Lumen Prize x Voices Onchain
by a16zcrypto
Earlier this year, we partnered with Voices Onchain by a16zcrypto to spotlight artists redefining what it means to create at the intersection of art and technology. Voices Onchain celebrates creators using blockchain to unlock new modes of expression, deepen community connections, and reimagine value in the digital age. Together, we’ve worked to highlight a curated selection of incredible voices from this year’s 2025 Lumen Prize applications, artists whose work exemplifies how digital art is expanding onchain ecosystems.
We’re thrilled to share the Voices Onchain Cohort, featuring:
Bjørn Staal
Oslo, Norway
Bjørn Staal, (aka nonfigurativ,) is a Norwegian artist, programmer, and researcher whose work explores algorithmic systems and human perception. A co-founder of the design studio Void, he is known for large-scale interactive installations blending technology, architecture, and art. His recent solo project Entangled is a cross-chain generative artwork linking Ethereum and Tezos through real-time, synchronized simulations—visually translating quantum entanglement into kinetic and digital form.
Sophia Crespo
Lisbon, Portugal
(b. 1991) Sofia Crespo is an Argentine artist based in Lisbon, Portugal, whose practice explores the convergence of artificial intelligence and biological systems. She investigates how organic life and artificial mechanisms simulate and evolve each other, examining humanity's evolving relationship with technology from historical innovations like microscopes to contemporary neural networks. Her work has been exhibited globally at institutions including the Victoria & Albert Museum and Buffalo AKG.
Ana María Caballero
West Palm Beach, Florida
Ana María Caballero is a multiple award-winning, transdisciplinary artist whose work explores how biology delimits societal and cultural rites, ripping the veil from romanticized motherhood and questioning notions that package sacrifice as a virtue. She's the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including an Academy of American Poets Prize, and is the first living poet to sell a poem in the history of Sotheby's. Her work has been exhibited at leading institutions including the V&A, HEK Basel, and the Ashmolean Museum.
Ivona Tau
Warsaw, Poland
(b. 1990, Lithuania) New media artist who uses generative neural networks (GANs) to transform analog and digital film into universally relatable memories. With a background in both photography and artificial intelligence, her work explores emotion through technology. She has exhibited globally, including at Art Basel Miami Beach, Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Bright Moments, and Bitforms, and her work is
held in the collections of ZKM and Francisco Carolinum Linz. Tau received the Computer Animation award at the 2021 Computer Space International Computer Art Forum and was named a Top 10 Woman in AI by the Women in Tech Foundation. She holds a PhD in AI and is represented by MTArt Agency.
Gretchen Andrew
Park City, Utah
(b. 1988, California) is a Search Engine Artist and Internet Imperialist known for using vision boards, desire, and code to manipulate online power structures. A former Google employee turned digital provocateur, she trained with artist Billy Childish in London and has exhibited at major institutions including The V&A Museum. Her work playfully “hacks” powerful systems, from Frieze and The Whitney Biennial to the U.S. Presidential Election, and has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, Artnet, Dazed, and Hyperallergic. Through her NFT project Crypto Mermaids, Gretchen supports women entering Web3, blending digital activism with glitter, glam, and a sharp sense of strategy.
Amelia Winger- Bearskin
Gainesville, Florida
(Seneca-Cayuga Nation of Oklahoma) Artist and technologist whose work blends AI, immersive storytelling, and Indigenous knowledge systems to envision just, climate-resilient futures. Her projects have been featured at MoMA, the Whitney, NVIDIA GTC, and Sundance, including her VR work for Fancy Dance. She is the creator of Wampum Codes, and was awarded a MacArthur Foundation / Sundance AOP Award. Her work spans on-chain media, experimental film, and ethical frameworks for AI.