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Whether your preferred term is “sneakers,” “tennis shoes,” “gym shoes” or “kicks,” athletic footwear has been at the cutting edge of innovation and fashion since the late 1800s.
An upcoming Newfields exhibition titled “Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks” advances the topic of athletic footwear to a new era.
Featuring nearly 60 shoe designs, “Future Now” opens Sept. 27 and is devoted to the topics of innovation, sustainability, transformation and virtual spaces.
“This exhibition delves into the future of sneaker design, science, and sustainable materials, highlighting the creativity and innovation that transforms utilitarian objects into representations of forward thinking,” said Belinda Tate, director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields since November.
The “Future Now” show originated at Toronto’s Bata Shoe Museum in 2022, showcasing auto-lacing Nike MAGs inspired by the film “Back to the Future Part II,” as well as 3D-printed footwear and sneakers minted as NFTs.
Tate serves as the Newfields curator for the show presented in partnership with the Bata Shoe Museum and the American Federation of Arts. Tate told IBJ she gravitates to shoes that represent the concept of transformation.
“I love the idea that transformation can mean so many different things depending on one’s lived experience,” Tate said in an email interview.
Tate cites Saysh, the shoe company founded by Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix after her sponsor, Nike, refused to guarantee salary protections for female athletes following pregnancy. Nike eventually changed its policy.
“[Felix] went on to become the most decorated woman in Olympic track and field history, achieving this milestone while wearing shoes from her own company,” Tate said.
Tate also mentioned D’Wayne Edwards, who reopened a historically Black college in Detroit in 2022 and made footwear design a focus at Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design. (Violet Lewis opened the original Lewis Business College in Indianapolis in 1929.)
The “Future Now” show includes JEMS by Pensole, sneakers made in a New Hampshire facility that Edwards opened in 2023 as the country’s first Black-owned athletic footwear factory.
“I am excited for guests to visit out of curiosity and awe of the designs, and leave with a newfound appreciation for the way footwear and art are woven between so many aspects of our lives,” Tate said.
Visitors to “Future Now” will have the chance to walk a red carpet and record a short video of their own shoes. For a soundtrack, three Indiana DJs curated music that will be played as part of the exhibition.
Attendees also will be encouraged to share stories related to their own footwear. Tate said she has a favorite pair of shoes, although they don’t qualify as sneakers.
“My favorite pair are cowboy boots that belonged to my father,” said Tate, who served as executive director at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts from 2014 to 2023. “They hold a special place in my heart because seeing them always makes me think of him. They humble me because I will never be able to fill his shoes. This highlights one of the wonderful aspects of shoes—they have the power to evoke memories and connect us to our shared history.”•
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