NEW YORK - Dec. 26, 2025 - On December 12, 2025, the New York art and tech scene witnessed a paradigm shift as Neuromantics took over a landmark SoHo space, transforming it into a high-stakes, playable ecosystem that shattered the boundaries between viewer and creator. Co-curated by Amy Xiaofan Jiang of Underground Art and Design and art advisor Danielle Paterson, the event highlighted a distinct shift in the 2025 new media landscape.
Drawing on the structural logic of William Gibson’s Neuromancer, the exhibition replaced passive observation with active, hands-on engagement. The space functioned not as a gallery but as a living network where artworks shifted, evolved and unlocked only through collective human interaction.
A New Era of Technical and Conceptual Innovation
Neuromantics introduced several industry-first creative technologies and conceptual frameworks. Aurora Mititelu’s Abel & I presented a custom-built system merging LLM-based autonomous agents with a live Unreal Engine simulation, allowing visitors to text-message a synthetic romantic partner in real-time. In Rising River, artists Lois He, Vio Zhu, John Luo and Kaiyang Zhao utilized real-time AI voice-to-environment engineering to build a VR mind cave that dynamically altered its landscape based on a player's spoken Jungian shadow work.
The event was powered by FLORA, a cutting-edge node-based intelligent canvas that represents the next generation of professional creative workflows, bringing text, image and video models into a unified, artist-driven interface. Partnering with Metalabel, the exhibition showcased a new model for the art market. It moved away from individual competition toward a cooperative ecosystem where digital and physical works are shared and valued through transparent, artist-centric tools.
"We wanted to close the distance between the viewer and the work," said Amy Xiaofan Jiang. "Neuromantics explores how digital tools can facilitate genuine human connection, turning the gallery into a space for shared experimentation."
Exhibition Highlights & Artists
The roster featured 14 global visionaries whose works bridged physical and digital realms. Erin Robinson and Jamie Turner presented Dowsing the Walbrook, where custom sensors translated data from a buried London river into a sensory experience. Shashwath Santosh and Nithin Eluvathingal offered Timelines, inviting attendees to draw their own timekeeping interface where a red dot traced intuitive scribbles.
Gaming influence was central to the showcase. Jackie Liu presented a Game Boy piece titled Fishin’ for Average Caucasian Boyfriends alongside a foot-controlled rhythm game, Relational Dance Dance. This interactive installation challenged players to physically synchronize their steps on a controller pad, using coordinated movement as a metaphor for navigating complex interpersonal dynamics. Peter Nichols debuted Crude Oil, a 3D adventure featuring a fluid particle simulation of a petroleum puddle traversing an open world.
Immersive technologies further anchored the exhibition. Hiba Ali used VR to reclaim time through somatic techniques in Watering the Somatic Oasis, while Jonah King’s Honey Fungus took viewers on a sci-fi journey through queer mycelial landscapes. Tee Topor presented two works, including Ostensorium for the Extremely Online, a sculpture preserving a digital body, and the game Monastic Computer. Additional contributions included Piano Piece by Chia Amisola, an internet ambient lyric where figures mutated within browser windows, and Pearlyn Lii’s InfiniteMother_v2.0, a machinima exploration of the mother wound. Ian Cox’s Automated Tarot Machine (ATM) provided the world's first tech-driven, analog-ritual hybrid for digital divination, delivering algorithmic readings on receipt paper.
The evening culminated in a 3-hour Live Interface block featuring Ana Roman, Raven Tao with visionary visuals by Yiou Wang, and MAYSUN. Electronic soundscapes were manipulated by live biometric and digital triggers, proving that the future of performance is as fluid as the code that powers it.
Impact on the Global Art Scene
Neuromantics establishes a new operational blueprint for the creative economy, positioning exhibitions as vital infrastructure rather than temporary spectacle. By dissolving the rigid silos between fine art, technology, and gaming, the event demonstrated a scalable model for cross-sector collaboration. It signals a departure from passive display toward active engagement, offering a fresh framework for organizing where community participation and interdisciplinary co-creation become the primary drivers of cultural value.
About Underground Art and Design (UAAD):
UAAD is a premier platform for experimental practices at the intersection of technology and speculative futures. Founded by Amy Xiaofan Jiang, a member of the New Museum’s NEW INC, UAAD creates participatory infrastructures for the next generation of the creative vanguard.
About Danielle Paterson:
A leading art-tech curator and researcher, Paterson navigates the spaces between the physical and metaphysical, shaping a new art world built by creators, for creators.
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