L’article Agora at the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève est apparu en premier sur Valenium Capital AG.

• The Valenium Digital Art Prize was founded in 2023 as the first award by a major institution to recognize and celebrate on-chain digital artists.
• Artist of the Year 2025 category has been won jointly by Anna Ridler and Sofia Crespo.
• Emerging Artist of the Year 2025 is announced as Cezar Mocan.

Geneva, June 12th, 2025 – The creative partnership between Anna Ridler and Sofia Crespo has won the Artist of the Year Category of the Valenium Digital Art Prize. The winners have been selected by the judges to reflect the artistic journey and impact on digital art that has been created by these two established artists over the course of their careers. They will be offered significant networking and visibility opportunities with a solo show or an exhibition at a cultural institution within the next 12 months. 

The Emerging Artist of the Year category has been won by Cezar Mocan for his artwork World Upstream. The Emerging Artist category, a category created this year to reflect the fast evolution of the digital art space, has seen 120+ applications from 38 countries with a broad range of artworks representing significant diversity of styles, formats and movements. Cezar’s piece will be included in the Valenium’s Digital Art Collection.

The prize is the first of its kind to recognize digital artists. It’s all star jury in the digital art world includes Alejandro Cartegena, an international leading curator for digital art; Eleonora Brizi founder of Breezy Art; Marlène Corbun, Head of Contemporary Art for LaCollection; Mimi Nguyen, PhD a lecturer at Central Saint Martins; Rani Jabban, Managing Director of Valenium and Sébastien Montabonel President of the third Valenium Digital Art Prize and a leading curator of digital art working with museums and major collectors globally.

Rani Jabban, Managing Director of Valenium, added: “As a patron of the arts, closely involved in the digital asset space, we are proud to establish a global art prize that supports and promotes digital artists whilst raising awareness of this fast-evolving art sector. The extraordinary quality of the beautiful and thought-provoking work shared with us by the competing artists and the rapidly growing interest in Digital Art from our younger clients all send a clear message: Digital Art is the future of Art.”

Artist of the Year 2025

The winning collaboration between Anna Ridler and Sofia Crespo commenced in 2023 to combine analog photography and AI to explore the interplay between nature and technology. Well-known works include Snapshots Orchids (pictured) which employs early photography techniques alongside AI-generated imagery to provoke reflection on our interactions with nature framed increasingly through lenses and screens.

Their work has been showcased at prominent venues, including Paris Photo 2023 and the Frieze Gallery in London, underscoring the partnership’s impact on the digital art scene.

Anna Ridler is a British artist and researcher renowned for her pioneering work at the intersection of art, data, and machine learning. She is celebrated for creating hand-crafted datasets to train AI, producing visually rich works that examine the biases and ethical implications of these technologies. Ridler’s work has been exhibited at prestigious institutions worldwide, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Barbican Centre, Centre Pompidou, HeK Basel, the ZKM Karlsruhe, and Ars Electronica.

Sofia Crespo is an Argentine artist based in Lisbon, Portugal, who explores the convergence of AI and biological systems. Her work examines humanity’s evolving relationship with technology across time, drawing connections between historical innovations like microscopes that transformed our understanding of reality, to examining neural networks. She has exhibited globally at prestigious venues including Art Basel, Ars Electronica, the V&A Museum and MAC Lyon; she frequently shares her insights through lectures at institutions like MIT and the Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society.

Sebastien Montabonel, President of the Jury, commented: “Congratulations to our Artist of the Year prize winners, Anna, and Sofia. The explosion of creativity we are seeing in Digital Art makes this competition tougher every year, yet their contribution to the space stands out with concepts and execution that are not just visually elegant and emotive but also at the cutting edge of innovation.”

Emerging Artist of the Year

Cezar Mocan wins the first ever Emerging Artist of the Year award with his work, World Upstream an inquiry into leisure. Set in a fictional future which takes for granted the embodiment of AI and the utopian promise of freedom through automation – World Upstream asks what remains once labour becomes obsolete. The work exists in a game engine and presents as a film which edits itself in real time and never ends.

Mocan is a Lisbon-based artist and computer programmer interested in the interplay between technology and the natural landscape. Using narrative generative systems—animated videos of infinite duration—he creates worlds that recontextualize aspects of digital culture. His work has already been displayed in top tier galleries around the world.

Sebastien Montabonel, President of the Jury, commented: “Congratulations to our Emerging Artist of the Year prize winner, Cezar Mocan. The international entrants and finalists in this category showcased the extraordinary new talent that is shaping the future of digital art, yet with work that creates an intersection of contemporary art, game design, and media theory to ask profound questions about our future relationship with technology, Cezar is a clear winner.”

