Artist-curator Adam Heft Berninger sees opportunity in new NYC gallery venture

Against the backdrop of an art market facing slowdown and correction, artist-curator Adam Heft Berninger is boldly launching a new gallery in Manhattan‘s Lower East Side. The space represents a fresh approach to technology-based art, focusing on artists who use systematic processes like generative code and machine learning while deliberately avoiding the reductive “AI art” label. This venture highlights an emerging countertrend in the art world—creating intimate, in-person experiences with digital art that emphasize artistic methodology over technological tools.

The big picture: Heft gallery offers a specialized platform for artists using systematic approaches while resisting categorization as merely an “AI art” gallery.

• The Lower East Side space showcases work created with modern tools including algorithms, machine learning, and scanners, but emphasizes the artists’ methodologies over the technologies themselves.
• This approach creates a counterpoint to the current art market narrative of slowdown and correction.

The gallery’s approach: Berninger focuses on artists whose systematic processes enable unexpected discoveries rather than predetermined outcomes.

• The gallery aims to change perceptions about technology-based art through direct, in-person experiences rather than digital-only engagement.
• The emphasis on “systems” rather than specific technologies creates a more nuanced framework for understanding contemporary digital art practices.

Programming strategy: New exhibitions will rotate every 3-4 weeks, creating a dynamic calendar that prioritizes depth of engagement over online scale.

• Works are priced accessibly between $2,000 and $10,000, with some digital pieces available for as little as $100.
• This pricing structure deliberately creates multiple entry points for collectors at different levels.

Why this matters: The gallery represents a strategic bet that physical spaces dedicated to digital art can thrive despite broader market challenges.

• By focusing on underrepresented systematic approaches to art-making, Heft is carving out a specialized niche in the contemporary art landscape.
• The gallery’s emphasis on personal interaction with technology-based art offers an alternative to purely digital consumption of new media work.