UNLOCKED

In this episode of Unlocked, we speak with Chris Maestas (0009), a Los Angeles–based artist whose practice bridges  AI, digital systems, and visual culture. He reflects on his early days in street culture, his entry into crypto and NFTs, and how these worlds naturally converged in his work. We discuss authorship, anonymity, and the evolution from illustrative to photorealistic outputs, as well as his ongoing exploration of “urban fabric” as a visual language rooted in memory and identity. Chris also shares his thoughts on community in Web3, the importance of participation, and why the future of digital art still needs its own direction.

In this episode of Unlocked, we speak with Rob McCarty about augmented reality as a new layer of artistic expression. We explore how digital works anchored in place challenge traditional ideas of display, ownership, and permanence, and what this shift means for collectors today. www.100collectors.art

In this episode of Unlocked, we speak with Elena Carbajal from Onkaos (Solo Contemporary) in Madrid, a platform working at the intersection of digital art, AI, and research. With a background in philosophy and media theory, she shares how she entered the digital art ecosystem and what it means to support artists working with code and generative systems. We discuss why digital art cannot simply replicate traditional gallery models, the challenge of exhibiting code-based works in physical spaces, and the urgency of building new protocols for production, collecting, and conservation. Elena also introduces the Solo AI Award and Onkaos’ role in connecting art, research, and digital culture.

In this episode of Unlocked, we speak with Noriaki Nakata about the development of digital art across Japan and Asia, and the ways context, public space, and infrastructure shape how artworks are experienced.
Drawing on his trajectory from early exhibitions to large-scale public digital installations, Noriaki reflects on why public space matters for digital art, how Asian artistic ecosystems differ from one another, and what it means to build long-term cultural visibility beyond traditional gallery formats.
We also discuss digital citizenship projects using NFTs to support local communities, the role of collectors as stewards and ambassadors of artworks, and how collecting frameworks can help shift attention from short-term market dynamics toward intention, context, and continuity.

In this episode of Unlocked, we speak with Mexican photographer and artist Alejandro Cartagena about the evolution of photography, from analog to digital and now into the age of artificial intelligence. Drawing on over two decades of practice, he reflects on the city as a force shaping identity, the role of archives and reproduction, and why AI marks a critical moment of transformation rather than the death of the medium. We also discuss Fellowship, the platform he co-founded to rethink photography, digital art, and collecting.