For his exhibition space, T.J. Allen chooses to recreate an environment evocative of the fictional world inhabited by his character, Cody Kallper. As Allen explains during our interview, the spatial design is directly informed by the narrative and aesthetic universe of his animated work: “I had this vision in my mind of just like… a diorama, a half wall of things that you could look at that would kind of surround you while everything else would be empty space” (Allen, 2025). This approach results in a carefully constructed scenography that extends the character’s story beyond the screen, embedding it within a curated, three-dimensional context. The environment is built using a combination of existing and newly produced artworks, including smaller textural pieces designed to enhance the perceptual depth and material credibility of the space. As Allen notes, the aim is to create “an actual environment that the character would occur naturally in” (Allen, 2025), thereby grounding the digital persona within a tangible setting. This curatorial-authorial method reflects a distinctly hybrid practice, where the artist acts as both creator and exhibition designer, synthesising narrative and spatial experience. 

A particularly revealing aspect of this process is the way technical constraints inform creative decisions. Allen encounters a specific limitation with an animated GIF that features only the upper half of the character’s body. Rather than seeing this as an obstacle, he incorporates it intentionally into the design: “I figured that it would be good to have him kind of peeking over the wall so that way I wouldn’t have to deal with animating the legs” (Allen, 2025). This adaptive strategy leads to the construction of a parade balloon structure, which allows the partial animation to be integrated meaningfully into the environment without compromising visual coherence. 

This observation reveals a critical tension within digital curation: technical constraints often serve as catalysts for spatial and narrative innovation. Far from limiting creative possibilities, such parameters can provoke a fundamental reimagining of display conventions and interactive engagement. T.J. Allen’s practice exemplifies this productive negotiation, demonstrating the fluid agency that defines the artist-curator within digital environments. His approach underscores the value of granting artists meaningful autonomy within the curatorial process—allowing them to respond intuitively to both conceptual and technical challenges, thereby deepening the exhibition’s discursive and experiential dimensions. Reflecting on this autonomy, Allen emphasises the significance of self-directed expression: “I very much enjoyed having the freedom to present what I want, how I want… There’s quite a big difference between working toward someone else’s vision and taking an idea I’ve had for a long time—something I’m really attached to—and being able to present it exactly as I envision” (Allen, 2025). For him, this opportunity to control the narrative and aesthetic framework represents more than mere flexibility; it constitutes a form of artistic agency that emerging practitioners often yearn for. “It’s really the kind of thing,” he notes, “that a lot of younger artists are striving for” (Allen, 2025). This assertion aligns with a broader shift in digital curation toward models that prioritise artistic authorship alongside curatorial framing, suggesting that the most resonant exhibitions often emerge from collaborative structures that honour the artist’s voice as both creator and mediator of their work.

When discussing the curator’s role in the artistic creation of digital space, Anna Buka expresses a nuanced desire for guidance rather than absolute freedom. She suggests that artistic processes can, at times, benefit from clear parameters: “Sometimes artists need some limitations… I think with limitations you get more” (Buka, 2025). Buka describes how even modest direction—such as a request to design “actual rooms” rather than open, splash-like environments—could focus her creative approach. Such constraints, she argues, provide a helpful structure: “I wouldn’t waste time. I would start to create a room, do a layout, focus on something… because there’s some scene that is set up” (Buka, 2025). While she values creative freedom, Buka also acknowledges that too much autonomy can become paralysing: “You feel like you have too much freedom and then… what do I even do? I don’t have any directions whatsoever” (Buka, 2025). For her, intentional limitations can paradoxically lead to more purposeful and effective artistic outcomes.

For her exhibition space, Buka seeks to translate her animated project—featuring I.V.E.S. (Intelligent Vocal Emulation System), an AI version of a performer, Eve, into an immersive digital environment. Initially, she creates what she terms a “splash room”: an open space where elements surround the viewer immediately, creating an intense first impression. As she explains, “I decided to do like a splash room... you would open the room and get splashed with everything that is around.” This approach reflects both her conceptual focus on digital identity and her initial technical unfamiliarity with the platform. What proves particularly revealing is how her spatial concept evolves through the exhibition development process. Dissatisfied with the initial openness, Buka gradually introduces architectural structure, adding rooms that guide visitors through her creative process. She incorporates concept art, sketches, and developmental materials that reveal the project’s evolution, creating a narrative journey that moves beyond the final artwork to showcase its genesis. This shift from open immersion to structured narration emerges from her observation of other artists’ approaches that were involved in this project, showing how a collaborative approach can influence the initial vision for the exhibition space.

Technical challenges play a significant role in shaping her final outcome. She spends approximately five days problem-solving how to integrate her 3D model while managing file size and quality constraints. Additionally, she discovers and incorporates increasingly sophisticated functions within the platform, such as model rotation and text effects, as she becomes more familiar with its possibilities. These technical negotiations directly influence the aesthetic and experiential quality of her final environment. Buka’s process demonstrates how digital curation thrives not through predetermined outcomes but through responsive adaptation—to technical constraints, to peer examples, and to the evolving relationship between concept and form. Her journey from “splash” to structured narrative space illustrates how limitations, whether technical or conceptual, can focus creative experimentation rather than restrict it. Ultimately, her case reinforces the value of what might be termed guided agency: providing artists with both the freedom to explore and the structural support to channel that exploration toward coherent communicative ends.

