Zero 10 Debuts at Art Basel Miami Beach

Zero 10 is a case study for our times. It’s clear that 2025–2026 is a transition period for (the world,) the art world and digital art. Art’s digitization went through a whirlwind period of disruptive technologies in successive decades, with deep learning AI and blockchain impacting culture with a one-two blow.

This led to massive shifts in both traditional and digital art worlds, with the ultimate result being a somewhat reluctant integration of what has always been an othered form into more traditional spaces. It began with institutions like MoMA, Tate, LACMA, Pompidou, the Whitney, Buffalo AKG and more.

But the commercial galleries for a variety of complex reasons (client needs, staffing and expertise, education, taste, etc) remained more skeptical and needed to be more conservative as they rely on functioning business models to survive. That means fairs (collections of commercial galleries) would also, even against their will, be more conservative.

Satellite events were tried in Hong Kong from at least 2022 with its Tezos booth quite adjacent—but still separated with a wall and a small door—to the main fair. Then the brilliant Artmeta’s Digital Art Mile in Basel injected much-needed conversation into otherwise uninspiring digital programming. There still wasn’t integration and galleries weren’t going to do it on their own.

What are fairs to do when the most relevant conversations are happening at satellite events? More importantly for them, how do they connect with those buyers?

Perhaps the traditional ways could be subverted. They could carve out a space on the main floor, bypass the traditional gallery selection method and streamline curation directly to people who know the buyers best.

Well, enter Zero 10. It’s a case study for these times in art because it exemplifies its changes. Understand it and its context (how it impacts the digital and traditional galleries forever), and you understand a big chunk of what’s happening. It’s that enormously important.

The show itself debuted at Art Basel Miami Beach in December as the fair’s first dedicated digital art section, curated by Eli Scheinman. This author spoke to Scheinman about the show.

According to Kevin Buist for Le Random, at its strongest, it treated the fair itself as a medium: interactive works, interfaces, responsive systems, and experiments in ownership that couldn’t exist outside networked tools. Beeple’s Regular Animals became the crowd magnet, while projects like Jack Butcher’s Self Checkout and XCOPY’s Coin Laundry foregrounded participation and transparency.

But more importantly than this particular version’s substance, Zero 10 represents quite a shift in the art world’s integration of digital into spaces that mostly held paintings. That messy transition took a big step before our eyes with Zero 10 into a position that’s now more durable and sustainable. Importantly, it’s also far less embarrassing and less new-money show-offy. Zero 10 shows that digital art, after decades, can now be confident and is here to stay.