Cindy Bernhard and Vadim Pugin at Plato Gallery, New York

Why It Matters

The event illustrates the accelerating convergence of art and technology, opening fresh market opportunities for creators who blend physical media with digital interactivity.

Key Takeaways

• Cindy Bernhard showcased new digital artwork at Plato Gallery opening
• Vadim Pugin discussed upcoming video project and production timeline
• Artists emphasized experimental visuals and interactive audience experience
• Gallery highlighted collaboration between traditional painting and digital media
• Event generated buzz among New York art collectors and tech enthusiasts

Summary

The Plato Gallery in New York hosted a joint presentation by visual artist Cindy Bernhard and filmmaker Vadim Pugin, unveiling a series of new digital works and previewing an upcoming video piece. The event blended a traditional dining‑room setting with large‑scale projections, underscoring the gallery’s shift toward immersive, technology‑driven exhibitions.

Bernhard described her latest series as a “dialogue between paint and pixel,” while Pugin outlined the production schedule for a short film that will integrate motion‑capture and AI‑generated imagery. Both emphasized the experimental nature of the pieces, noting that audience interaction—through sound cues and responsive lighting—forms a core component of the experience.

A memorable moment came when Bernhard remarked, “We are pushing the boundaries of what a painting can be when it learns to breathe,” illustrating the artists’ commitment to merging physical and digital realms. Pugin added, “The video will be a living canvas, evolving with each viewer’s presence,” highlighting the project’s interactive ambition.

The showcase signals a broader trend of galleries courting tech‑savvy collectors and suggests new revenue streams for artists who can navigate both analog and digital markets. As New York’s art scene continues to embrace multimedia formats, events like this may redefine curatorial practice and collector expectations.

Original Description

Plato Gallery in New York is hosting two concurrent solo exhibitions from June 4 to July 11, 2026: Cindy Bernhard: Broken Vessels, and Vadim Pugin: The Walled Garden. Broken Vessels, a solo exhibition by Chicago-based artist Cindy Bernhard, features a new body of paintings that explores spiritual rupture, transcendence and the relationship between the human body and the divine. At the center of the exhibition is the metaphor of the vessel: the body as a container for spirit and belief. In The Walled Garden, New York–based artist Vadim Pugin presents a new body of work exploring the contours of subjectivity in an era shaped by commodified attention and engineered desire. The exhibition brings together ceramics, sound, video, and fabric installation within an environment the artist describes as Cyber Baroque: a logic of excess in which surveillance has learned to disguise itself as seduction.

Plato is a contemporary art gallery founded by Elena Platonova with the goal of cultivating intercultural dialogue. It mainly focuses on the work of artists with diverse cultural, ethnic and national backgrounds, who maintain continuity with the traditions of art history while creating new ones. Plato particularly welcomes the mixed types, the misfits, multihyphenates, immigrants, hybrids and those who can see the world through the eyes of the other. The gallery is housed in a ground-level space on the historic Bowery, half a block from the New Museum in New York.

Cindy Bernhard: Broken Vessels, and Vadim Pugin: The Walled Garden. Two solo exhibitions at Plato Gallery New York. Impressions from the opening, New York City, June 4, 2026.

00:00 - Intro

01:05 - Cindy Bernhard: Broken Vessels

08:00 - Vadim Pugin: The Walled Garden

17:21 - Outro

Join our channel for early access and exclusive videos:

https://www.youtube.com/vernissagetv/join

More videos on contemporary art, design, architecture:

http://vernissage.tv

Connect:

https://www.instagram.com/vernissagetv/

http://www.facebook.com/vernissagetv

http://twitter.com/vernissagetv

Browse our Archive:

http://vernissage.tv/archive/posts/

Find Artists, Designers, Architects:

http://vernissage.tv/archive/artists/

Art TV pioneer Vernissage TV provides you with an authentic insight into the world of contemporary fine arts, design and architecture. With its two main series "No Comment" and "Interviews", art tv channel VernissageTV attends opening receptions of exhibitions worldwide, interviews artists, designers, architects. VTV provides art lovers with news, reports and features from the international art scene. VernissageTV: the window to the art world. Das Fenster zur Kunstwelt. La fenêtre sur le monde de l'art. A janela para o mundo da arte. La ventana al mundo del arte. نافذة على عالم الفن. 到艺术世界的窗口。Окно в мир искусства. Since 2005.