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About Me

Multidisciplinary artist exploring how meaning accretes through interactions among place, culture, nature, imagination and technology. Through my imaginary institution and evolving framework the Department of Ontological Cartography (DoOC) I create protocols for noticing, naming, and mapping extraordinary realities layered within the apparently ordinary. Media used spans movement, live-drawn and animated large-scale projection, VR, AI, sound, blockchain and traditional tools.

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Current Work (2026)

The GroundWork Residency — The Wash Estuary: its environment and culture

Artist in Residence, GroundWork Gallery, King's Lynn. Two works in development for the residency's six-venue exhibition series (Sept–Dec 2026):

Collective Cartography — a participatory mapping protocol developed and facilitated as part of the residency, evolving earlier iterations from the Wysing Arts / CRUNCH Ramsey youth project (2022) and a community-consultation adaptation at the Digital Rescue Lab session, NFC Summit Lisbon (2026).

GroundWork Network Associate. Read GroundWork's profile →

Department of Ontological Cartography (DoOC) An imaginary institution and evolving framework underpinning current practice. 0blique 0ntologies — a self-assembling semantic engine built from the letters of "Department of Ontological Cartography," which gave the framework its name — launched at NFC Summit 2026, Lisbon.

Contact


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Inst/X: @oculardelusion

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Links

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Website

www.karenfranceseng.com

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PUBLIC PORTFOLIO a working archive of past and ongoing projects

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Education

University of California, Los Angeles (1990)

Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, specializing in Creative Writing/Poetry

Skills

digital art, live large-scale projected animation, VR art (Tiltbrush, Open Brush), AI art, NFT/blockhain-based art, metaverse space and event production (Voxels), collaborative creative production, still photography, experimental moving image, photo & video editing, workshop facilitation, programmable art, letterpress printing, print and online writing & editing (books, zines, long-form feature articles, blogs, social media) interviewing, project management, content development, rollerskating/movement

Exhibitions/live performances

PekoPeko #1 in Illuminate: Contextualizing Asian American Women’s Stories through the Archives (May 2025 - January 2026) Schlesinger Library, Harvard

Spellbound in Bienalsur’s Red Distribuida / danzavirus.25g.tmp (an international distributed art biennial) (14 August 2025) Valparaíso, Chile Vivo Desiderio, in Ocelli Nexus, NFC Summit, Lisbon, Portugal 0xquisite Corpse in Pour la Culture (19 February 2025) ARTVERSE gallery, Paris Tagtool performance at B.AIT WEST (1 February 2025) London, UK Live collective drawing & Dancing with the Collective Unconscious at Conversaciones Visuales, 15th Havana Biennial (January 2025) Havana, Cuba

Garden of Fantasia, Fantasia, Cambridge, UK Tagtool performance with Frazer Merrick, Colchester EMOM (2023) Colchester, UK Any Gleeful God (2023) Crow Perch, Berlin DADA Persepctive (2023) MEET Digital Culture Center, MIlan Subsumed ii, Upon This Block (2023) Peterborough, UK Various works in A Slice of the Pie, DYOR (2022) Zurich, Switzerland Tagtool performance, Art//Tech//Play (Collusion, 2022) w/ Fraser Merrick, King’s Lynn, UK Tagtool performance, Open Ealing (2022) London NFTNYC (2022) Nudibranch in FELIX FELIX FELIX mobile art gallery, Art Basel Miami (2022) Nocturnes and live drawing with DADA collective at Dreamverse (2021) New York Tagtool performance, Festival Arte é Inovação (2020) São Paulo, Brazil Tagtool performance w/ Ensemble Variances, residency at Le Shed Centre d'art contemporain de Normandie (2021) Rouen, France ART//TECH//PLAY (2021) w/ Loula Yorke, Norwich Arts Centre Nocturnes at CADAF Paris (2021), Paris MORE THAN GLASS (2020) Voxels Graffiti Queens Street Art Show (April 3, 2021) Vegas City [100, 150], Decentraland One of the largest early all-female NFT group exhibitions, featuring over 200 women artists and 400+ artworks. Organised by Graffiti Kings and Stellabelle as part of a multi-metaverse initiative (Decentraland and Cryptovoxels) promoting women in the NFT art space. Featured prominent artists including Kitty Bast and Pussy Riot. Included the launch of Vegas City Skatepark Gallery, a satellite exhibition in the Polygon Building, and an after-show party at BBStudios with live music from GK Radio.

Watch panel discussion >>>

Decentraland event >>>

Untitled, SHEART (2020) Voxels Cambridge Wide Open (2020)

Equinox Beacon at 11tHour festival (2019) King’s Lynn Brainwave Scanner at Ars Electronica 2019 w/ OMAi , Linz, Austria

Breathing the Kite (2017) Clare Hall, Cambridge UK The Craft of Photography (2012) Williams Art, Cambridge

Residencies

Ranghata (2021) Le Shed Centre d'art contemporain de Normandie, Rouen, France Guest artist at weeklong residency, working alongside Thierry Pécou’s experimental classical Ensemble Variances and guest Indian classical musicians Rishab Prassana and Mosin Khan Kawa.

The Head Exchange Program (2019) Libušín, Czech Republic Weeklong OMai Tagtool residency developing art piece for exhibition at Ars Electronica later that summer.

