Future Now explores how cutting-edge technologies, unexpected materials, and new ideas are transforming footwear today. The exhibition is curated by Elizabeth Semmelhack, the Director and Senior Curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, and features around sixty futuristic designs from Bata's holdings as well as loans from prominent institutions, collectors, designers, and inventors. The exhibition comes to the Mint Museum after touring to the Portland Art Museum, Indianapolis Art Museum, Sarasota Art Museum, and the Figge Art Museum. It will travel to the Kalamazoo Institute of Art next.
The exhibition starts by showcasing the evolution of shoemaking from slow produced artisanal craft to mass manufacutured footwear in the nineteenth century during and after the Industrial Revolution. There is a great focus on the materials and technologies that shaped footwear and that continue to transform the direction of shoes manufacturing for the future. Some examples of the shoes included in the exhibit are digitally designed and 3D-printed shoes, sneakers made from mushroom leather and reclaimed ocean plastics, and footwear created for the metaverse. The shoes are ogranized into 4 main categories: innovative, sustainable, transformative, and virtual.
The footwear included in the exhibition is designed to address industrial-age problems and capitalize on post-industrial possibilities. The project features designers and brands including Salehe Bembury, Steven Smith, RTFKT, Mr. Bailey, Zaha Hadid, Nike ISPA, Safa Sahin, EKTO VR, Saysh, Benoit Meleard, SCRY, as well as collaborations with designers such as Stella McCartney and Rick Owens, and gaming companies such as PlayStation.
