The 2025 mowna Biennial is the Museum of Wild and Newfangled Art's thirteenth exhibition and third Biennial since it opened in 2020. The first two Biennials helped to increase interest for artwork online, strengthen and grow an international community of artists and appreciators, attract support of traditional art organizations and participants, connect the important histories of digital art with the current artwork being made, and explore a variety of compensation and distribution models to provide artists with newfangled tools to monetize and share their work. This current iteration of the Biennial features 66 visionary artists from 25 countries, each pushing the boundaries of a wide range of artistic mediums. The curated artworks challenge conventions and spark critical conversations about our interconnected present, and suggest ideas for our chaotic future.
The 2025 mowna Biennial amplifies voices that interrogate dominant narratives, using art as a catalyst for community engagement and social change. The artists in the Biennial bring forth a collection of dualities. While the open call for the exhibition was purposefully left without a theme, artists have posed works and ideas that they feel are most important to this current moment. The themes and their counterthemes that have emerged are vast. They include surviving and thriving, scarcity and excess, violence and peace, refusal and acceptance, chaos and order, natural and artificial, and destruction and dreamcrafting; themes that reflect the urgency we are facing in our lives.
With the ongoing transformation of major institutions and auction houses, the 2025 mowna Biennial stands as a parallel space for innovation; one that prioritizes the needs of artists and the communities they serve over speculative capital. We excitedly embrace the possibilities of Web3, as emerging platforms disrupt traditional art, tech, and financial systems encouraging new forms of interaction, communication, expression, collaboration, ownership, distribution, and income among artists and audiences alike.
With the digital art renaissance in full swing, this collection of artworks are an amalgamated layering of software, device technologies, generative artificial intelligence models, blockchain, and a range of media. With so many tools and options for the production of art, these artists shine through with specially developed explorations of Techspressionism, cyber feminism, glitch, meme culture, systems, processes, conceptual, and performance art. Interactive installation, virtual and augmented realities, multidimensional spatial web, soundscapes, cinematic experiences, digital paintings, world building, and video art are among the mediums exhibited. Each piece offers a glimpse into the myriad of ways artists are navigating and interpreting their environments digitally amidst an age of uncertainty and rapid change.
The 2025 mowna Biennial brings us together around a wild collection of artists who push us beyond the messages normally found in the algorithmic feeds that drive our input, thoughts, and actions. In alignment with our commitment to equity and accessibility, removing barriers and broadening access to art for all, this year's Biennial is free and will be showcased online at mowna.org, and in the metaverse with our partnership with Loop Art Critique. The digital format invites participation from individuals regardless of geographic, financial, or physical constraints; democratizing the viewing experience while minimizing environmental impact.
Uniting historical and post-contemporary art practices, the 2025 mowna Biennial stands as a testament to our belief that art must adapt and respond to our times; exploring, questioning, and embracing the wild and the newfangled. mowna provides a strong story and curation into which various institutions and individuals can interface, playing an important role in the unification of the different art worlds. We extend our gratitude to our community for championing these vital dialogues and for supporting the artists who dare to envision a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive future while calling out and drawing attention to what needs to change.
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cari ann shim sham* & joey zaza
mowna founders & curators
Artists:
Aaron Oldenburg, Alieneta Firdausi, Andrew Reach, Ann Reva Shapiro, Annette Weintraub, Arnau Tàsies, Avideh Salmanpour, Ayaz Yıldız, b1i5z, Béatrice Coron, Benna Gaean Maris, Chalda Maloff, connectedoom, Cynthia Beth Rubin, Cynthia DiDonato, Daniel Kantor, Deann Stein Hasinoff, Demon Ego, Dr Kim Hamilton, Eddie Lohmeyer, Gabriel Nebular, goodbytes, Gregory Little, Gregory Patrick Garvey, guruguruhyena, Irene D'Antò, Javier Aparicio Frago, Jody Zellen, Jonathan Barbeau, Judith Carlin, Judith Jacobs, Karen LaFleur, Kels, Larry Akers, Lee Day, Lee Musgrave, Lineadeluz, Lucy Boyd-Wilson, Madam Memoticon, Malavika Mandal Andrew, Meenah Nehme, Michael Pierre Price, Michael Woodruff, Mike Wrathell, Mikołaj Czyżowski, Negin Ehtesabian, Nina Sobell, Patrick Lichty, Pierre Gervois, Rangga Purnama Aji, Renata Janiszewska, Resatio, Riniifish, Ronald Walker, Roz Dimon, Sahar Moussavi, Sara Radomirović, Sky Goodman, Stephen Pare, Susan Detroy, Systaime, Tamas Antal, Theodore Lee Jones, treeskulltown, Xiaobi Iris Pan, XKPRX
The works from this exhibition are available in the mowna's objkt Gallery here
You can visit the mowna Loop room for a spatial web experience here
This museum is developed for and best experienced on the largest screen you have.
Please have on hand your highest quality headphones, and some time.
Use the Previous or Next arrow to move between artworks.
Click the ? question mark for the title, artist credits, and NFT link.
Enjoy, play, and stay!