Future Is Now X Museum Group Exhibition

Future Is Now X Museum presents its inaugural Group Exhibition, an eight-day multimedia event uniting 154 visual artists, live musicians, DJ performers, and digital innovators at 118 N. Jefferson St. and 40 N. Ludlow St. in downtown Dayton. Running July 31 through August 7, 2026, the exhibition is curator Kimyon Huggins’ first Dayton production since leaving for New York City in 1998, channeling thirty years of practice at the intersection of art, music, and technology back into the city where it began. Born from the FUTUREISNOWX Sunday livestream series launched in October 2020, Edition 01 brings together physical works, curated video installations from 250+ archived broadcasts, site-specific murals created live during the exhibition, and one weekend of DJ and live performance. Painters and muralists paint large-scale works on site throughout the eight days, documented by stop-motion video and streamed globally at futureisnowx.com.

Keynote: Al Díaz — Co-Creator of SAMO© with Jean-Michel Basquiat
Al Díaz is one of the first artists featured on FUTUREISNOWX and serves as keynote speaker for Edition 01. Co-creator of the SAMO© campaign with Jean-Michel Basquiat (1978–80), Díaz is a pioneering graffiti writer whose current practice transforms MTA subway signage letters into anagram installations in stations across New York City. At Edition 01 he participates in an artist Q+A, panel discussion, and live painting at 118 N. Jefferson St.
Confirmed Muralist — Cern (Cernesto)
New York City-based visual artist, musician, and former graffiti writer active since the early 1990s. Born in Queens, based in Brooklyn. Known for large-scale murals and cooperative installations featuring women, animals, and abstract forms — a smooth, blended style with clearly defined edges. Exhibited at the San Diego Museum of Art, Museu Brasileiro de Escultura in São Paulo, MOCA Los Angeles, and URBAN NATION Museum in Berlin.
Visual Artists — 154 Artists. One Platform.
Edition 01 presents artists working across painting, muralism, installation, public art, photography, abstraction, portraiture, and experimental practice, drawing from Dayton, New York City, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and international communities. Featured artists include Al Diaz, Pablo Power, Kimyon333, Ellis Gallagher, Cern, Gabe Specter, La Femme Cheri, Konstance Patton, Kirby Santos, Ian Cinco, Rene Lerude, Smurfo, Allison Ruiz, Kosuke James, Came Moreno, Vane Russo, Praxis, Alice Gypsy Queen, Freehumanity, Will Power, Alanna Vanacore, Molly Snee, Emily Salk, Technodrome, Chris Soria, M-Dot Season, Bil Tipton, Mr. Champagne, Taliaferro Sebastian, and 20 Dayton artists.

Opening Weekend:

FRIDAY, JULY 31 | 2026
118 N. Jefferson St. | 12PM – 9PM
DJs and live paintings starting at 12PM. Featured Artist: CERN
DJs: Jacqueline Farrara + OGC + Special Guests.
Painters: TBA.
7PM – Ignite Salon: Inspiration in the Age of Social Media | CERN, Max Watts, Sugar, 5tr8tch, Fatty Lumpkin
40 N. Ludlow St. | 7PM – 2:30AM
Max Watts Live (Detroit), 5tr8tch (LA), Plural Live (Detroit), Sugar (Detroit), Fatty Lumpkin (Dayton)
+Special Guests

SATURDAY, AUGUST 1st
118 N. Jefferson St. | 12PM – 9PM
DJs and live painting from 12PM. Featured Artist: CERN
DJs: Jacqueline Farrara + Sugar + Special Guests. Painters: TBA.
5PM – The Landscape of Urban Contemporary Art with Al Díaz
8PM – Special Performance: Dayton Dance Initiative presents Parola. Choreographed by Macy Perry, an excerpt from the company’s 2026 season, The Light In Between. Four women move as a collective body, transforming repetition into ritual and exploring themes of rage, instinct, and feminine power. Performed by Jasmine Getz, Niarra Gooden-Clarke, Celeste Kennington, and KC Lyphout.
40 N. Ludlow St. | 7PM – 2:30AM
FBK Live (Columbus), Max Watts (Detroit), Leftside (NY), Salar Ansari (Detroit), Rechulski (NY), Kimyon333 (NY)
SUNDAY, AUGUST 2 | 12PM – 10PM
FUTUREISNOWX Livestream. DJs + Live Painting 12PM.
DJs: J(Redacted), Barry Leonhard + Special Guests.
Painters: Al Díaz and more TBA.
Livestream 4-10PM: J(Redacted), Barry Leonhard, OGC, Kimyon333

FRIDAY, AUGUST 7 | 4PM – 10PM | CLOSING PARTY
Kimyon333 (NY), OGC (Dayton), Gunner (Dayton) Tanker.Edu (Columbus)
Performing Artists
Max Watts (Detroit): Founder of Limited Network — a Detroit-based label and collective distributed by the legendary Submerge camp — Max Watts brings an archivist’s taste beyond his years and mixes it with an urgent spontaneity that has earned him a global following. Watts performs as part of Search Party, a live PA alongside Kasan Belgrave, Julien P., and Allen Dennard, and has appeared at NYC’s Nowadays, Public Records, and Tresor Berlin. His music is rooted in old-school Detroit but speaks a universal language.
Salar Ansari (Detroit): Born in Tehran and based in Detroit since 2015, Salar Ansari is a multi-disciplinary artist, producer, and educator whose work bridges electronic music, sound engineering, and community building across continents. A 2021 Detroit Music Award winner for Best Electronic Album and a 2026 Kresge Artist Fellow in music composition and performance, one of Detroit’s most prestigious arts fellowships, carrying a $50,000 award. Ansari is a co-founder of Feeder Loft with Grammy-winning musician Luis Resto and co-founder of Analog Room, an international music residency spanning Iran and the UAE. His productions appear on Blue Note Records, and his reach as an educator extends to the Interlochen Arts Academy and the University of Michigan.
Plural (Detroit): Metroplex recording artist James Johnson, recently relocated from Columbus to Detroit, whose deep ties to the Motor City’s techno lineage are matched by a prolific live and production practice.
FBK (Columbus): Kevin Kennedy, producing and performing since 1988, mentored by Daniel Bell and Anthony ‘Shake’ Shakir, with releases on Rekids, Frictional, and Knotweed.
5tr8tch (Los Angeles): Owner of NoNonsense Records, a DTLA-based shop at 453 S. Spring St. specializing in electronic music and built on the ethos of made for DJs by DJs, 5tr8tch is also the organizer of large-scale free outlaw parties throughout downtown Los Angeles and a defining force in the city’s independent underground dance music scene.
Sugar (Detroit): A Detroit-area DJ and producer rooted in old-school house and techno, Sugar is a fixture in the Motor City underground, regularly appearing alongside artists from the Limited Network and Humidex Records camps.
Leftside (NY): A New York-based DJ and selector with deep roots in underground house and techno, Leftside has been a trusted voice in NYC’s dance music scene across more than two decades of consistent programming.
Fatty Lumpkin (Dayton): A Dayton-based DJ and cultural connector whose sets span house, techno, and beyond, Fatty Lumpkin is a longtime presence in the city’s underground music community.
Rechulski (NYC): Founder of NYC artist collective, label and 24 hour parties Sheik ‘N’ Beik, and Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival.
Barry Leonhard: WYSO Yellow Springs weekly Club Cuts Dance Music show coordinator.
Jacqueline Farrara: DJ and poet from New York. Wavefarm Radio resident.
OGC: Racks N Jacks resident crew producing events in and around the Dayton area.