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From June 4–6, Unicorn Factory Lisboa hosts outdoor art installations, solo shows in containers, and a four-story historic mill factory filled with art at the largest international gathering dedicated to digital art, technology, and creative communities.
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Highlights include a never-seen-before installation by Vhils presented by ETERNO, Eko33’s new project for democracy presented by DANAE, and a giant LED sculpture by Dmitri Cherniak.
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Lisbon will once again host NFC Summit 2026 from 4 to 6 June, in what is its most ambitious edition to date. For the first time, art becomes its central pillar, taking centre stage conceptually, curatorially, and physically across the entire site.
Held at Unicorn Factory Lisboa, in Beato, the fifth edition of NFC Summit brings together artists, collectors, researchers, Web3 & AI communities and the general public within the same physical space over the course of three days. Digital art, artificial intelligence, blockchain and contemporary visual culture coexist here not as parallel sections of a programme, but as connected systems.
Blockchain-based digital art has emerged over the last decade as one of the most contested territories between artistic practice, technology, and financial speculation. NFC Summit proposes to view this ecosystem not merely as a technological trend, but as a new cultural territory where different ideas of authorship, value, ownership and participation exist in a state of constant evolution.
The 2026 edition also marks the event’s first takeover of the Unicorn Factory Lisboa, reinforcing Lisbon’s growing role as an international meeting point between digital art, tech communities and new forms of cultural production. Over three days, the former agro industrial complex of Beato hosts exhibitions, installations, talks, performances and late-night events.
The curatorial programme is overseen by Fanny Lakoubay, co-founder of 100 collectors, the global network and community for digital art collectors.
At the central plaza of the venue, designated Kilometer Zero, stands the installation by Dmitri Cherniak, which marks the starting point of the artistic programme. Cherniak, whose project Ringers, launched on Art Blocks five years ago, became one of the defining references of blockchain-based generative art, presents a monumental three-metre-high LED triptych running a real-time generative system in constant evolution. The work operates as a statement of intent: digital art not as a fixed object, but as a continuous process.
Surrounding the central square, four container galleries present established artist solo exhibitions (Jiwa & Efdot supported by Opensea) alongside presentations from some of the strongest communities in blockchain art (NORMIES by serc and Cult of Crypto Art).
The vertical axis of the programme is the former Fábrica de Moagem, active from 1897 to 2005, whose preserved industrial architecture hosts four floors of digital and physical art installations, solo presentations, large-scale projections and custom displays integrated into the building's machinery and adapted to each floor’s configuration.
For the first time, Arab Bank Switzerland, owner of a major digital art collection in Geneva and partner of the ABS Digital Art Prize for the fourth consecutive year, joins NFC Summit as a main partner while presenting a dedicated exhibition on the top floor of the Art Factory titled SYSTEMS.
Curated by Nina Roehrs, the exhibition explores the relationship between artists and generative systems, artificial intelligence models, blockchain infrastructures, and financial mechanisms. Featured artists include Kim Asendorf, Jack Butcher, Linda Dounia, Andreas Gysin, Larva Labs, and Operator, alongside the finalists of the ABS Digital Art Prize 2026.
VHILS, ETERNO, AND NEW DIGITAL LANGUAGES
A key presence at this year’s event is ETERNO, the Lisbon-based gallery founded by street artist Vhils as part of the Cultural Affairs structure, which has established itself as one of Portugal’s most active platforms exploring the relationship between digital art, generative systems, artificial intelligence and immersive experiences. At NFC Summit, ETERNO presents two solo exhibitions. The first is a new presentation of Vhils’ explosions, shown in a way never seen before and the other is BOLDTRON’s AI creatures interacting with the flour mill machinery. BOLDTRON is an artist duo from Barcelona known for pioneering a distinctive visual language across CGI, AI art, and motion design, with work presented at art fairs and festivals like OFFF and Sónar+D. DANAE, the Parisian gallery with a new presence in Milan, Italy will release Eko33’s new project around algorithmic control and cultural infrastructure with an unexpected display method. Marlene Corbun, the curator, says “The collector has spent the last decade using algorithmic feeds, from Instagram's engagement optimization to Spotify's mood detection and has forgotten what unmediated choice feels like. This exhibition corrects this.”
During NFC Summit, BOTTO - the decentralised AI artist governed by its community under a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation model, whose works have generated more than six million dollars in sales - gains a physical presence through a pop-up experience created by ElevenYellow.
Inspired by the visual language of fast food, McBotto transforms BOTTO’s universe into physical collectables, the “Bottoys”, and into an immersive environment somewhere between installation, shop, and participatory experience.
Balloons in the Sky, by American early AI artist Bard Ionson presented by Hash Gallery, draws from the imagery of the Albuquerque Hot Balloon Festival to create a constantly shifting generative landscape. Visitors can interrupt the visual flow and preserve a specific moment as both a unique NFT and a physical print, printed onsite at the booth.