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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks

Mr. Bailey, Octopus Shoe, 2018.

1219 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR 97205, United States

What will shoes look like in the future? Will our sneakers be made of leather grown from mushrooms, or cut from fabric spun out of recycled ocean plastics? Will we sport 3-D-printed shoes? Maybe we’ll only need footwear in the metaverse. These are some of the questions at the heart of “Future Now,” an exhibition about futuristic footwear. Searching for answers, the curators enlist everyone from Zaha Hadid and Mr. Bailey to Rick Owens and Stella McCartney. The show’s designs tell stories about the world we know and the world we’re barreling toward this very minute. —Clara Molot

Photo courtesy of the American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum