Rebekah Tolley on the birth of DIGITALISM and the Evolution of Digital Art

Rebekah Tolley is the producer and curator of DIGITALISM at British Art Fair. In 2024, she brought together a team of what she describes as "real rock-and-roll stars in the world of digital art" - Tomas Roope, Lol Sargent, Peter Higgins, Jack Hardiker, Jacqui Kenny, and Tom Cullen - with an ambitious goal: to establish DIGITALISM as both an exhibition and a new art movement.

We spoke with Rebekah about the history of digital art, DIGITALISM's mission and where the movement might be heading over the next five to ten years. We also explored how InkPoster helps bridge the gap between the digital and analogue art worlds, making digital art more accessible to collectors, and why she sees it as "a fantastic vehicle for people to embrace digital art in their lives."

DIGITALISM: From Conversation to Art Movement

DIGITALISM began in 2024 at British Art Fair, which was celebrating its 36th year and had established a reputation for presenting some of the best of modern and contemporary British art. The fair takes place at Saatchi Gallery in London, one of the world's most recognised contemporary art venues.

In 2024, I was invited by Will Ramsay, who founded Affordable Art Fair some 25 years earlier and acquired British Art Fair in 2022, to put forward a proposal for the fair's first dedicated digital art section. That's how the journey began.

I brought together an advisory team to help establish the blueprint for what the exhibition could become. We created DIGITALISM not only as the name of the show, but also as an independent art movement in its own right. My advisory team included digital luminaries such as Tomas Roope, Lol Sargent, Peter Higgins, Jack Hardiker and Jacqui Kenny.

Our conversations began at a particularly significant moment. The year 2024 marked 150 years since the first Impressionist exhibition in Paris, a landmark in the emergence of modern art movements. It also marked 100 years since the birth of Surrealism. We realised that this was fortuitous timing. Digital art had been around for at least 70 years, yet it had never really been consolidated under a single art movement.

We decided amongst ourselves - and I felt I had enough gravitas in the room with these extraordinary creatives - that it often takes an exhibition, a manifesto, or both to establish an art movement. And so DIGITALISM was born.

Why Digital Art Is Moving into the Mainstream

What has changed, and why are we reaching a point where digital art is moving into the mainstream? We're not quite there yet, but we're getting there.

I think it's largely because generations are growing up whose lives - indeed, all our lives - are defined by digital culture. That's the big difference. When I was practising as a digital artist in the early 2000s, that wasn't the case. We were still bridging the analogue–digital divide. Now, digital technology is simply part of everyday life. Our lives are shaped, mediated, and increasingly lived through digital experiences.

I also think social media has played a part. It has created an enormous culture of content creation, and digital art can be a natural extension of that creative activity. All these things combined have contributed to the shift we're witnessing.

The Story of Digital Art Goes Back Further Than You Think

As a curator, my job is to tell a story through the exhibition, which is now in its third edition. For me, it's about telling the story of digital art and bringing together artists whose work reflects the extraordinary breadth and depth of practices that exist under that umbrella.

It doesn't surprise me that, when you mention digital art today, people often think immediately of AI. But there's an incredibly rich tapestry of processes, technologies, and artistic disciplines within digital art, and I want audiences to experience that diversity.

Since the first edition, it's also been important to include artists who help connect contemporary practice with its history. For instance, last year and again this year, we've featured Kim Mannes-Abbott, one of the pioneering digital paint artists who began working with the Quantel Paintbox in the early 1980s.

Quantel was a British company based in Newbury, England. It developed a revolutionary digital painting system consisting of a monitor, specialist software, a tablet and a stylus. That was in the early 1980s, which is extraordinary when you consider the digital drawing technologies we take for granted today. These systems were enormously expensive, costing around $250,000 each. Quantel made the clever decision to place systems in art colleges across the UK, giving a new generation of artists access to this remarkable technology.

Kim was studying at Middlesex College of Art and Design when a Quantel Paintbox arrived. Most of the students had no idea what it was, but Kim was curious and began experimenting with it. She tells a wonderful story about how, by the age of 22, she was being flown around the world on private jets - one day to Tokyo, the next to Los Angeles - to teach people how to use the system.

The Paintbox was years ahead of its time, predating the commercial release of Adobe Photoshop. One of its remarkable characteristics was the level of skill required to operate it. Without the kind of undo functionality we're accustomed to today, artists had to work with extraordinary precision. These were highly specialised skills, and the artists who mastered them were in considerable demand.

The Quantel Paintbox went on to play a significant role in the visual language of television, music videos, graphic design and popular culture. Its influence could be seen in broadcast graphics, music imagery and commercial design throughout the 1980s and beyond.

That's why it's so important to me to include artists such as Kim Mannes-Abbott, Adrian Wilson and Micha Riss, who participated last year. They are among the pioneering digital paint artists whose work helps tell this much longer history.

