Visitors to Art Basel Hong Kong this month will experience a pop-up store in the Encounters section that promises to turn art fair convention on its head and fox prospective buyers. As part of a special immersive art installation, collectors and curators can browse and buy works created by a digital avatar known as Doku, the brainchild of the Chinese artist Lu Yang.
Doku, which Lu has developed since 2020, is genderless, ageless and nationality-free, explains the artist over email. “All works are digital creations made by Doku in a virtual world through a method akin to meditation,” adds Lu. “The pricing of these works is within the range typical for an emerging artist making their debut.”
Doku’s pop-up is presented by the Hong Kong-based De Sarthe gallery in collaboration with Coma gallery in Sydney. At the store, collectors can buy Doku’s AI-created artworks in the form of blind boxes — 108 unique digital pieces called Concept Void.