Sarasota Art Museum hosts Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks

Featuring over 70 distinctive pieces, this forward-thinking exhibition explores innovative design and the wearable tech movement with footwear that steps into the future

Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design (SAM) presents Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks, an exhibition celebrating innovative design and technological advancements in footwear. Featuring over 70 pieces from Toronto’s Bata Shoe Museum, as well as loans from other prominent institutions, collectors, designers, and inventors, the exhibited footwear pushes the boundaries of what constitutes a shoe. Beyond an exhibition of dozens of “cool kicks,” Future Now asks viewers to consider questions about consumerism, sustainability, and what the history of human footwear says about us: its wearers. On view from February 9 through May 4, 2025, in SAM’s third-floor galleries, Future Now is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum.

Exhibit highlights include digitally designed and 3D printed shoes, sneakers made from such unconventional materials as mushroom leather and reclaimed ocean plastics, and the Nike Mag, known for its audience-wowing “power lace” technology, as famously showcased by Michael J. Fox in the hit Back to the Future movie trilogy. Featured designers and brands include: Salehe Bembury, rtfkt, Mr. Bailey, Zaha Hadid, JEMS by Pensole, Safa Şahin, EKTO VR, Saysh, Benoit Méléard, SCRY, and many more. 

“This exhibition truly speaks to museumgoers of all walks of life,” said Virginia Shearer, Executive Director of SAM. “Shoes, themselves, are ubiquitous. Humans have been wearing them for at least 40,000 years. And yet, shoes can also be so very personal. We use expressions like, ‘To walk a mile in someone else’s shoes,’ as a way of describing what it means to understand another person’s lived experience. So, my hope for our community is that Future Now brings a wide range of people together at SAM and that they walk away with a new appreciation for how art and design are deeply engrained in our everyday lives and who we are as humans.”

The idea for this showcase evolved from a previous collaboration between AFA and Bata Shoe Museum—Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture. The original exhibit marked the first North American exhibition to chart the history of sneaker culture. Between 2015 and 2017, Out of the Box traveled to seven cities, including Toronto, Canada, and Perth, Australia. Building upon Out of the Box’s success, Future Now examines contemporary advancements in footwear and the sneaker’s role in the wearable tech movement.

“Across the continent and internationally, we witnessed the transformative effect this exhibition had on communities: museumgoers, the young and young-at-heart adored and galvanized around the exhibition,” said Pauline Forlenza, Director & CEO of American Federation of Arts of Out of the Box. “As accessible as they are aspirational, sneakers have a magical way of inspiring us to share the stories of who we once were, and who we yearn to become. Future Now expands upon the dreams that Out of the Box encouraged, provoking us to think not just about our personal narratives, but society and sustainability at home and in the uncharted lands of virtual reality.”

Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks debuted at Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, in March of 2024. The exhibition is currently on view at Newfields: A Place for Nature & the Arts in Indianapolis, Indiana, through January 2025. After its Sarasota premiere, the show will continue to Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa, before traveling to Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina.

This exhibition at SAM is made possible, in part, with generous support from Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation and Sarasota Magazine, and is paid for, in part, by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues.

SAM is Ringling College of Art and Design’s dynamic laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art. As Sarasota’s only museum solely focused on contemporary artists and their work, SAM offers visitors a place to see thought-provoking exhibitions and participate in education programs that start conversations and amplify the city’s creative spirit.

Located in the historic Sarasota High School, SAM opened to the public in 2019 and features 15,000 square feet of dedicated exhibition space, the outdoor Marcy & Michael Klein Plaza, the Great Lawn featuring temporary sculpture and site-specific installations, Bistro, and SHOP. SAM is home to a robust portfolio of education programs for all ages, including The Studios at SAM, a vibrant studio arts program, and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Ringling College, which offers a variety of courses for adult learners.

SAM is located at 1001 South Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, Florida, 34236. To stay in the know, become a SAM Member, sign up for Museum email updates, visit our website at sarasotaartmuseum.org, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. 

ADMISSION:
General Admission $20
 
MUSEUM HOURS: 
Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm  
Sunday 11am-5pm