How InkPoster Helps Digital Art Find Its Place on the Wall

This year, I'm absolutely delighted that we've partnered with InkPoster. I think these are revolutionary devices. I say that as someone who studied fine art and film as an undergraduate and digital art at postgraduate level. I've always moved between both worlds, and I appreciate and collect art in many different forms.

The genius of InkPoster is that it bridges the divide between digital art and more traditional forms of art display. It has the familiar presence of a framed artwork, while offering the ability to change the images displayed within that single device. You can have multiple artworks and move between them. I think that's extraordinary.

And I have to say, I love the appearance of InkPoster, the quality of the display and the way the images transition from one to another. I think they're absolutely brilliant. I'm thrilled to bring InkPoster into the conversation about digital art and how people collect it, because it gives people the opportunity to think, "Oh, I could see that in my home. I could see it hanging alongside the rest of my collection." It doesn't demand attention in the way some conventional screens might. Instead, it can become part of a beautifully balanced collection within someone's home.

A Very Elegant Way into Collecting Digital Art

Another wonderful aspect of InkPoster - and I think this is a very smart move - is that the technology is effectively self-contained. Unlike conventional LED screens, which often require visible cables and a permanent power connection, InkPoster is a standalone device. Its battery can last up to a year, depending on usage, which makes it much easier for people to incorporate into their homes.

Ultimately, it's about making the experience as straightforward as possible. When you acquire a painting or sculpture, you take the physical artwork and decide where you want it to go. InkPoster offers a similarly uncomplicated experience. You can place it where you want without having to worry about finding a nearby socket, concealing cables or dealing with a complicated installation. I think that's perfect. It's a wonderful way to bridge the gap.

Of course, I'm a great advocate for screens displaying moving images. They have their place, and I find them compelling. But InkPoster offers a genuine alternative: a comfortable, elegant way into collecting digital art that can sit very happily alongside the rest of someone's collection.

Making Digital Art Collecting Easier for Everyone

I think flexibility is absolutely key to collecting digital art. As curators and artists, we need to make the experience as comfortable and accessible as possible for collectors, whether they're established, high-end collectors or simply people who want something beautiful, interesting, or challenging in their homes. We need to make that journey easier.

I like to think DIGITALISM is helping to remove some of the uncertainty around collecting digital art by demonstrating the many different ways people can experience, acquire and live with it. InkPoster is an extraordinary addition to this landscape. I think it's a very intelligent development, and I'm genuinely delighted that we've been able to include it in this year's exhibition. It sits very naturally within the wider DIGITALISM conversation, and the feedback I've received from visitors encountering these devices has been extraordinary.

Keeping Digital Art Human

One of the most important things for me, both in creating DIGITALISM and in curating the exhibition, is keeping the experience human-centred. We're now in our third edition, and in 2026 we've grown to more than 80 artists, bringing an extraordinary range of digital art practices together under one roof.

The value of human connection is fundamental, perhaps now more than ever. What we're doing is showing people that they can enjoy, embrace and collect digital art, and that there doesn't need to be a separation between art and technology, or between the physical and digital worlds.

We already spend so much of our lives interacting virtually. One of the great joys of an exhibition like DIGITALISM is that artists can meet visitors, collectors and potential buyers in person. Those conversations and connections are enormously important. We need to keep the experience human-centred, but we also need to consider physicality. InkPoster is a wonderful example of how digital art can have a tangible presence in our everyday surroundings.

I first encountered InkPoster in person in Basel, Switzerland, during Art Basel week in June this year. I'd already been impressed by what I'd seen of the technology, but when I finally experienced one of the devices in person, I was blown away by how beautiful and elegant it was.

I think InkPoster is something people genuinely want to have in their homes, but it also offers extraordinary flexibility within that physical object. It's easy to install, and people can enjoy multiple artworks on a single device rather than being limited to one fixed image. They can choose different works for different times of day, different moods, or different occasions. I think that's a wonderful development in how people experience, enjoy, and collect art, particularly digital art.

Digital Art at the Tipping Point

I think we're approaching a tipping point where digital art will become more widely embraced and will no longer feel like something "other" to people.

The fact that we live our lives within a digital culture means that people are becoming increasingly familiar and comfortable with technology. I think that, five to ten years from now, we'll see a much richer and broader landscape for collecting digital art.

One of my principal ambitions with DIGITALISM, and with presenting it at British Art Fair, has always been to give digital art an equal platform alongside the very best of modern and contemporary art. As I said to Gay Hutson, the founder of British Art Fair, when I began this journey, "At the end of the day, it’s ALL art." Artists have always reflected the times in which they live. They've always used the tools available to them to express themselves, question the world, and explore new possibilities.

InkPoster is becoming part of that conversation. I genuinely believe we're on the cusp of a moment when embracing digital art will feel entirely natural, when it will simply become another way of experiencing and collecting art. And I think InkPoster is a fantastic vehicle for making that happen.”