Kristopher Funk is a mixed-media installation artist born and raised in the Bay Area. He creates puzzle-based experiences that tackle questions of identity and access, specifically dealing with their experiences navigating the world as a transgender crip. Funk synthesizes sculptural, interactive, and spatial practices to critique topics of gender, identity, disability, and access.
Education
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ: Digital Arts and New Media MFA, 2024
WHITTIER COLLEGE: Comparative Media Studies BA and Game Design Minor, 2021
✾ Arduino ✾ Raspberrypi ✾ 3D Printing ✾ Blender ✾ Digital Illustration ✾ Puzzle Design ✾ Large-scale Fabrication ✾ Micro-electronics ✾ Bambu Studios ✾ Narrative Design ✾ Environmental Storytelling ✾ Laser Cutting ✾ Prototyping ✾ Experience Design ✾ Storytelling ✾ Creative Writing ✾ Prose ✾
Projects
✾ Facades of Ingress Live Interactive Sculptural Game
✾ Alice in Genderbend Escape Room
✾ Decrypting Freak Performance Art
✾Will You Follow Me? (Escape Room) Escape Room Adaptation
✾ Will You Follow Me? Live Action Narrative Game
✾ Cryptic Conceptions Table Top Role Playing Game
✾ Transfixed Podcast about transgender game designers
✾ Promare is Gay Video essay
✾ Lost in the Woods Queer RomCom disguised as a Bigfoot Mockumentary
✾ Invasion Cooperative Board Game
✾ The Crypt Comedy Cryptid Radio Show/Podcast
✾ Alt Bops Alternative Music Radio Show
Exhibitions
✾ Indiecade Game Nights, Facades of Ingress, November 2024
✾ Embodiment: UCSC Digital Arts and New Media Exhibition, Facades of Ingress May 2024
✾ UCSC Digital Arts and New Media Open Studios, Facades of Ingress (In Progress) December 2023
✾ UCSC Digital Arts and New Media Open Studios, Decrypting Freak June 2023
✾ Impermanence by Liminal Space Collective, Alice in Genderbend March 2023
✾ Northern Lights by Liminal Space Collective, Alice in Genderbend January 2023
✾ UCSC Digital Arts and New Media Open Studios, Will You Follow Me? (Escape Room Edition) March 2023
Publications
✾ MFA Thesis: Facades of Ingress, Published through Proquest June 2024
✾ The Greenleaf Review Issue 34: Voices in Color, Bonfire Breeze Spring 2021
Talks
✾ Dystopic Presents and Speculative Futures for Queer and Disabled Bodies in Games (In collaboration with Elliot White)
✾ Monstrous Game Environments: Dystopic Presents and Speculative Futures in the Medical Industrial Complex (In collaboration with Elliot White)
Events and Conferences
✾Queerness and Games Conference 2025
✾ Indiecade 2024
✾Festival of Monsters 2024
✾Festival of Monsters 2023
Press and Interviews
Experience
✾ GAME MASTER at Clockwise Escape Room Pleasanton, Summer 2024 -Winter 2025
✾ TEACHING ASSISTANT for Performance, Play, and Design at UCSC, Fall 2022 - Spring 2024
✾ ASSISTANT COURSE DEVELOPER for ARGT 50g Play as a Radical Endeavor at UCSC, Fall 2022 - Spring 2024
✾ COURSE DESIGNER for DANM 50-10 Gayming: Intro to Queer Theory at UCSC, Winter 2022
✾ DESIGN TEAM LEAD and GAME MASTER at Red Door Escape Room Concord, Summer 2021-Spring 2022
✾ GENERAL MANAGER at KPOET Radio, Spring 2019 - Spring 2021
✾EVENT COORDINATOR at KPOET Radio, Fall 2018- Spring 2019
References
✾ PATRICK MICHAEL BALLARD: Assistant professor of Performance Play and Design; pballard@ucsc.edu
✾ MICHAEL CHEMERS: Chair and professor of Performance Play and Design; chemers@ucsc.edu
✾ GEOFFERY LONG: Director of Miami Worldbuilding and Narrative Design Research Lab; glong@geofferylong.com
✾ ELIZABETH SWENSEN: Assistant professor of Performance Play and Design; eswensen@ucsc.edu
✾ CYNTHIA LING LEE: Assistant professor of Performance Play and Design; clee185@ucsc.edu