Hi! Bonjour! Hoi! My name is Karen Vanderborght, a tech savvy, hands on design technologist and digital artist**
Follow my Instagram and LinkedIn to discover my most recent activities. Academic and artistic resumes are available on request.
I have a diverse and international background, as well as an eclectic music collection. I started my career in the “naughties” as a media artist, VJ/DJ-ing with weird open-source tools, curating underground media art, even co-founding an art house cinema in Brussels which still operates to this day.
After vfx stints in documentary and broadcast productions, I circled back to my first passion - exploring new technologies to rediscover our common humanity. My clients are marketing agencies, NGO’s, research centres, start-ups, cultural organizations and entertainment producers.
I teach design and technology courses at universities, colleges and media arts centers and speak regularly as a panelist in festivals and XR events.
I look forward to the opportunity to make beautiful, weirdly contagious projects together. Let's mix and match the latest technologies and trends with innovative storytelling.
My strengths:
- I want things to look good, because original ideas deserve great execution.
- My currency is ideas, and I combine a vivid imagination with practical solutions.
- I’m generous by nature and inspire people to give their best.
- My goal is to make people smile in childlike wonder and want to tell all their friends about it.
- I am a thinker who tinkers playfully with new technology, linking creative code with human-centered design and captivating content.
- Give me the tiniest seed of an idea and I will nurture it into a coherent story.
- I’m a rebel (with a cause -yours!) who can count and whom you can count on.
Talks
- Serious Play Conference.
Toronto, CA.
2024.
Presentation of NUVILLE as an augmented walking game for real world change.
- MIT Open Documentary Lab.
Boston, USA.
2018.
Guest lecture on interactive tools for 360 video and mentoring of course students.
- I-Doc Conference.
Bristol, UK.
2018.
Presentation of VR prototype Without A Roof
- Regard Bleu Festival And Conference.
Zürich, CH.
2018.
Lecture and VR workshop focused on its potential in anthropological research.
- Taipei Film Festival.
Taipei, Taiwan.
2018.
Panelist, jury member, and guest speaker with a lecture on inclusion in VR.
- MIT Open Documentary Lab.
Boston, USA.
2017.
Public lecture on ethics in VR
- Ryerson University, School Of Image Arts.
Toronto.
2017.
Guest lecture on 360 video and VR production.
- Interactive Ontario Digital Lunch.
Toronto.
2017.
Panelist on application of VR in digital journalism.
- Les Tablettistes, Idello/TFO.
Ottawa.
2017.
Panelist on VR in education and the classroom of tomorrow.
- Sheridan College, Trafalgar Campus.
Toronto.
2017.
Overview of VR in Communication, Culture and Information Technology department.
- Sheridan College, Trafalgar Campus.
Toronto.
2016.
Overview of VR in Communication, Culture and Information Technology department.
- Mutek.
Montréal.
2016.
Speaker and panelist. Presenting a case study of Ocean School VR prototype (NFB).
- ICFF Industry Day, Pinewood Studios/SIRT.
Toronto.
2016.
Speaker on 360 video production and post-production for documentary.
- NFB XP.
Montréal.
2016.
Participant in an exceptional private VR/AR incubator/workshop organized by the NFB, Mutek and Quartier Des Spectacles.
- TIFF POP VR 01.
Toronto.
2016.
Panelist on VR art and music.
- Input TV.
Calgary.
2016.
International public broadcasters conference. Speaker on VR best practices.
- WIFT (Women In Film and Television).
Toronto.
2016.
Executive breakfast series. Presenting a case-study of Kinshasa Now VR project.
- Canadian Film Centre.
Toronto.
2016.
The first virtual reality creative doc lab produced by the CFC Media Lab, The National Film Board of Canada and Justfilms/Ford Foundation with diverse participants from the US and Canada.
- Journal La Presse.
Montréal.
2015.
Workshop teaching journalists and camera crew the basics of 360 video production.
Awards
- Chalmers Art Fellowship
Research grant to revisit Cyber Feminist bodies in the era of spatial computing. Only Professional artists with an artistic practice of more than 10 years are eligible for this grant.. 2023.
- Canada Council for the Arts
Digital Now. 2021.
- Canada Council for the Arts
Explore and Create: Concept to Realization. 2020.
- Media Arts Project Grant
Ontario Arts Council. 2019.
- Research and Creation Grant
Canada Council for the Arts. 2018.
- Media Arts Project Grant
Ontario Arts Council. 2018.
- 1st Prize in the Art & Culture category
Boomerang. 2010.
- Honorable Mention
Mockfest Hollywood (US) . 2010.
- Bronze Remi Award
Houston International Film Festival (US). 2010.
- Best Film
15/15 Film Festival (AUS). 2003.
- Student Award for Photography
KODAK. 1995.