The Art Basel 2026 Poster Series
by Jean-Jacques Duclaux
June 18th, 2026
CORTEX
SPECULAR
Specular Cortex by Swiss-based artist Jean-Jacques Duclaux (Eko33) is a limited-edition Art Basel release exploring the space between perception, machine cognition, and geometric abstraction through a collection of 250 unique 1:1 artworks.
Bridging generative systems, neural interpretation, and physical craft, the release presents a fully tradable digital collection where each collector will also have access to acquire a matching hand-signed and numbered print.
Rooted in the visual language of neurogeometry, Specular Cortex stages an evolving dialogue between artist-written code and machine vision, where algorithmic structure and artificial perception continuously reflect, distort, and reinterpret one another.
Layering computational precision with illusion, memory, and materiality, the collection explores what it means for a machine not only to see, but to become aware of itself seeing.
ABOUT
SPECULAR CORTEX
“The title crosses a border. Speculum is Latin for mirror. Cortex is the brain's outer rind. What the canvases stage is catoptric, a pictorial chamber of tiles, octagons and glass-cube polyhedra that can't decide whether they're solid or reflection. But the mirror at issue is not the one Lacan inherited. No child here recognizing itself for the first time. No inaugural, that's me. Mirrors are how we figure out that we exist. This is the mirror by which a machine begins to suspect the same.
Since Hubel and Wiesel, the visual cortex has been understood to fracture the world into edges, angles, and orientations. A geometric grid lay behind the eyes. Neuro-geometry is the acknowledgment that perception is already a tessellation before it is ever an image. My code begins there. I don't draw what the eye sees. I draw what the cortex stages before the eye gets a vote. Then I commit that staging to pigment on canvas, where it has to hold up the way any painting holds up, in light, on a wall, in front of a body.
Each work in the series is made by two systems facing one another. On one side, an algorithm I've written and rewritten for more than a decade, with its own settled arbitrations between control and chance. On the other hand, a diffusion model trained at an industrial scale to approximate a human cortex. The picture recurs between them. The code proposes a geometry. The model hallucinates a memory of vision. The code disciplines it. The model dreams again. The barbershop infinity is not a metaphor here. It is the working method. What finally lands on the canvas is the residue of that exchange, fixed, printed, made still.
Specular Cortex is what it looks like when a thinking machine watches itself seeing, and consents to be looked at.
Pigment on canvas. Slow time. Your move.”
ABOUT
JEAN-JACQUES DUCLAUX / EKO33
Born in 1980 in Grenoble (France), Jean-Jacques Duclaux lives and works in Switzerland. Under the pseudonym Eko33, he has been developing a protean visual and sonic body of work for over twenty years, exploring digital cultures and the regimes of perception specific to their environments. At the crossroads of visual arts, sound, and computational technologies, his artistic practice questions the contemporary conditions of image production, human-machine relationships, and the possible emergence of a non-human, or transhumanist, imagery.
Trained from adolescence in electronic music and code, with a self-taught and resolutely exploratory approach, he developed his first digital works in 1999, using a portable Commodore SX-64, Max/MSP software, and Nato.0+55+3d. Since then, he has progressively expanded his creative palette toward more complex generative systems, incorporating artificial intelligence models, neural networks, and programmed environments, in order to produce multi-referenced abstract works that combine geometric rigor and chromatic intensity.
His work has been the subject of solo and group exhibitions internationally, at fairs, biennials, galleries, and museums such as Art Basel, the Seoul Museum of Art, and the Venice Biennale. He regularly participates in conferences and round tables at major contemporary art events, and has taught creative code at international art schools.
Digital + Physical Editions
Collectors of Specular Cortex have exclusive access to purchase a matching hand-signed, hand-numbered fine-art print rendered on museum-quality Hahnemühle Photo Rag. Each print corresponds one-to-one with your digital Specular Cortex, preserving the work’s intent across both mediums.
