Dr Karen Di Franco
@archivist23.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer, MA Curating & Collections | Programme Curator, Chelsea Space | Chelsea College of Arts, UAL 🍩 Archives, Reproduction (artists' publishing), Feminisms, Writing 📐 Personal account 📎
linktr.ee/karendifranco
linktr.ee/karendifranco
Was going to cancel Netflix but there’s a new season of Korean culinary class wars.
January 4, 2026 at 7:16 PM
Was going to cancel Netflix but there’s a new season of Korean culinary class wars.
Bought this cute but pointless mini-photo printer as a 'research aid' and having a lot of fun printing photos of other people's photos of marginalia.
January 4, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Bought this cute but pointless mini-photo printer as a 'research aid' and having a lot of fun printing photos of other people's photos of marginalia.
Wolf moon 🌕 tadig ba ghormeh sabzi 🌕
January 4, 2026 at 11:42 AM
Wolf moon 🌕 tadig ba ghormeh sabzi 🌕
Starmer, the ultimate bootlicker.
January 3, 2026 at 10:06 PM
Starmer, the ultimate bootlicker.
Are there any recent visual-cultural texts on redaction / redacted documents you can recommend?
January 2, 2026 at 1:43 PM
Are there any recent visual-cultural texts on redaction / redacted documents you can recommend?
Woke up to this!!
January 2, 2026 at 8:25 AM
Woke up to this!!
Reposted by Dr Karen Di Franco
This story reminds us that:
a) Not everything has been digitized
b) Not everything digitized is accessible to the public
Also: What's happening at NASA is part of a broader trend of library closures in government & industry. (Even university libraries are moving away from physical books & journals)
a) Not everything has been digitized
b) Not everything digitized is accessible to the public
Also: What's happening at NASA is part of a broader trend of library closures in government & industry. (Even university libraries are moving away from physical books & journals)
They're going to *throw out* one-of-a-kind NASA archives?!
Not even a year since the Inauguration & we're already at the 2nd-time-as-farce version of the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
Not even a year since the Inauguration & we're already at the 2nd-time-as-farce version of the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
December 31, 2025 at 8:15 PM
This story reminds us that:
a) Not everything has been digitized
b) Not everything digitized is accessible to the public
Also: What's happening at NASA is part of a broader trend of library closures in government & industry. (Even university libraries are moving away from physical books & journals)
a) Not everything has been digitized
b) Not everything digitized is accessible to the public
Also: What's happening at NASA is part of a broader trend of library closures in government & industry. (Even university libraries are moving away from physical books & journals)
Just witnessed the NYE tradition of a teenager decanting from a 1 litre bottle of vodka into a smaller receptacle and adding a thimble measure of Ribena. We’re on the tube 🚇 btw.
December 31, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Just witnessed the NYE tradition of a teenager decanting from a 1 litre bottle of vodka into a smaller receptacle and adding a thimble measure of Ribena. We’re on the tube 🚇 btw.
Hold me in your thoughts as I attempt the odyssey of travelling from south to north London on New Year’s Eve.
December 31, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Hold me in your thoughts as I attempt the odyssey of travelling from south to north London on New Year’s Eve.
Me and my hair-metal goth friend Becky used to work on Sunday mornings as street cleaners in our small town high street and surrounding areas. One year we worked New Year’s Day and counted 11 piles of vomit. 🤮
December 31, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Me and my hair-metal goth friend Becky used to work on Sunday mornings as street cleaners in our small town high street and surrounding areas. One year we worked New Year’s Day and counted 11 piles of vomit. 🤮
The leaving 2025 vibe.
December 31, 2025 at 2:38 PM
The leaving 2025 vibe.
Ending this year by writing two student reference letters.
December 31, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Ending this year by writing two student reference letters.
Reposted by Dr Karen Di Franco
Can’t have humanitarian aid groups that tell the truth, deliver aid, save lives, and don’t randomly massacre people trying to access aid.