In contrast to Anna Buka's initial open approach to spatial design, Prashap Limbu adopts a fundamentally more structured methodology from the outset. As he explains, "My brain still works very structurally... if I make a room, then how I handle the room is that each room is sort of like a story” (Limbu, 2025). His conceptual framework treats architectural space as narrative progression, with the exhibition designed to guide audiences gradually through the evolution of his artistic practice via his avatars. Limbu's central thematic concern is examining "the different visual identities I'd adopted over the years," particularly through comparing avatars created several years apart (Limbu, 2025). He notes that despite the relatively short timeframe, "so much change between those three or four years" reveals fundamentally different creative motivations that he finds compelling to explore. His approach intentionally mirrors conventional gallery conventions: "I'm a weird person who likes to make things very pretty official... I really loved to make that sort of official art gallery experience” (Limbu, 2025). This formal structure begins with an introductory room establishing context before guiding visitors through sequenced avatar developments. The first room focuses on childhood creation, particularly his Roblox-inspired character, showcasing what he terms "childlike wonder when you first make an avatar... not caring if it was good entirely” (Limbu, 2025). The second room presents a more developed avatar representing his "first beginning in serious character writing," marking a transition from playful identity exploration to deliberate narrative construction.  

A particularly innovative aspect of Limbu's design emerges outside the primary exhibition space, where he implements interactive text elements that respond to visitors who wander beyond intended boundaries. This feature draws inspiration from game design principles, specifically citing Gabe Newell's Half-Life philosophy about environmental reactivity enhancing player engagement. Limbu describes this approach as harnessing the unique affordances of digital space: "There are different tropes you can play with... because it takes place in the digital world instead” (Limbu, 2025). This implementation demonstrates how virtual exhibitions enable creative possibilities—like responsive textual elements and impossible physical scenarios—that transcend traditional gallery limitations, ultimately expanding the curatorial vocabulary available for artistic expression.

Of all the artists involved, Gabriel Rodrigues Verissimo De Brito Rodrigues conceives the most spatially ambitious environment for the exhibition. His vision centres on an immersive cyberpunk aesthetic, designed to envelop the visitor within a vast, dystopian cityscape. As he explains, “I chose to do a cyberpunk kind of Matrix world for my piece… I wanted to show the theme of freedom” (Rodrigues Verissimo De Brito Rodrigues, 2025). His central character, Zenos, functions as a narrative vehicle for this theme—a figure of rebellion striving to “liberate the minds of the people that are brainwashed or controlled” within a corrupt, media-saturated society. Rodrigues’ approach is deeply influenced by cinematic references, particularly The Matrix and Akira, which inform his vision of towering, neon-lit architectures that loom over the viewer to produce an atmosphere of surveillance and unease. Technically, he employs a hybrid methodology, blending 2D character designs with 3D environmental models created in Blender. This fusion aims to enhance the expressive tension between character and setting, though it presents certain technical challenges; notably, colour values fail to translate accurately when exported into New Art City, requiring adjustments under significant time constraints. Despite originally intending to populate the world with more characters, Rodrigues ultimately focuses on three central figures to convey his narrative. These include Zenos, representing resistance and truth, and Striker Riker, a contrasting embodiment of control and power. Though limited in cast, these characters effectively articulate the core thematic conflict between liberation and oppression within his meticulously constructed digital universe.

What emerges as particularly compelling through collaboration with artists on such projects is their capacity to utilise space inventively, often transforming technical or conceptual limitations into creative advantages. This mode of artistic production, which is deeply engaged with the specificities of digital environments, directly expands the possibilities of curatorial practice itself. My methodological approach, which privileges minimal stylistic intervention and positions myself primarily as a listener and facilitator rather than a director, aims precisely to foster this experimental freedom. By supporting rather than prescribing, this curatorial model enables the development of four distinctly realised environments, each unique in its aesthetic and narrative approach, yet cohesively connected through a shared foyer and overarching thematic framework. Returning to the tripartite formulation of curator/artist/user, this project allows me to articulate a fluid positioning within the digital curatorial process. I function as an overarching guide for structural and conceptual design, establishing the platform, initial constraints, and connective tissues, while consciously leaving the artistic and spatial language to the individual creators. This negotiated autonomy results in spaces rich with narrative and environmental specificity, moving decisively beyond the neutral, often neutralising, tradition of the white cube. The exhibitions that emerge are not simply displayed; they are lived-in, explored, and emotionally encountered—a testament to a curatorial practice that trusts in the artist’s ability to think spatially, and in the user’s desire to engage with digital worlds that feel authored, intentional, and full.