Adam Berninger: Heft, physical spaces for the digital community, institutional vs influencer gatekeeping and the culture casino

Jay, Ivan, Jamie and Leyla sit down with Adam Berninger of Tender and Heft Gallery to dive into Heft's opening, the realities of opening a physical space, artist-gallery relationships, the culture casino and institutional vs influencer gatekeeping.

01:38 - Welcome Adam Berninger

03:50 - The relationship between Tender and Heft

07:49 - What inspired the move to a physical gallery model

12:30 - Connecting in person and object-hood

16:00 - The power of a digital community

18:55 - How digital ownership is understood from outside the space

20:40 - The financial pressures of a physical gallery

25:45 - Galvanising the New York digital art scene

27:40 - Artist-gallery relationships

37:20 - Heft's upcoming program

39:41 - Keeping a balance of blockchain-based and physical works

44:20 - Showcasing the digital art community to people outside

46:30 - The challenges of onboarding and making it sticky

48:02 - What's in Verse's pipeline, working with different galleries and voices

54:30 - Heft's site, Verse white labelling and potential opportunities

59:50 - An expanding gallery presence for digital art in New York

01:01:39 - Meeting and working with Edward Burtynsky

01:07:00 - Fx(hash) airdrop announcement

01:09:51 - Artworks being sold as coins, fractionalisation and editions

01:17:02 - Turning culture into a casino

01:22:10 - Everything is a simulacrum

01:25:41 - Reacting to market conditions and competition

01:32:20 - The bell curve meme takes on gatekeeping

01:40:10 - The issue with the lack of institutional knowledge

01:44:15 - The issue with lack of influencer knowledge

01:50:56 - Artist Highlights

01:56:31 - Verse rundown

Adam Berninger: https://x.com/adamberninger

Heft: https://x.com/heft_gallery

Skomra: https://x.com/skomra

Pipi universal: https://x.com/pipiuniversel

LEGIO_X: https://x.com/legio_x

YuriJJJJ: https://x.com/yuri_jjjj

Mika Ben Amar: https://x.com/100o111

Orkhan: https://x.com/orkhan_art