EKTO One Robotic VR boots, 2021 Collection of Brad Factor Courtesy American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum
Mr. Bailey, Octopus Shoe, 2018 Collection of Mr. Bailey Courtesy American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum
Mr. Bailey. Octopus Shoe, 2018.
Collection of Mr. Bailey. Courtesy American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum.
Jeff Staple x RTFKT Meta-Pigeon K-Minus, 2021 Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum, gift of RTFKT Courtesy American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum
Jeff Staple x RTFKT. Meta-Pigeon K-Minus, 2021.
Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum, gift of RTFKT. Courtesy American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum.
EKTO One Robotic VR boots, 2021 Collection of Brad Factor Courtesy American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum
EKTO One Robotic VR boots, 2021.
Collection of Brad Factor. Courtesy American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum.
Nike Nike MAG 2015 Courtesy of the Department of Nike Archives, American Federation of Arts, and Bata Shoe Museum.
Nike. Nike MAG, 2015.
Courtesy of the Department of Nike Archives, American Federation of Arts, and Bata Shoe Museum.
Hanan & Sons Detail of celluloid heel embellished with rhinestones American, 1920s Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum Image © 2023 Bata Shoe Museum Courtesy American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum
Hanan & Sons. Celluloid heel embellished with rhinestones (detail), American, 1920s.
Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum.
Image © 2023 Bata Shoe Museum. Courtesy American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum.
SCRY Undercurrent P Virtual Prototype, 2022 © Bata Shoe Museum Courtesy American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum
SCRY, Undercurrent P Virtual Prototype, 2022.
© Bata Shoe Museum. Courtesy American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum.
Zaha Hadid x United Nude NOVA, 2022 First designed in 2013 Image © 2023 Bata Shoe Museum Courtesy American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum
Zaha Hadid x United Nude. NOVA, 2022 (First designed in 2013).
Image © 2023 Bata Shoe Museum. Courtesy American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum.

Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks

February 9–May 4, 2025

This groundbreaking exhibition explores the intersection between design innovation and technological advancements in footwear. Future Now features over 70 futuristic designs from the Bata Shoe Museumʼs holdings as well as loans from other prominent institutions, collectors, designers, and inventors. Presenting digitally designed and 3D-printed shoes, sneakers made from mushroom leather and reclaimed ocean plastics, and footwear created for the metaverse, the exhibition explores how cutting-edge technologies, unexpected materials, and new ideas are transforming footwear today. The footwear included in the exhibition is designed to address industrial-age problems and capitalize on postindustrial possibilities. Featured designers and brands include: Salehe Bembury, rtfkt, Mr. Bailey, Zaha Hadid, JEMS by Pensole, Safa Şahin, EKTO VR, Saysh, Benoit Méléard, SCRY, and many more. 

This traveling exhibition makes its regional premiere with Sarasota Art Museum. In addition to SAM, Future Now‘s nation-wide tour includes five other museums. Future Now debuted at Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon in March of 2024. The exhibition then traveled to Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields in Indianapolis, Indiana in September 2024. After its Sarasota presentation, the show will continue to Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa in May 2025 before traveling to Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina in September 2025 and then to Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan in February 2026.

The exhibition is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum, and curated by Elizabeth Semmelhack, director and senior curator, Bata Shoe Museum.

American Federation of Arts Logo
Bata Shoe Museum

This exhibition at Sarasota Art Museum is made possible, in part, with generous support from:

Platinum Sponsors
Judy and Fred Fiala
Shari and John Hicks
Cynthia McCague

Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation Logo

Gold Sponsors
Charlotte and John Suhler

Silver Sponsors
Elaine and Bill Crouse
Mary Ann and John Meyer

TDT

Bronze Sponsors
Terry Brackett
Warren R. and Marie E. Colbert
Hidayet Kutat
JoAnne Olian, Curator Emerita Museum of the City of New York
Lois Stulberg
Wendy Surkis

Sarasota Magazine Logo
WUSF
Platinum Sponsors
Judy and Fred Fiala
Shari and John Hicks

Gallery Didactics for Picking up the Pieces:

Special thanks to the many generous donors who made gifts in memory of Peppi Elona.

Programs

Blue Star Museums Program

Sarasota Art Museum is a Blue Star Museum

Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design (SAM) is pleased to participate in Blue Star Museums, a program that provides free admission to currently serving U.S. military personnel and their families during the summer. The 2026 program will begin on Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 16, 2026, and end on Labor Day, Monday, September 7, 2026.

Skyway 2027 Logo

Call to Artists Announced for Tampa Bay Area Exhibition ‘Skyway 2027: A Contemporary Collaboration’​

Five regional art museums, the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg; The John and
Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota; Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota;
the Tampa Museum of Art; and the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, are pleased to
announce a call to artists for “Skyway 2027: A Contemporary Collaboration”, the fourth iteration of the exhibition
celebrating the diversity and talent of artistic practices in the Tampa Bay area and beyond.

Sol LeWitt (1928 - 2007) Loopy Doopy, Blue/Red, 2000 Oil-based woodcut 20 5/8 × 28 5/8 in. (52.3 × 72.6 cm) New Britain Museum of American Art, Gift of Sol LeWitt © Estate of Sol LeWitt 2025

Sarasota Art Museum to Present Major Survey of Prints by Conceptual Art Pioneer Sol LeWitt

Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design (SAM) is pleased to present “Beautiful Ideas: The Prints of Sol LeWitt,” on view from May 17 through October 25, 2026. This exhibition explores the extensive printmaking career of Sol LeWitt (1928–2007), a leader of the American Minimalism and Conceptual art movements who famously declared that “the idea becomes a machine that makes the art.”

Woman at a pool club posing with two men playing pool in the background

Sarasota Art Museum Announces its 2026-2027 Season Exhibition Schedule

Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design (SAM) announces its 2026-2027 season, featuring a lineup of seven exhibitions including works by some of the most beloved and influential photographers of the 20th-century, award-winning glass artists, a father and son artistic lineage, multiple Ringling College of Art and Design talents and more.