Co-founder

Digital Rescue Lab // artist-led initiative to recover and conserve early cryptoart

105 Collective // a group of UK-based artists bringing their work to the digital, VR and crypto spaces.

The Platform // decentralized cooperative publishing platform, owned and operated by artists & writers

HEADROOM // digitally native magazine focused on the edges of blockchain-based arts & culture

Women of Cryptoart (WOCA) // founding member

11tHour // experimental festival of light & sound in King's Lynn, Norfolk

Associations & Fellowships

Kernel Fellowship

A virtual Web3 fellowship program emerging from the Gitcoin community that aims to improve the web through peer-to-peer learning. The program connects people from a variety of backgrounds to help them build the web through collaboration. Kernel0x Fellow: Kernel Block 7 (2022) Kernel Block 8 (2023) + Kernel Block 9 Peer (2024)

Outlands Network

Network supporting producers of experimental music and interdisciplinary performance

DADA Collaborative art network where people worldwide speak through drawings. Building a blockchain token economy for the arts.

GroundWork Gallery King’s Lynn, UK Contemporary art gallery dedicated to art & environment. GroundWork Network Associate; current Artist in Residence (2026), The Wash Estuary: its environment and culture.

CODEX Foundation

Berkeley, California Nonprofit organization promoting the book as a work of art through lectures, exhibitions, publications and more. Includes the international Book Art Fair & Symposium.

Kettle's Yard, University of Cambridge Specialist Artist Facilitator (freelance)

George Washington William Fellowship Independent Press Association fellowship for journalists of color Awarded in 2002

Speaking

Graffiti Queens panel, VerticalCryptoArt (2021)

Panellist in a discussion hosted by VerticalCryptoArt (Micol) alongside Barbara Tosti, The Bad Lament (Michelle), Mumu the stan (Moon), CrypticFauna, and Lenara. Topics covered: ecological aspects of NFTs and CleanNFTs; diversity and minority representation in cryptoart; royalties and artist rights.

Watch >>>

Something To Do With Art podcast (11 November 2021)

Interviewed by Robert Good for the a-n Artists Information Company podcast. Discussed involvement in The Intergalactic Hanseatic League (Collusion Cambridge), the use of technology in art practice, early adoption of cryptoart and NFTs, and the importance of supportive online communities.

Listen >>>

Read >>>

NFTLondon (2022)

Organized and spoke on a panel representing Women of Crypto Art (WoCA), with fellow artists who helped establish the cryptoart space from the beginning. Panel moderated by WOCA cofounder, art collector and advisor, Bitcoin Madame.


Metaverse builds

Gallery Oculardelusion // Voxels

Personal gallery site built on onchain metaverse platform built by and for artists. Hosts changing exhibitions of artworks.

Current exhibition:

Heiritage Studio prototype: Ebony Test Kitchen (2024)

Prototype VR exhibition funded by University of Cambridge Shape Hub, a 12-month programme of the Department of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences supporting its researchers to explore creative industry collaborations and develop digital technology applications and opportunities for their work. This interactive, virtual gallery space onceived and built for Myesha Jameson, a University of Cambrige PhD candidate who is developing ways to preserve African American cultural and design heritage and bring it to mainstream. Worked with Jameson to conceive of a prototype virtual exhibition accessible by the public, using the historic Ebony Test Kitchen as our subject.

Visit >>>

Project >>>

Previous exhibition:

Jon Lowenstein: The Advocate (2020)

Guggenheim Fellow and National Geographic Explorer Jon Lowenstein commissioned a gallery to showcase his work docomenting the Black Lives Matter movement in Chicago’s South Side and beyond. Curator: Museum of Contemporary Digital Art (MoCDA) curated.

Centre for Collaborative Investigative Journalism (2021) Voxels

Consulting, building and training for metaverse hub for CCIJ. Globally accessible space for journalists to showcase, sell, and give further context to their work. Serves as a gathering place for virtual meetings, education events, and so on. First journalism hub in metaverse. Cobuilt with Lenara Verle. Build has since been handed over to CCIJ’s inhouse artists.

Visit >>>

Video of the launch event (video tour begings at 8:49) >>>

Teaching/workshop facilitation

Collective Cartography — GroundWork Gallery Residency (2026) King's Lynn An adaptable participatory mapping protocol, developed and facilitated in response to participants' shared experience of the Wash estuary's landscape, ecology and culture. Combines a meditative, self-directed process with collective mark-making and conversation. Evolves earlier iterations including the Wysing Arts / CRUNCH Ramsey youth project (2022) and a community-consultation adaptation at the Digital Rescue Lab Working Session, NFC Summit Lisbon (2026). Project >>>

Digital Arts Workshops, Purfleet Trust (2023) King's Lynn Summer workshop series for adults recovering from homelessness, commissioned by Natalie Songer / The Workshop (The Garage, Norwich), in partnership with Purfleet Trust. Skills taught: Tagtool live painting and animation, VR artmaking, and AI-generated storytelling — accessible, confidence-building entry points into digital creativity, no prior art experience required.

Digital Graffiti (2023) Norwich University of the Arts Daylong workshop teaching Tagtool and cocreating a collective artwork to students.

MANIFESTO* (multiple sessions over several months, 2022):

Skills taught included:

Historic NFT (2022), the world’s first historic NFT conference, hosted by DADA.art at Real Cercle Artistic in Barcelona.