Knight Foundation provides the catalyst to the future of digital art in Miami | Opinion

Miami Art Week 2023 is complete.

All of us here in Miami can be beneficiaries of the annual art fairs, the well-formed distribution system that satisfies those of us who collect or who are merely curious lovers of the visual art experience.

There was a second convening of artistic value last week here in Miami. The Knight Foundation staged Catalyst: Digital Transformation in the Arts, a look at the future of artistic expression informed by digital tools. The sessions considered the evolution of digital arts laboratories, the inherent changes in artistic expression formed by digital tools, the expanded reach through digital distribution, sustainable business models for digital exploration, safeguards for intellectual property and the cost/benefit ratio of digital experimentation.

These were heady topics given the seemingly endless possibilities and significant threats in the digital now. The symposium was staged at the New World Symphony, an institution that is making the most of its digital opportunities for the betterment of Miami and classical music.

The seeds of the Catalyst were planted by the Knight Foundation under the leadership of Alberto Ibargüen. Appointed president in 2005, he could see the future, the power of digital tools in service of artistic expression and future audiences. Working with Victoria Rogers and the Knight Foundation staff, Ibargüen has given us the unique combination of challenge and trust.

The result was evident at Catalyst. Art museums in cyberspace, a robotic sculpture that responded to improvised music, a sound installation whose complexity is only possible in a digital platform and performative video synchronized with live musical presentation. Each example of artistic expression invited speculation about its next iteration.

Miami Art Week is about today’s Miami. Catalyst is about tomorrow. Thanks to the Knight Foundation. As evident at the Catalyst symposium, we have already begun to define the next Miami. Artistic activity amplified by digital tools gives our city a significant added dimension. Art made digitally transforms us and takes us across the bridges of inclusion.

Just as Art Week is a Miami tradition, I can imagine Catalyst as an ever more important aspect of the Miami of the future.

Howard Herring is president and chief executive officer of the New World Symphony.