CV

Jessica Renfro

digital participatory artist

jessica@citizen.email | jessicarenfro.com

PROFILE

I make digital participatory environments using media like music, narration, poetry, game design platforms, and animation. My pieces are playful, immersive social simulations that use the concept of ‘the collective’ to build new worlds. I investigate how participatory platforms can facilitate transdisciplinary discussions about collective issues like climate change.

EDUCATION

M.A., Performance Practices, cum laude

ArtEZ University of the Arts, Netherlands 2021

Thesis: “We called it _____: Filling the gaps in participatory art design”

Supervisor: Dr. Nishant Shah

G.P.D., Opera Performance, The Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University, USA 2005

M.M., Voice Performance, The Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University, USA 2003

B.M. Voice Performance at the University of Connecticut, USA 2001

WRITTEN WORKS

Peer-reviewed Academic Writing and Presentations

Attending to procedural authorship in participatory art practice, 13th SAR (Society for Artistic Research) International Conference, Weimar, Germany, (proceedings forthcoming) July 2022
Co-authoring with the collective: an iterative design framework for participatory art, Politics of the Machines Conference (POM), Berlin, Germany, Sep 2021
Co-authoring the future: Participatory performance and the climate crisis, APRIA Journal, 10 Sep 2020

Other Academic Writing

Looking at ourselves where we do not exist: Reflective co-speculation in the digital museum, part of The Great Museum, (published for print in Korean and English and on Medium.com https://tinyurl.com/yf39637b), Mar 2022
Children of us all: using co-speculation in the museum context, (available on Medium.com https://tinyurl.com/yckmmkys), Nov 2021
Co: A lexicon of creating together (Available at jessicarenfro.com/research), Nov 2020
From dogma to anarchy: Models of participation in utopian approximations (Available at jessicarenfro.com/research), Nov 2019

Artistic/Stage Writing

Dream City, May 2020-2022
Stay Strong, Wuhan, Mar 2020
Take It, Bend It, or Leave It (narrative documentation) Nov 2020
Social Isolation Beach Vacation, Apr 2020
Evil Ever After, Apr 2019
The Sea to Shining Sea Radio Hour, Sep 2017
Lost in the Woods, Nov 2016

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

New Media Artist Sep 2017-present

Fontys University of the Arts Connective Symposium, presentation of We Called It Earth and workshop/discussion, Tilburg, Netherlands, Nov 2022
Mur.at (Un)sustainable!? Residency, incorporating NLP into a participatory web platform, Dream City and leading workshop session, Graz, Austria, Jul-Sep 2022
Member of MaNN AUS OBST, new media and improvised music ensemble, production: Etudes for a new normal: COMPOST CITY, Berlin, Germany, Feb -April 2022 (funded by a Musikfonds – Neustart Kultur grant)
Semi-finalist for EU S+T+ARTS grant, Little Blue Dot, Milan, Italy (MAXXI and Sony CSL), Nov-Jan 2021
IMPACT21 Urgent Translations—On codes, images and realities (invited contributor), PACT Zollverein, Essen, Germany, Nov 2021
Dutch Design Week, digital participatory web platform Dream City, Eindhoven, Netherlands, Oct 2021
404 Festival, participatory video game, We Called It Earth, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Oct 2021
ArtEZ Final Performances, We Called It Earth, Arnhem, Netherlands, May 2021
ArtEZ University Accreditation, HOPPia, Arnhem, Netherlands, Feb 2021
DARK Festival, participatory live/digital score of Matteo Pasquini’s Passing, Arnhem, Netherlands, Oct 2020
Arnhemse Uitnacht, participatory drawing, projection, and audio dubbing, Becky, Arnhem, Netherlands, Jan 2020
Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Pennsylvania, Lost in the Woods, a multi-media rendering of the Hansel and Gretel story, Sep 2017

Curator/Coordinator/Director Oct 2020-present

Co-curator of 404 Festival, Perdu Theatre, Amsterdam (4bid gallery), Oct 2021
Coordinator of KUO Next Online Conference for Arts Professionals, Oct 2020
Co-curator of Take It, Bend It or Leave It Festival, ArtEZ University, Oct 2020
Artistic Director, Cultural Platform Evening, Evil Ever After, Erasmus University, Apr 2019
Artistic Director, A Moment for Music, Princeton, New Jersey, producing Viaggio: A Transatlantic Love Affair, 2016-7, American Heart, 2016, Lost in the Woods, 2016-7, and The Sea to Shining Sea Radio Hour, 2017

Opera/Classical Singing

Performed roles in opera houses throughout the US and in Italy, including Maggio Musicale di Firenze (2015), Opera Tampa (2014), Opera Company Middlebury (2014), St. Petersburg Opera (2012), Dicapo Opera (2010-2011), Bel Cantanti Opera (2006-2009)
Performed in solo and chamber and orchestral pieces, Folger Consort (Washington DC, 2019), Bach in Baltimore (2013-2019), Hopkins Symphony (Baltimore, 2018), Richmond Symphony (2015-2018), Mid-Atlantic Symphony (2018), Buffalo Philharmonic (2014)
Taught private voice lessons, Hillsborough Voice Lessons, New Jersey (2011-2015, “Best of Hillsborough” Award 2014, 2015), The Conservatory, Doylestown, Pennsylvania (2012-2015, “Teacher of Excellence” Award, 2015), International School of Music, Bethesda, Maryland (2007-2009)

Acting/Voice Acting

Narrated over 20 titles for Audible.com and iTunes
Performed role of Berta Von Suttner, Hotel de Jong (Dana Rosky), Bonn, Germany, Frauen Netzwerk Für Frieden (2018), 11th Annual Conference of Asian Scholars, Leiden University, Netherlands (2019)

RESIDENCIES

Mur.at artist-in-residence, (Un)sustainable!?, Graz, Austria (July-September 2022)
Co.iki and KOFICE (Korean Organization for International Cultural Exchange), curator-in-residence, Memory and memoricide of the land: Reimagining alternative models of ‘the museum’, Tokyo (virtual) (Oct-Dec 2021)

4bid gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands (April 2021)
Avaloch Farm Music Institute, Artist-in-residence, New Hampshire (Jun 2018)
Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Artist-in-residence (Oct 2017)
Dicapo Opera, Young artist-in-residence, New York City (Sep 2010-May 2012)

LANGUAGE SKILLS

English (native), German (B2), Italian (B2), Dutch (B1)