What is the name by which blockchainart and cryptocollectibles community knows you?
Frances Liddell.
Which company / institution are you representing?
University of Manchester.
What is your professional background and career?
Lecturer/Consultant.
Please give a short statement about yourself, your work, your art, your aesthetics, your vision, and everything else you want people to know about you as a person active in the blockchainart and cryptocollectibles space.
I am a researcher, writer and lecturer working at the intersection of museum practice, arts, and web3 technologies. My interest in the technology is driven by a desire to understand how this technology can extend our thinking and current practices in the arts sector.
Which artworks, artists and styles do you admire the most, and which shaped you the most?
Not in anyway shape or form connected to digital art but I have always loved Georgia O'Keefe's 1925 New York with Moon, I wrote my BA dissertation on New York through the lens of artists from 1920s and was captivated by this particular work and the story behind it. Supposedly, her husband Alfred Stieglitz mocked her for painting skyscrapers saying that she’d lost her him, and in response she ‘I did it anyway’.
Whether that’s true or not I’ve always felt it is a brilliant story to explore your passions, (even when others think you are quite a bit mad!).
What lead you to the blockchain?
Strangely enough open access policies in museums, I investigated them during my MA and became fascinated with notions of the ‘digital commons’ and copyleft and somehow managed to find cryptokitties/blockchain and felt there were some interesting parallels in terms of this idea of ‘collective ownership’.
Since when are you active in the crypto space?
2017/2018 (although was definitely a ghost for a good year or two trying to learn!).
Further info you'd like to provide re the creation process?
What is your contribution to the blockchainart, cryptocollectibles and NFT field? (artworks, services, dapps, projects, podcasts, etc.)
My research, which is based on my PhD work with National Museums Liverpool and was one of the first empirical studies to explore blockchain technology in museum practice. My core objective with my work is to understand how museums might shape this technology to support museological practices and inform a more ‘distributed museum’, and I am excited to be continuing with this work as a research fellow with Arts & Antiquities Blockchain Consortium.
I also share my knowledge through panels and consultancy, and in particular I am working with Iconic Moments to focus on NFTs in museum fundraising practices. Outside of research/industry, I also teach and I am currently setting up the blockchain, NFT and cryptocurrencies MA module at Sotheby’s.
Again, we've been on quite the journey with Frances here at B.A.D, and we are always grateful for her support in cultivating blockchain advancements with major cultural institutions. Stay cool as hell, Frances! ☻