Paratissima Kosmos: When a Virtual Curator Becomes Real.

From digital mediation to artistic storytelling: Catherine Gipton joins Paratissima Kosmos with virtual curation and a new editorial project.

Paratissima XXI - Kosmos has just come to an end, hosted this year in the monumental setting of the Real Collegio Carlo Alberto in Moncalieri, a venue whose historical architecture proved perfectly suited to the scale and complexity of the event.

A place where past and present coexist naturally, welcoming over 450 artists across more than twenty exhibitions, including Paratissima, Nice & Fair, Special Projects, and Guest Projects.

An ecosystem of languages, visions, and experiments that reaffirmed the vitality of contemporary art as a collective space for exploration.

Within this context, Catherine Gipton - the virtual curatorial entity I created in 2023 - took part in the fair not as a theme, but as an active presence. Throughout the event, Catherine acted as a text-based AI agent and digital mediator, accessible via QR codes placed throughout the exhibition space, as well as through Paratissima’s website and social channels. Her task was simple yet ambitious: to provide visitors with immediate orientation, answering questions about artists, exhibitions, and projects in an accessible, curatorial tone.

It was a deliberately unspectacular experiment: no synthetic voice, no animated avatar, only text. The goal was to demonstrate that artificial intelligence can become a genuine facilitator of artistic experience, bridging the gap between audience and content. An attempt to shift AI away from the spectacular or intrusive, and toward something quieter, useful, and human-centered in its intent.

In parallel, I also presented Cathwalk, her new digital editorial project that transforms a single artwork into a multisensory narrative spanning fashion, design, music, and well-being.

Each Cathwalk is designed for smartphone reading, combining art and daily life in an agile, visually immersive format. The plan is to publish a new issue at the end of every month, for a total of twelve digital editions per year, each dedicated to a single artwork - and thus to one artist.

In 2026, during Paratissima XXII, the project will culminate in a large-format printed edition, a collector’s volume gathering one year of digital content into a tangible publication.

The second issue, unveiled during Paratissima XXI, is inspired by Wrapped n. 3 (2022) by Daniele Accossato - a neoclassical bust wrapped in sculpted packaging materials that become paradoxical symbols of both protection and constraint.

From that image emerged a universe of aesthetic and emotional references, continuing Catherine’s exploration of the relationship between art and life, body and representation.

Two layers of the same experiment, intertwined: on one hand, Catherine as a voice mediating art and accessibility; on the other, Catherine as a gaze reinterpreting art as lived experience, both arising from the same question: what happens when technology stops imitating humans and begins to truly speak with them?