Futurist Monika Bielskyte on a Protopian Vision for Art
Sign up for this week’s live conversation with Monika Bielskyte, a trailblazer at the intersection of art and technology.
Artwrld editor-at-large Andrew Goldstein will be hosting a live conversation with the Protopian futurist Monika Bielskyte via Zoom this Thursday, January 16th, at 12:00 PM EST.
RSVP to attend the discussion and take part in an audience Q&A session.
Looking back from the vantage point of 2025, it’s unmistakable—almost not even worth mentioning—that capitalism has served as the North Star for the art world over the past quarter century.
The tone was set by artists like Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, and Jeff Koons, who figured out how to tap a growing global art market by leveraging virality to hack the distribution systems afforded by the internet. Since then, business-model innovation and brand building have become essential targets of artists’ ingenuity; even when it comes to art history, the measure of success for bringing previously marginalized artists into the canon has been the dollar amount of their auction sales. Hustle culture reigned.
But now we are on the cusp of a new era. Whereas the internet disrupted distribution, making it easier for famous artists to reach immense audiences, AI is now disrupting the creative act itself, with as-yet-untold consequences. Is it time for the artistic community to find a new North Star?
If so, Monika Bielskyte might be able to help. As the founder of Protopia Futures, she envisions a reinvigorated role for art as a critical, intentional force in building the future we want to inhabit—as a way of navigating humanity between the shoals of utopia and dystopia towards a habitable, inclusive, and life-centric world.
This week, I am very pleased to talk to Monika about her Protopian vision for the future of art.
Missed our Artwrld conversation with the curator and Serpentine Galleries Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist? Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
About Artwrld
Artwrld hosts live talks every week with leading artists, technologists, art professionals, and entrepreneurs about the opportunities and challenges at the vanguard of creativity.
More at: artwrld.com
