Digital Art Summit 2026 | ACT 01
Autonomous: Art Before and After the Agent
June 15, 2026 | 10:10 - 10:50 CET
Before "AI agent" became a category, artists were already building systems that acted, generated, and decided without a human hand guiding each move.
From early biometric composites and algorithmic scores to on-chain protocols that execute in live markets, some practitioners have spent decades inside the question of what it means to give a system agency. This panel traces that longer history and asks what it looks like now. As autonomous agents negotiate, transact, and create at scale, and as protocols replace authorial intention with executable code, the conversation turns to those who were working here first: what did autonomy mean then, and what does it demand today?
Speakers:
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@jonas_lund, Artist (Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom)
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@yaoeo, artist (France)
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@JordanLyall, Chief Product Officer,
@artblocks_io (United States)
Moderator:
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@postanika, Writer & Curator (Germany)