Print Details
Paper: Museum quality Hahnemühle Photo Rag
Signature & Edition: Hand-signed and hand-numbered by Jean-Jacques Duclaux (Eko33)
Print Size: 18 x 24 in / 46 x 61 cm
Image Match: Your print matches the specific Specular Cortex you hold
Provenance: Your Specular Cortex NFT serves as a verifiable digital certificate of ownership and provenance for the corresponding artwork
Purchase Price: $450 USD
Buyers are responsible for any applicable import duties or VAT on their print purchase.
ABOUT
ART BASEL RELEASES
The ICONIC x Art Basel Poster Series brings together the world’s leading digital artists through exclusive, limited-edition releases created specifically for Art Basel art fairs.
Each release features a limited-edition digital artwork accompanied by access to a museum-quality physical print, creating a collecting experience that bridges contemporary digital art and traditional fine art.
Produced in limited quantities and available exclusively through Art Basel and ICONIC, the series celebrates the intersection of digital culture, fine art, and collectible design.
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ABOUT:
THE RELEASE
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There are two ways to collect Specular Cortex by Eko33.
At Art Basel Basel (June 18–22, 2026)
Visitors to the Art Basel Shop will have an exclusive first-come, first-served opportunity to purchase a physical print from the collection before the public NFT mint.Each print is paired with a unique NFT claim certificate that allows the collector to claim the corresponding digital artwork. Once claimed, the matching NFT will be delivered directly to the collector's wallet by the ICONIC team.
Collectors purchasing at Art Basel receive early access to the collection, the ability to select their preferred artwork in person, and the opportunity to secure some of the earliest artwork numbers available in the release.
Online via OpenSea (Beginning June 18, 2026)
Collectors unable to attend Art Basel Basel can participate in the public NFT mint through OpenSea. Following the mint, NFT holders will have the opportunity to purchase a matching physical print through ICONIC's print claim portal, allowing them to own both the digital artwork and its corresponding hand-signed physical edition. -
Collectors of Specular Cortex have exclusive access to purchase a matching hand-signed, hand-numbered fine-art print rendered on museum-quality Hahnemühle Photo Rag. Each print corresponds one-to-one with your digital Specular Cortex, preserving the work’s intent across both mediums.
Print Details
Paper: Museum quality Hahnemühle Photo Rag
Signature & Edition: Hand-signed and hand-numbered by Jean-Jacques Duclaux (Eko33)
Print Size: 18 x 24 in / 46 x 61 cm
Image Match: Your print matches the specific Specular Cortex you hold
Provenance: Your Specular Cortex NFT is an on-chain record for verifiable linkage
Purchase Price: $450 USD
Buyers are responsible for any applicable import duties or VAT on their print purchase.
-
Collectors of Specular Cortex have exclusive access to purchase a matching hand-signed, hand-numbered fine-art print rendered on museum-quality Hahnemühle Photo Rag. Each print corresponds one-to-one with your digital Specular Cortex, preserving the work’s intent across both mediums.
Print Details
Paper: Museum quality Hahnemühle Photo Rag
Signature & Edition: Hand-signed and hand-numbered by Jean-Jacques Duclaux (Eko33)
Print Size: 18 x 24 in / 46 x 61 cm
Image Match: Your print matches the specific Specular Cortex you hold
Provenance: Your Specular Cortex NFT serves as a verifiable digital certificate of ownership and provenance for the corresponding artwork
Purchase Price: $450 USD
Buyers are responsible for any applicable import duties or VAT on their print purchase.
Specular Cortex Public Sale
Thursday, June 18th at 3PM CEST / 9AM EST
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Collection Size
250 Unique Works
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Purchase Price
$450 USD / Paid Via ETH
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Print Price
$450 USD / Paid Via Credit Card
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Purchase Link
TBA
About Iconic
At the core of Iconic’s mission is the integration of traditional art institutions and emerging digital networks.
Founded in 2015, Iconic is a global pioneer in expanding the reach of cultural institutions and the arts. Iconic partners with museums, digital artists, and brands to produce incredible digital and physical art for cultural collectors around the world.
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