is something profoundly moving about witnessing these technological milestones gathered in one space. To stand before the early computer artworks of the 1960s is to feel the quiet revolution that began when humans first invited machines into the sacred realm of creativity. These pieces, created when computers filled entire rooms and programming was a laborious physical task, carry the weight of artistic courage—the daring to imagine that cold calculation might birth warm beauty.

Where Traditions Dissolve and Reform

Organised by ArtMeta, The Digital Art Mile is more than an exhibition; it is a pilgrimage site for those seeking to understand how technology is reshaping our most human endeavour—the creation of meaning through art. As the world's most important fair for digital art, it draws leading galleries, platforms, museum curators, and experts from across the globe, all converging on Basel's storied streets.

What makes this gathering so poignant is not merely the technological marvels on display, but the human stories behind them—tales of artists who ventured into uncharted digital territories, often misunderstood by traditional art circles, yet persisted in their vision. Their journey mirrors our own collective passage into an increasingly digital existence, with all its wonder and disquiet.

Paintboxed: Resurrection of a Digital Pioneer

At the heart of this year's exhibition lies "Paintboxed," a groundbreaking showcase presented by ArtMeta, Objkt, and the Tezos Foundation as part of the Paintboxed - Tezos World Tour. This exhibition celebrates one of the first digital painting devices in art history—the Quantel Paintbox—a machine that once cost as much as a house yet revolutionised visual media worldwide.

Contemporary masters Grant Yun, Bryan Brinkman, Justin Aversano, and Ivona Tau have created new works on an original Paintbox, lent by co-curator and Quantel historian Adrian Wilson. There is something deeply touching about watching today's visionaries reach back through time to create on a machine that predates their own artistic awakening—a gesture of respect and continuity in the often-fragmented digital realm.

Installation view of the Digital Art Mile (2024) featuring work by Aleksandra Jovanovic. Courtesy of Artmeta. source: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/digital-art-mile-basel-2640132

These works, presented as physical lightboxes paired with NFTs minted on the Tezos blockchain, bridge the tangible and virtual worlds that increasingly define our existence. Available on Objkt, they represent not just art objects, but portals between different ways of experiencing creativity.

A Tapestry of Digital Visions

The Digital Art Mile unfolds as a rich tapestry of exhibitions, each contributing a distinct thread to the larger narrative of digital art's evolution:

Kate Vass Galerie presents "Iconoclast," a solo programme by Nigerian digital artist Osinachi. Spanning from early works to his most recent digital paintings (2019-2025), the exhibition includes "Forgotten Relics"—a series created during his residency at the Bellagio Center in Italy. Osinachi's work speaks to how digital tools have democratised art creation across continents, giving voice to perspectives once marginalised by the art establishment.

LaCollection—known for collaborations with institutions like the British Museum and Monnaie de Paris—showcases a new series by generative artist Tyler Hobbs, creator of the renowned "Fidenza" series. Hobbs' work represents the fascinating junction where human creativity sets parameters for algorithmic expression, resulting in works of startling beauty and complexity.

Mayor Gallery offers a tribute to the centenary of Waldemar Cordeiro, widely regarded as the father of digital art in South America. The founder of Brazil's "Ruptura" art movement, Cordeiro's iconic works from the late 1960s—created in collaboration with Jorge Moscati on an IBM 360/44 computer at the University of São Paulo—remind us that the digital art revolution began not in Silicon Valley, but in studios and universities around the world where visionary artists recognised the computer's creative potential.

Bright Moments from San Francisco presents "Automata," a group exhibition exploring the evolution of robotics, artificial intelligence, and autonomous AI agents. Here, the line between creator and creation blurs, raising profound questions about authorship and consciousness in the age of artificial intelligence.

Objkt brings us "We Emotional Cyborgs: On Avatars and AI Agents," curated by Anika Meier (The Second-Guess). This exhibition delves into how virtual entities serve not only as reflections of human desires but as agents challenging our notions of identity amidst the collapse of trust and truth—a meditation on who we become in digital spaces.

A Gathering of Minds

Beyond the exhibitions, The Digital Art Mile hosts a series of conferences at Kult.Kino Cinema throughout the week. Esteemed speakers include Christiane Paul, Curator of Digital Art at Whitney Museum of American Art; Ian Charles Steward, Director of Toledo Museum of Art Laboratories; Sebastien Borget, COO and Co-Founder of The Sandbox; and Professor Dr. Thomas Girst, Global Head of Cultural Engagement at BMW.

These conversations are not merely academic exercises but vital dialogues about how we navigate a world where the digital and physical increasingly interpenetrate. They ask us to consider what we preserve of our artistic heritage when the medium itself may become obsolete within decades, and how we value art that exists primarily as code.

The Emotional Heart of Digital Creation

What makes The Digital Art Mile so compelling is that beneath the technical innovations and glowing screens beats the same timeless human impulse that moved cave painters to press pigmented hands against stone walls—the desire to leave a mark, to communicate across time and space, to make visible the invisible currents of human experience.

As visitors walk the length of Rebgasse, moving from historic computer art to AI-generated visions of possible futures, they participate in a journey through the evolving relationship between humanity and technology. This journey is neither a straightforward progression nor a decline, but a complex dialogue between what we create and what creates us in return.

The Digital Art Mile, free and open to all, invites us to witness this dialogue with open hearts and minds. In a world increasingly divided by technology—between those who embrace it and those who fear it, between digital natives and immigrants—this exhibition offers common ground, a space where we might contemplate together how our creative spirit adapts to and transforms the tools of our age.

For in the end, whether rendered in pigment on canvas or pixels on screens, art remains our most human conversation—with ourselves, with each other, and with whatever future we are collectively creating.