Adam Levine, the 38-year-old director and CEO of the Toledo Museum of Art, has transformed the Ohio institution into a leading example of how traditional museums can successfully adapt to the digital age. Since taking leadership five years ago, Levine has dramatically expanded the museum's resources, growing its operating budget from $15 million to $23 million and increasing its endowment by $90 million.
The museum's digital transformation centers around TMA Labs, an innovative in-house consultancy that Levine launched to help Toledo explore emerging technologies including data analytics, Web3, artificial intelligence, and other cutting-edge digital tools. This initiative has led to groundbreaking acquisitions of digital artworks ranging from NFTs to digital numismatics, established a digital artist-in-residence program, and culminated in the current exhibition "Infinite Images," which traces the extensive history of computer and digital art through November.
As one of the youngest museum directors in the United States, Levine brings exceptional enthusiasm for novel audience engagement strategies and future-proofing his institution. The Toledo Museum of Art, founded in 1901, has historically focused on acquiring exceptional artworks based on singular aesthetic merit rather than encyclopedic collecting. This philosophy, combined with Toledo's rich industrial glass heritage and the birthplace of the Studio Glass movement on the museum's campus, has created a culture that embraces craft and decorative arts as integral to art historical narratives.
Under Levine's leadership, the museum has acquired 1,300 works of art, including 13 digital pieces, reflecting a broader collecting approach rooted in the institution's historical ethos. "To me, it is absolutely essential that we engage with digital art because there is great art being produced, and just because it is a medium that is now being integrated into the canon doesn't mean it won't become canonical," Levine explained. He emphasized the importance of not waiting decades to rediscover digital artists, as has happened with other art movements throughout history.
The "Infinite Images" exhibition demonstrates how digital art represents both 20th and 21st-century conversations rather than merely contemporary trends. When the exhibition opened in July, museum attendance increased by 77 percent compared to the previous year. However, Levine clarified that attendance figures don't represent their primary success metric. Instead, the museum optimizes for repeat visitors to the collection, using each exhibition to connect audiences with similar works throughout their holdings.
The museum is planning a complete collection reinstallation in 2027, and "Infinite Images" provides crucial context for the digital works that will be featured in that rehang. Levine's strategy focuses less on generating entirely new audiences and more on contextualizing art history while creating familiarity and comfort with digital works. The goal is ensuring these pieces are accepted as canonical rather than viewed as puzzling anomalies when the reinstallation opens.
For the exhibition, the museum released an online catalog featuring three scholarly essays. Julia Kaganskiy, the curator, contributed an essay tracing the development of digital art and its antecedents in seriality and conceptual art, highlighting artists like Vera Molnár. Another essay examines how institutions handle digital art, addressing the wide-open field of museological practice in this area. The catalog also discusses the museum's work with Osinachi, the first artist-in-residence at TMA Labs, whose medium of Microsoft Word creates accessible wonder about digital art creation.
The exhibition design required careful consideration to maintain traditional museum aesthetics while properly displaying digital works. Working with external design firm TheGreenEyl alongside their internal team, the museum chose a traditional display approach rather than something resembling a tech conference. The installation features no visible wires, displays some digital works as printed grids rather than screens to create visual rhythm, and uses appropriate technology for each individual artwork in consultation with the artists.
Levine's approach to collecting digital art emphasizes quality over popularity, using the same criteria applied to Renaissance paintings and other traditional works: excellence in execution, relevance to its time period, and the ability to convey the artist's intended emotional impact without requiring extensive interpretation. The museum also considers how each piece fits within their broader collection and ensures representation of digital art as a global movement rather than focusing myopically on American artists.
TMA Labs functions as an internal consulting operation that works across all museum departments rather than operating as a traditional departmental structure. Now led by Ian Charles Stewart, a co-founder of Wired magazine, TMA Labs has assisted with practical challenges like setting up cryptocurrency wallets for NFT purchases, selecting platforms for accepting crypto donations, and researching ethical, energy-efficient applications of artificial intelligence within museum workflows.
The most significant current project involves the 2027 collection reinstallation, precipitated by the need to replace the museum's aging heating and cooling system. Rather than treating this as merely a maintenance project, Levine has combined it with a conceptual and intellectual reboot that brings the building "down to the studs." Drawing inspiration from his predecessors who overbuilt the museum to accommodate 84 years of growth without new construction, Levine is focusing on power and data infrastructure to prepare for the next 40 to 50 years.
Levine envisions a future where personalized museum experiences become as expected as personalized online shopping. He imagines technology that provides location-aware, opt-in services allowing visitors to receive targeted information about artworks, recommendations based on viewing patterns, and invitations to special events based on demonstrated interests. This approach aims to facilitate discovery and education while building community among visitors with shared passions.
The museum's commitment to transparency extends to addressing potential concerns about AI, blockchain, and other emerging technologies. Levine regularly communicates with staff about viewing AI as a tool that expands their capacity rather than threatens their positions, emphasizing "human in the loop" approaches that maintain human oversight. TMA Labs conducts thorough research on energy and water usage for various digital tools, working with sustainability consultants to understand the complete environmental impact of their technological choices.
Toledo's smaller scale compared to major institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art or Museum of Modern Art provides significant advantages for experimentation. At one-twentieth the size of the Met and one-tenth the size of MoMA, the museum can operate more nimbly while maintaining competitive compensation and stretching resources further. This efficiency allows smaller investments to generate greater impact, making Toledo an attractive destination for donors seeking maximum return on their philanthropic investments.
The museum's unique position in American cultural geography also contributes to its mission as a unifying force. With visitor demographics split equally among Republicans, Democrats, and independents, the Toledo Museum of Art serves as one of the few remaining spaces where people gather around shared interests rather than political divisions. This role becomes increasingly important as the institution continues integrating cutting-edge technology while maintaining its fundamental mission of connecting diverse audiences with exceptional art across all media, time periods, and cultures.
