Jessica Mitrani (born 1968, Barranquilla, Colombia) is a

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

n-born,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

–based artist. She works in

performance A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has evolved glo ...

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

, and objects and has exhibited her work at museums and galleries internationally, including

OCDChinatown OCDChinatown is a contemporary art space for sound, image, object, movement and thought located in a working Chinatown mall in Manhattan, New York. It was established in 2018 and is curated by Liutas MvH. OCDChinatown features both emerging and e ...

, New York;

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery Tanya Bonakdar Gallery is an art gallery founded by Tanya Bonakdar, located in both Chelsea in New York City and Los Angeles. Since its inception in 1994, the gallery has exhibited new work by contemporary artists in all media, including paintin ...

, New York;

White Columns White Columns is New York City's oldest alternative non-profit art space. White Columns is known as a showcase for up-and-coming artists, and is primarily devoted to emerging artists who are not affiliated with galleries. All work submitted i ...

, New York;

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...

, New York;

French Institute Alliance Française L'Alliance New York, formerly French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) is a 501(c)(3) not–for–profit organization incorporated in the State of New York. Its mission is to enhance the knowledge and appreciation of French and Francophone cult ...

, New York;

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

, Paris;

Bogotá Museum of Modern Art The Bogotá Museum of Modern Art (''Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá'', known as MAMBO) is a museum of modern art located in Bogotá, Colombia. It is one of the main cultural and artistic establishments in Colombia. History The museum opened to ...

;

Marfa Film Festival {{short description, Annual film festival held in Marfa, Texas, United States The Marfa Film Festival is a film festival occurring annually in Marfa, Texas. About The Marfa Film Festival was created and curated by Filmmaker Robin Lambaria. Filmma ...

, Texas; and Medellin Museum of Modern Art.

Early life and education

Mitrani was born and raised in Colombia. She received a

Law Degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Some law degrees are professional degrees that are prerequisites or serve as preparation for legal careers. These generally include the Bachelor of Civil Law, Bachelor of Laws, an ...

from the

Universidad del Norte, Colombia The University of the North (), also known as Uninorte, is a private university in Barranquilla, Atlántico, Colombia. It was founded in 1966 by a business group led by American entrepreneur Karl C. Parrish. It started academic operation on Jul ...

in 1994. She then went on to receive her

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

in Theatre at The New School University/Actors Studio Drama School, New York, NY in 2002.

Work

Mitrani's work has been exhibited, screened, and broadcast internationally. Some of the videos she has written and directed include ''Rita Goes to the Supermarket'' (Oberhausen Film Festival), ''Headpieces for Peace'' (Grand Prix at the ASVOFF5 Festival at Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museo de Arte Moderno, Medellín), ''La Divanée'' (Nowness, Marfa Film Festival, Oaxaca Film Festival). Her collaboration with the Civilians Theater Group, ''The Undertaking'', was performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s New Wave Festival. The artist received a grant from the Hermès Foundation to make the immersive film and performance work Traveling Lady, starring iconic Spanish actress Rossy de Palma, which appeared at Crossing the Line, New York; New Settings, Paris; Soluna International Music and Arts Festival, Dallas; Oslo World; and Liberatum Festival, Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City. Between 2016 and 2019, she directed, and art directed two research-based television series (created and written in collaboration with Paula Parisot) for ARTE1 in Brazil –América Invertida and América Feminizada– showcasing the work of more than two hundred artists. Mitrani's video ''To reincarnate as a palm tree'' was commissioned for the exhibition ''Universos Desdoblados (Unfolding Universes)'' in 2019 at the Museum of Modern Art in Bogota as part of the 45th Salón Nacional de Artistas in Bogotá, Colombia. In 2020, Mitrani was invited by the

to participate in the project ''De voz a voz(Word of Mouth)'', the first major artistic project of the pandemic in Colombia. Artists made works that were published by the newspaper '' EL TIEMPO''. A museum exhibition that included all the original works was on view in September 2020. Mitranai's collage was chosen, along with that of five other artists, as a poster plastered through the streets of Bogota, Colombia. A year later, Mitrani had a solo show, ''I Dreamt the Landscape was Looking at me'' (in collaboration with Alex Czetwertynski), also at the

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

Museum of Modern Art. For the fall semester of 2022, Mitrani created a multimedia project as a Guest Artist at the Princeton Atelier - Lewis Center for the arts.

Collections

* Smith College * Women Make Movies * Videoteca del Sur * Latin American Archives in New York * Fundacion Patrimonio Filmico Colombiano in Bogota * Beit Hair Museum in Tel Aviv * CUNY film studies

References

Living people 1968 births People from Barranquilla Colombian artists {{Improve categories, date=September 2023