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: x.com/adamberninger
Heft: x.com/heft_gallery
Skomra: x.com/skomra
Pipi universal: x.com/pipiuniversel
LEGIO_X: x.com/legio_x
YuriJJJJ: x.com/yuri_jjjj
Mika Ben Amar: x.com/100o111
Orkhan: x.com/orkhan_art