Pictured: Mr. Bailey. Octopus Shoe, 2018. Collection of Mr. Bailey. Image courtesy of Mr. Bailey.

 Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design (SAM) presents Future Now: Visual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks, an exhibition celebrating innovative design and technological advancements in footwear. Featuring over 70 pieces from Toronto’s Bata Shoe Museum, as well as loans from other prominent institutions, collectors, designers, and inventors, the exhibited footwear pushes the boundaries of what constitutes a shoe. Beyond an exhibition of dozens of “cool kicks,” Future Now asks viewers to consider questions about consumerism, sustainability, and what the history of human footwear says about us: its wearers. On view from February 9 through May 4, 2025, in Sarasota Art Museum’s third-floor galleries, Future Now is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum. This exhibition at Sarasota Art Museum is made possible, in part, with generous support from Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation and Sarasota Magazine, and is paid for, in part, by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues.

Pictured: Mr. Bailey. Octopus Shoe, 2018. Collection of Mr. Bailey. Image courtesy of Mr. Bailey.