Artists: Canek Zapata (ME) + 27 invited artists
Canek Zapata / zofi au gore / Agniis Evergrace / guruguruhyena / Aesthetic Computer / Elna Frederick / Sabato / Jess Mac / Francoise Gamma / nohygiene / littlecakes / moeshit / Kikillo® / nhephex / Mumbleboy / Estelle Flores / Moranicol / Takashoshi / Davidvnun / stipinpixel / Jon Cates / webgurlart / Ferdoropeza / Time / hAyDiRoKeT / Ed Marola / michi_asu / Violet Forest
For this year’s edition of ORBIT_E, the Brazilian curator Kika Nicolela invited Mexican artist Canek Zapata to create a webpage that generates real-time digital collages. As visitors scroll the page down, it unfolds endlessly—producing a continuous stream of compositions, a spiral of never-ending scroll.
At the core of the project is a living, expandable database of works by 28 artists from around the world, connected through a shared online community and a shared interest in post-internet practices. Designed to evolve collectively, the database allows artists to keep contributing new pieces and eventually inviting others from their community to join. The current contributions—ranging from png and GIF to mp3 and glb files—span still, moving, 3D images and sound.
The practices of the invited artists draw from — or belong to — a range of internet-related art movements, spanning from early web-based experiments to today’s meme-driven cultures. These include net.art, GIF art, glitch art, spam art, vaporwave, brainrot, meme art, and crypto art. In fact all works featured in doomscrolling>>> are originally NFTs (non-fungible tokens residing on the blockchain), and the project incorporates their metadata as an integral component of the webpage itself. With doomscrolling>>> , the focus is not only on our compulsive consumption of images and information, but on the broader condition of oversaturation that defines contemporary life. Rather than simply criticizing this state, the project asks how art can be experienced, created, and appreciated within it—turning excess into a space for aesthetic experimentation. At the same time, it reimagines curating in the digital age as a practice that hybridizes and expands the roles of both curator and artist, and the artwork as a living entity that keeps evolving and changing.
About the artist
Born in 1985 in Mexico City, Canek Zapata is an editor, curator, and internet artist. He is an expert in digital culture, automatic writing, internet art, glitch art, and memes. His work focuses on exploring automated writing models, internet visual languages, and net art.
Canek Zapata studied Classical Literature at UNAM. and received the Mexican Foundation for Literature grant (2015-16). His work has been exhibited at Centro de la Imagen, Progreso Gallery, El Cuartelito, MUAC, the XIII FEMSA Biennial, Museo Carrillo Gil, the Visual Art Center at the University of Texas in Austin, UNAM’s El Aleph Festival, and Neort++ Gallery in Tokyo, Japan. His work is anthologized in the Electronic Literature Collection Volume 4. He has curated exhibitions at Galería Libertad, Museo de la Ciudad de Querétaro, Oaxaca Book Fair, The Wrong Biennale 2019-20, and Casa Equis.
He is an editor and programmer at the electronic literature publisher https://brokenenglish.lol/. An expert in digital culture, automatic writing, internet art, glitch art, and memes, he has published articles in PaperMag, Excelsior, Horizontal, Revista 404.Tierra Adentro, and Revista de la Universidad.
About the curator
Kika Nicolela is a Brazilian artist, filmmaker, and curator based in Brussels. Working with video and new technologies, she creates experiences that question the narratives we construct about the world and ourselves. She holds a degree in Film Studies from the University of São Paulo and a Master of Fine Arts from the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHDK).
As a curator, Kika Nicolela has developed programs for festivals and museums including the National Gallery (IS), Museum of Modern Art (AR), ARTour Biennale (BE), Loop Barcelona (ES), Festival Miden (GR), Transcultures (BE), Ibrida Festival (IT), Wikitopia (HK), and SESC (BR). She founded and curated the Exquisite Corpse Video Project (2008–2020), a collaborative series involving more than 80 artists from 25 countries, presented internationally. In 2012, she organized IMAGEM-CONTATO: Moving Image Festival, showcasing 225 works by artists such as Bill Viola, Nam June Paik, Jan Švankmajer, Stan Brakhage, and Pipilotti Rist across venues in São Paulo. Since 2023, Nicolela has been Head Curator at objkt, a leading NFT art platform, where she supports digital artists, galleries, and collectors in navigating the NFT ecossystem.
Project launched in 2022 thanks to the support of Pro Helvetia.