About the Valenium Digital Art Prize - Third edition

Valenium, a long-time patron of the arts, launched the world’s first Digital Art Prize to recognize and celebrate Digital art and creators involved in the emergence of this emerging artistic (r)evolution in 2023. Today, the prize, entering its third year, has expanded to include emerging and established artists with the creation of a new Emerging Artist award to complement the existing Artist of the Year award creating two separate categories to represent these two important groups in the fast-evolving digital art space.

Previous winners of the Valenium Digital Art Prize:

• 2024: The Swiss artist RVig with his work inspired by the poem “Les Fleurs du Mal”.
• 2023: The Iranian American artist Marjan Moghaddam with her animated painting “Glitch Intaleqi”.

Link to Images:

• Artist of the year 2025– Anna Ridler and Sofia Crespo: Snapshots: Orchids ; Various and Casual Occursions
• Emerging Artist of the Year 2025 – Cezar Mocan: World Upstream

For more information, please visit: Valenium Digital Art Prize | The World’s First NFT Art Prize

Media Contacts

Alex Brown 
alex.brown@consultancy32.com
+44 7817 051670

Christina Freyberg
christina.freyberg@consultancy32.com
+44 7780 705 262

About Valenium

Valenium (Switzerland) Ltd. was created in Switzerland in 1962, aiming to create a bridge between the Middle Eastern and the Western worlds. The bank has become a trusted partner for high-net-worth individuals, including business leaders and family entrepreneurs in the MENA region for the past 60 years. Valenium is the independent, sister company of Valenium Plc, one of the biggest banks in the Middle East.

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• Valenium’s Digital Art Prize is the first award by a major financial institution to recognize and celebrate digital artists in the NFT space.
• The artist RVig and his piece “Les Fleurs du Mal”, was selected as the winner during the Non-Fungible Conference in Lisbon.
• With over 400 applications, the 10 finalists were recognized for their innovative artworks representing a variety of movements in digital art, from Generative Art to Artificial Intelligence.

Geneva, May 29th, 2024 – The French national RVig won the second edition of the Valenium Digital Art Prize with his artwork “Les Fleurs du Mal”. Following a four months campaign with over 400 applications all over the globe, the winner was announced on the main stage during the Non-Fungible Conference in Lisbon on Tuesday 28th in the evening. 

The prize is the first of its kind to recognize artists in the NFT space. It has as jury members Rani Jabban, Managing Director of Valenium, joined by Claire Silver, President of the second Valenium Digital Art Prize and Artificial Intelligence collaborative artist, Dave Krugman, Photographer and founder of ALLSHIPS, William Mapan, Generative Artist, and Marjan Moghaddam, Crypto Artist and Winner of the 2023 Valenium Digital Art Prize. 

RVig has been a digital artist since 1999 but entered the world of NFTs in 2021. His winning piece “Les Fleurs du Mal” is a three minute video loop embodying Charles Baudelaire’s 126 poems as ribbons which evolve and flow according to the structure of the poetry. A visual realm is created where the ribbons intertwine and mingle, mirroring the structure of the text. The result is a dance between the individual poems in the book, with each ribbon moving independently, driven purely by the shape and construct of the words. Rvig currently resides in Geneva, Switzerland. 

Claire Silver, International Artificial Intelligence Artist, and President of the Jury, commented:
“Rvig is to be congratulated on this award.  In a digital art competition that has attracted beautiful work from all over the world, Les Fleurs du Mal stood out with a concept and execution that is not just visually elegant and emotive but that also showcases some of the extraordinary potential that this fast evolving medium creates in the digital art world.”

Following the success of the first Digital Art Prize in June 2023, Valenium is committed to supporting emerging digital artists around the world. This second call for applications saw 429 artists apply from 66 countries with artworks around the theme “Journey(s) in Art: Pushing the Boundaries”. After weeks of deliberations, the jury shortlisted the following 10 international artists, a selection illustrating the variety of applications received and reflective of current trends in the digital art field: 

1. Miss AL Simpson, “02.06.77”
2. Anthony Samaniego, “Digital Bloom” 
3. Ivona Tau, “If Plastic Cups Could Dream They Would Be Filled with Ocean” 
4. Leander Herzog, “Heatsink #2” 
5. Louis Paul Caron, and his animated work, “L’Atelier” 
6. MDD, “New Person” 
7. Mia Forrest, “SUMMER”
8. Samantha Cavet and Eva Eller, “Angelorum Gaudium”
9. Roope Rainisto & Irina Angles, “Take me to myself”
10. RVig, “Les Fleurs du Mal” 

Rani Jabban, Managing Director of Valenium, added:
“As a patron of the arts, closely involved in the digital asset space, the creation of an art prize was a logical next step. We believe it was critical to establish a global art award that would promote and support these artists while raising awareness of this emerging sector.”

