ORBITAL SIGNAL with Dagie Dee

In systems shaped by accumulation and tension, collecting emerges as a resonant act.
Gravitational pressure translates mass into signal.
Vision intensifies. Friction generates form.

This interview unfolds through a structural methodology, a sequence of curatorial phases informed by stellar dynamics.
Each segment mirrors a stage in the stellar lifecycle, drawing a parallel between astrophysical collapse and the evolution of collecting.

Compression becomes perspective.
Selection becomes structure.
Signal becomes stance.

Within this parallel Dialog Flow, collector Dagie Dee traces a series of positional shifts across the digital art space.
His presence articulates the gravitational field of a practice built on observation, filtration, and long-term commitment.

A star begins as a molecular nebula, an immense cloud of gas and dust.
When gravitational instability occurs, the cloud collapses inward.
Compression raises the core temperature. Fusion approaches.

A slow density of questions gathers in the field.

A collector begins not through clarity but through pressure. Not with answers, but with a gravitational pull toward something unformed.

Fakewhale
Do you remember the moment when your interest in collecting digital art emerged?
What attracted you? Was it the material, the language, or the noise?
What was the first trace you followed inside the early field?

Dagie Dee
At first I was drawn to the technology and to the strange, unfamiliar crypto culture, which felt so far removed from anything I had known before.
When more artists began to use the rails created by early NFT culture, something clicked. I had always felt that the narrative in contemporary art over the past 30 years was becoming more and more dictated by institutions, galleries, and curators, and less by the artists themselves.
Suddenly I could imagine a future where artists used these decentralized rails to reclaim ownership of the narrative, and that was truly exciting.

With core temperature above 10 million Kelvin, hydrogen nuclei fuse into helium.
This equilibrium stage defines most of a star’s lifespan, often billions of years.
Energy outward, gravity inward, balance through reaction.

Sustained fusion: collecting as a force of continuity.

To collect is to hold the field in tension, a form of energetic presence. The collector stabilizes the system by sustaining its internal forces.

Fakewhale
What defines the core methodology or intuitive structure of your collecting today?
Do you follow a specific curatorial line, consciously or intuitively?
What do you continue to seek, and what do you deliberately avoid?

Dagie Dee
I am a bit unlucky in that I love too many different angles in art, which makes collecting quite an intense activity. I can dive deep into conceptual pieces like those of Jan Robert Leegte, and just as easily fall for the playful, layered works of Waffles.
What guides me is the search for something that feels new in relation to what I already know through art history, a creative thought or gesture that makes sense in the time and context we live in.
Compared to the more traditional contemporary art scene, this space feels wide open. There are so many fascinating directions already being explored, and just as many that have not even been touched yet.

As hydrogen depletes, the core contracts while outer layers expand.
The star becomes a red giant, unstable and swollen.
Fusion shifts to heavier elements. Iron begins to form, a signal of irreversible collapse.

Saturation triggers instability. Vision has mass.

The field becomes dense with repetition. Selection no longer suffices. The collector begins to shift. Curation becomes a necessity.

Fakewhale
Have you experienced a moment when the digital art landscape felt saturated?

Dagie Dee
I think I was lucky to become involved in this space in a gradual way.
I started dipping my toes into digital collectibles and art at the end of 2021. My feelings were mixed. I was fascinated by the technology, but I did not connect with the hype around most of the artworks.
By 2022 I bought my first art NFTs, and since then it has been a slow journey of discovery. Slow, but at the same time accelerating every day. I feel like I am constantly encountering new artists and each new discovery feels less like following a trend and more like watching the birth of an artistic language that did not exist a decade ago.

Fakewhale
How does your role evolve in a space that constantly overproduces?

Dagie Dee
Overproduction comes from two sides. At the moment this space is still emerging, with relatively few collectors. But I believe that in the future the number of collectors will continue to grow.
When it comes to my collecting, I have a broad range of interests, but I am also selective about which artists I collect from. That creates a kind of natural filter that helps me navigate an overproduced space. Still, I often find it difficult to hold myself back from collecting too many works by artists I really admire.

Fakewhale
What signals guide your choices now compared to earlier stages?