Israel says it will suspend several humanitarian groups, including Doctors Without Borders, in 2026 for failing its new vetting rules for groups working in Gaza. Some international organizations have said that Israel’s rules are arbitrary and could endanger staff.
Israel says it will halt operations of several humanitarian organizations in Gaza starting in 2026
Israel says it will suspend several humanitarian organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, for failing to meet its new rules to vet international organizations working in Gaza.
bit.ly
December 30, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Can’t have humanitarian aid groups that tell the truth, deliver aid, save lives, and don’t randomly massacre people trying to access aid.
Very important news.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is showing from tonight at 10.10pm on BBC Four as part of John le Carré Night. Photo of Alec Guinness as George Smiley taken for a 1979 @radiotimes.bsky.social cover by John Timbers.
December 30, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Very important news.
Back from 5 days away, having just about forgotten about work.
December 28, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Back from 5 days away, having just about forgotten about work.
Christmas films so far: Wake up dead man: good but it was obvious from the start; Challengers: very silly; The Holdovers: very sweet.
December 26, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Christmas films so far: Wake up dead man: good but it was obvious from the start; Challengers: very silly; The Holdovers: very sweet.
A walk around Rockford and Ibsley Commons. So beautiful.
December 25, 2025 at 5:42 PM
A walk around Rockford and Ibsley Commons. So beautiful.
Reposted by Dr Karen Di Franco
Even with broad public support, no major museum has taken up the genocide in Gaza. No large institution I know of has put on an exhibition about Palestinian artists or Palestinian lives.
www.equator.org/articles/how...
www.equator.org/articles/how...
How Gaza Broke the Art World • EQUATOR
The former editor of Artforum, fired in the wake of 7 October, reckons with two years of division, fear and silence
www.equator.org
December 24, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Even with broad public support, no major museum has taken up the genocide in Gaza. No large institution I know of has put on an exhibition about Palestinian artists or Palestinian lives.
www.equator.org/articles/how...
www.equator.org/articles/how...
The joy of an empty sauna, at the the appropriate heat level, in a municipal leisure centre.
December 23, 2025 at 6:24 PM
The joy of an empty sauna, at the the appropriate heat level, in a municipal leisure centre.
Reposted by Dr Karen Di Franco
A couple of ways to support the four Palestinian hunger strikers. Sign the petition to force the govt. to act: goodlawproject.org/campaign/sto...
Stop ignoring the Palestine hunger strikers | Good Law Project
Force the UK government to meet with the Palestine Action hunger strikers’ legal team, before it's too late
goodlawproject.org
December 20, 2025 at 12:28 PM
A couple of ways to support the four Palestinian hunger strikers. Sign the petition to force the govt. to act: goodlawproject.org/campaign/sto...
Reposted by Dr Karen Di Franco
UK based insurance company NorthStandard is insuring two vessels currently transporting over 2,000 tonnes of military materiel for Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.
Palestinians urgently call supporters globally to mount pressure on NorthStandard.
Read more: loom.ly/Yn7PU2E
Palestinians urgently call supporters globally to mount pressure on NorthStandard.
Read more: loom.ly/Yn7PU2E
BDS sources uncover second ship currently transporting arms to Israel is insured by NorthStandard, in breach of international law.
The UK based insurance company is insuring two vessels carrying over 2,000 tonnes of military material destined for Israel to be used in its ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
loom.ly
December 19, 2025 at 5:38 PM
UK based insurance company NorthStandard is insuring two vessels currently transporting over 2,000 tonnes of military materiel for Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.
Palestinians urgently call supporters globally to mount pressure on NorthStandard.
Read more: loom.ly/Yn7PU2E
Palestinians urgently call supporters globally to mount pressure on NorthStandard.
Read more: loom.ly/Yn7PU2E
Might post an end of year K Drama watch list
December 17, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Might post an end of year K Drama watch list
Last (paid) workday of the year and my afternoon meeting has been cancelled! Truly a blesséd day.
December 17, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Last (paid) workday of the year and my afternoon meeting has been cancelled! Truly a blesséd day.