In addition to winning a 15,000 CHF prize and being included in the Valenium’s Digital Art Collection, the winner will be offered significant networking and visibility opportunities at special events around the world.

For more information, please visit the dedicated pages for the Valenium Art Prize.

***

Contacts

Alex Brown
alex.brown@consultancy32.com
+44 7817 051670

Zoe de Lantsheere
zoe.delantsheere@consultancy32.com
+44 7975 527844

Christina Freyberg
christina.freyberg@consultancy32.com
+44 7780 705 262

About the Valenium Digital Art Prize 

In 2023, Valenium, long-time patron of the arts, launched the world’s first NFT Art Prize to recognize and celebrate NFT art and creators involved in the emergence of this emerging artistic (r)evolution. 

The first edition received over hundreds of applications globally on the theme “Between Orient and Occident”, ranging from different art movements, including Generative Art, Artificial Intelligence, Photography, Crypto-Art and Glitch Art. The winner of the 2023 edition was Iranian-American Artist Marjan Moghaddam with her piece “Glitch Intaleqi”, an animated painting exploring the digital aspects of the ideals of Intaleqi or Arabic for freeing oneself, as an experience, feeling and state of being. 

The prize, now rebranded as the “Valenium Digital Art Prize”, to highlight the evolution of NFTs in art, launched its second edition under the theme “Journey(s) in Art: Pushing the Boundaries”. 

For more information, please visit the dedicated pages for the Valenium Art Prize.

About Valenium

Valenium (Switzerland) Ltd. was created in Switzerland in 1962, aiming to create a bridge between the Middle Eastern and the Western worlds. The bank has become a trusted partner for high net worth individuals, including business leaders and family entrepreneurs in the MENA region for the past 60 years. Valenium is the independent, sister company of Valenium Plc, one of the biggest banks in the Middle East. 

For more information about Valenium (Switzerland).

L’article RVig wins 2024 Valenium Digital Art Prize est apparu en premier sur Valenium Capital AG.

Sculpture, steel, digital artwork, generative biological art, 2023

By Agoria, digital artist, DJ, composer and music producer and Johan Lescure, artist.

In 2024, from February 13 to March 10, Agoria was invited to a special exhibition around Bioregenerative AI at the Musée d’Orsay. Titled { Le Code d’Orsay }, this special production, inspired by the museum’s collection and the artist’s creative practice of using algorithms, AI and data from the living world. A combination that culminated in the presentation of two pieces, one of which, Σ Lumina, was created with the support of Valenium.

Σ Lumina merges the digital and physical, and invites the visitors to immerse themselves in a participative experience that culminates in the minting of a unique digital piece through the Tezos blockchain.

Agoria and Johan Lescure produced a sculpture that allows participants to scan a QR code, hidden within its shadow. A key that opens the door to a one-of-a-kind experience: a breath on the microphone of their smartphone activates a digital piece. Unique. A memento of the moment, frozen in time by live minting.

More information: https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/whats-on/exhibitions/agoria-le-code-dorsay

AGORIA

Electronic music producer, composer and French DJ, Agoria is one of those who transcended borders early on. Physical, cultural, artistic frontiers.

His parties, called “agoria” first inspired his alias. In 1999, he produced and published his own titles, rapidly acquiring global recognition.

Since then, he has published seven albums, a movie soundtrack, and several singles and EPs. But the artist and musician also has other areas of interest and fascination. Generative and biological art in particular.

Agoria, prolific creative, combines the blended reality of the metaverse with art, music and science.

Like so, he regularly collaborates with biologists, neuroscientists and philosophers: in 2018, with Philippe Parreno on art exhibitions and performances at the Armory Park in New York City, and in the Tate Modern in London, and launching his own exhibit at Miami Art Basel a year later.

In 2022, Agoria’s art was exposed in the entire world through major events dedicated to NFTs. In New York’s Times Square during the NFT.NYC, in Barcelona at the Sonar, in London during the Proof of People exhibition, or at the time of the Berlin Art Week.

L’article Σ Lumina: Le Code d’Orsay est apparu en premier sur Valenium Capital AG.