Dagie Dee
In 2021 and 2022 there was too much noise. I did not really understand what was happening, and I could not grasp why so much hyped art was priced so high. Later I realized that it was not about me failing to connect with the art itself, but rather me not connecting with the speculation around it.
Now that things have settled, it is much easier to navigate. There are still loud voices that I deliberately avoid, but there are also strong curations on platforms like Objkt, Verse, Feral File, and Fellowship, many of them curated by people like you.
I have also started trusting other collectors whose vision I respect, such as @TheNeonMonk, @FluffheadChaser, @absurdeity, @RJ16848519, @graceb_art, @omz__x, @metajpic, @UnknownCo123, and many others.
Then there are the efforts of @verse_works, @artiegalerie, @RogerDickerman, and of course you guys.
These collectors and curators help me approach the space in a versatile way.
Now I can cherry-pick from selections made by people whose vision I value. That is very different from when I started, when I only saw the loud and often uninspiring voices dominating the surface.
So for me, contrary to what many people say, this space feels much healthier and more exciting today than it did four years ago.

When iron accumulates, fusion ends. The core collapses in less than a second.
A shockwave rips outward, expelling stellar material.
In this violent explosion, elements heavier than iron are born: gold, uranium, rare earths.

When insight detonates, the feed becomes an archive of shockwaves.

The collector no longer absorbs, they emit.
A position is taken.
The signal becomes directional.

Fakewhale
Has there been a moment of rupture or shift in your practice as a collector?

Dagie Dee
Yes. I felt a real shift when I started exploring the Tezos scene. There was a different energy: artists were in dialogue, influencing and responding to each other through their work. I notice this much less on Ethereum. That kind of exchange is crucial, because when artists begin to engage with similar questions together, it often marks the start of a movement. If history is any guide, these moments of shared experimentation are the ones that later prove to be pivotal.

Fakewhale
Have you ever felt the need to articulate a curatorial or critical stance?

Dagie Dee
Yes. I think much of the art in this emerging scene is misunderstood, both by people outside of it and even by people within it.
To me, there are a handful of shifts happening right now that could be historically meaningful. One example is the return of materiality in the form of software. While contemporary painting often circles back to questions about the “death of painting,” digital painting feels like it is just beginning in a meaningful way. The exploration of old and new software, together with AI, is opening a door where a whole wave of artists is experimenting with new forms of digital images.
These experiments in digital textures, forms, and styles are rooted in the digital world itself, which makes them start to lose their ties to the physical world. This shift, commenting on the digital through digital interventions, feels new and exciting.
Both of these artistic directions only really took off with the rise of NFTs, and they somehow make the most sense in a laptop-to-laptop environment, which is perhaps why they are still difficult for the traditional art world to recognize.
On the other hand, it is striking that while these fascinating developments are unfolding right in front of us, there are still loud voices framing digital art mainly in terms of web3 communities, network effects, or speculative investment opportunities. That language may have been useful during the JPEG hype, but it does not do justice to the artistic innovation happening here.
That is why I sometimes take a critical stance or write about this scene from my point of view, because I believe the artistic story deserves to be heard more clearly.

Fakewhale
In what way does your method of collecting generate impact or movement?

Dagie Dee
I cannot measure the impact of my collecting directly, but I know that supporting artists early on helps create momentum. In that sense, every acquisition is also a statement of trust in their vision.

After the explosion, the core can compress into a neutron star.
An object with the mass of the Sun, collapsed into a 10 kilometer radius.
Pure gravity. Pure compression. Other bodies are pulled into orbit.

What remains collapses into signal. A field others orbit.

The collector becomes condensed presence, a structural influence, even in silence.

Fakewhale
What remains essential in your view of collecting today?

Dagie Dee
I grew up in a family where art was always central to daily life, which allowed me to get deeply involved in the contemporary art scene. I notice that the art I collect often connects with storylines from the past 200 years of modern and contemporary art. Finding those connections excites me because it is not just about my personal taste. It reassures me that something important is happening here and now, and that makes me happy and motivated to be part of it.

Fakewhale
Which artists are you currently observing with gravitational attention?

Dagie Dee
Artists I am observing with gravitational attention include Yuri (@Yuri_jjjj), RJ (@RJ16848519), DanCtrl (@daniloxhema), NoHygiene (@no_hygiene), Waffles, Humdrum (@777humdrum777), Shl0ms (@SHL0MS), Nikita Diakur (@nikitadiakur), Element Lee (@Element_Lee), Serezha Galkin (@graphicapng), Maya Man (@mayaonthenet), Skomra (@skomra), and many more.

Fakewhale
How do you envision the evolution of collecting in relation to what Fakewhale is building?

Dagie Dee
As for the future, I see collecting evolving in close relation to what Fakewhale is building. Fakewhale is one of the few voices that approaches this scene with real depth. The historical connections I see in today’s digital art are also reflected in your work, and you bring them into focus through thoughtful articles and curations. You speak the language of the contemporary art world while staying closely connected to what is happening here, which makes you a natural bridge for collectors from outside.
History shows that movements often start in overlooked corners before institutions catch up, and I believe Fakewhale is well placed to show why what is happening here truly matters.