NFTs, generative, 3D, digital, are all terms growing in significance within contemporary art. Art produced in the digital demands a space of its own – outside the constraints of the physical gallery. The exhibition ‘Virus Free Portals’ is organised by ASKNIGHTS and curated by Sebastian Clej and Kinga Przepiorka. It explores curating NFT art in the Metaverse and shows the possibilities available with a paradigm shift in exhibiting and experiencing visual art. The art exhibition features a new generation of artists including Adam Spizak, Vittorio Bonapace, Leo Menossi, Waambat, Sameer Baloch, Cavid Mammadli, HillyHD, PsychxnauT, Bobo, and Alex Benedith. 

The works featured in this exhibition are authored by those specialising in 3D virtual practice. To the observer perhaps only familiar with more conventional creative traditions, they could look like stills from a video game rather than works of high art. But these machine-based mediums find their perfect outlet in NFTs as they are one of the same waves of innovation. Comparisons could be made with the influence the mass media of the twentieth century had on the styles of artists working there, particularly in the use of photography. ‘Virus Free Portals’ is an example of how over the course of the past year the NFT market and therefore digital artwork has found its footing in the more mainstream
art world whilst remaining innovative due to the fast-moving nature of technologies and innovation. As the creative world increasingly sees variants of digital authorship as authentic and of artist value, works like those ASKNIGHTS champions in this exhibition will be of increasing prominence.

Moving forwards, it is important to understand how we curate work formatted and in the language of the virtual. This exhibition uses CryptoVoxels which allows users to create an art space within the metaverse powered by the Ethereum blockchain. Within this user-led community, there has been an explosion of creative events and spaces. In this, we can see one of the most interesting emerging factors of web 3.0. The open-source and creative nature of the new web of which NFTs and crypto are participatory factors show how exhibition spaces can develop. Just as the advent of the modern necessitated the move away from the busy gallery walls of the old academies and the move towards
the neutral ‘white cube’, art that exists in the metaverse requires a space that complements it.

ASKNIGHTS immerses the viewer fully in the metaverse within its curation. The brilliance of curating within the virtual is much the same as making art within it, the boundaries put in place by the physical such as architecture, materials, scale all start to erode. By taking this exhibition as a prototype practitioners can create a blueprint for how we move forwards with working with the digital.