What happens when code and data become the raw materials of art?
In Run the Code, contemporary artists harness algorithms and generative AI models to create powerful, thought-provoking works that explore nature, art history, internet culture, and human behavior. Showcasing highlights from the Thoma Foundation’s Digital and Media Art Collection, this immersive exhibition transforms digital information into sensory works of art.
Included are some of the most important digital and generative artists working today: Refik Anadol, Daniel Canogar, Jenny Holzer, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, teamLab, Siebren Versteeg, Leo Villareal, and Marina Zurkow, among others.
Some create interactive systems that respond to your movement, touch, or presence — inviting you to become part of the artwork. Others design custom software that generates ever-evolving images right before your eyes. Digital landscapes reflect on our relationship with the natural world, while other works remix historical paintings and cultural archives through machine processes. Together, these artworks demonstrate that algorithms can be more than technical tools — they can also serve as a creative medium.
Though grounded in advanced technology, these artworks are deeply human, raising important questions for the digital age: What does it mean to create art in a world shaped by data? And how might it help us reimagine our relationship to the information that surrounds us? From interactive installations to complex systems running behind the scenes, Run the Code brings together art and technology in exciting, unexpected ways.
Organized by Hannah Klemm, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Blanton Museum of Art, with Kathleen Forde, Director and Curator, Media Arts, Thoma Foundation
Our most popular program for young visitors! Read along to a picture book paired with a work of art. This month the theme is nature and the cycles of life, and the book is Within my Branches by Nicholas Michel, paired with an artwork featured in major exhibition Run the Code: Data-Driven Art Decoded by Thoma Foundation X Blanton Museum of Art.
Inspiring curiosity in ages 4–8 years old. Presented with support from community partner Alienated Majesty Books.
1PM
Looking Together
Michener Gallery Building
Ever wondered how others interpret an artwork? Let’s explore a visitor-favorite in our collection together! We’ll use creative ways of looking to make connections and meaning. Recommended for all visitors 12 years & older.
3PM
Art with an Expert: Sharon Louden
Auditorium, Check-in Building
We’re thrilled to welcome back Sharon Louden, artist and author of Last Artist Standing: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life Over 50. Louden’s latest book highlights the lives of 31 artists who have continued to create, contribute, and lead well beyond the age of 50. By sharing their experiences, Last Artist Standing offers models of resilience, ingenuity, and pragmatic solutions—valuable for artists of all ages and for those both inside and outside the art world. Followed by a Q&A.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sharon Louden wears many interchangeable hats: artist, educator, advocate, consultant, community builder, founder and director of the Institute for Sustained Creativity, and editor of the Living and Sustaining a Creative Life series of books. As a changemaker, Louden amplifies unheard voices and advances meaningful opportunities for artists across all disciplines toward sustaining their creative lives.
As an artist, her work has evolved from using writing as a medium, to figuration then abstraction through her paintings and drawings, to creating many physical environments that involve an inclusive advocacy using a varied range of media.
A visionary leader with decades of experience in academia, Louden is also a committed connector—bridging communities and catalyzing change, particularly on behalf of underserved artists within institutional structures. She is a skilled collaborator, bringing together siloed stakeholders from the nonprofit and business sectors to spark dialogue and drive collective progress. All of her work—no matter the form—is rooted in her active creative practice as a working artist.
Art With an Expert is organized by the Blanton Museum of Art. Support for this program at the Blanton is provided by the Carolyn Harris Hynson Centennial Endowment.
We’re thrilled to welcome back Sharon Louden, artist and author of Last Artist Standing: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life Over 50. Louden’s latest book highlights the lives of 31 artists who have continued to create, contribute, and lead well beyond the age of 50. By sharing their experiences, Last Artist Standing offers models of resilience, ingenuity, and pragmatic solutions—valuable for artists of all ages and for those both inside and outside the art world. Followed by a Q&A.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sharon Louden wears many interchangeable hats: artist, educator, advocate, consultant, community builder, founder and director of the Institute for Sustained Creativity, and editor of the Living and Sustaining a Creative Life series of books. As a changemaker, Louden amplifies unheard voices and advances meaningful opportunities for artists across all disciplines toward sustaining their creative lives.
As an artist, her work has evolved from using writing as a medium, to figuration then abstraction through her paintings and drawings, to creating many physical environments that involve an inclusive advocacy using a varied range of media.
A visionary leader with decades of experience in academia, Louden is also a committed connector—bridging communities and catalyzing change, particularly on behalf of underserved artists within institutional structures. She is a skilled collaborator, bringing together siloed stakeholders from the nonprofit and business sectors to spark dialogue and drive collective progress. All of her work—no matter the form—is rooted in her active creative practice as a working artist.
Art With an Expert is organized by the Blanton Museum of Art. Support for this program at the Blanton is provided by the Carolyn Harris Hynson Centennial Endowment.
