Jenna Caravello is a Los Angeles based artist working across animation, video games, VR, and installation. Her short films, audiovisual performances, and interactive installations explore virtual hauntological perspectives, love, online relationships, and the role of memory in personal and collective narratives. Caravello uses the tools and conventions of animation and video game industries to critically engage with science-fantasy, world-building, and techno-mysticism. Her work seeks out humanity, absurdity, and vulnerability where computer culture and analog mundanity intersect. Caravello is an Assistant Professor at UCLA in the department of Design Media Arts and Associate Director of the UCLA Game Lab.
AWARDS + RESIDENCIES + HONORS
2024
Artist in Residence | AIR3331 Tokyo
2022
Artist in Residence | Glasgow Sculpture Studios
2022–23 Society of Hellman Fellows Award | The Society of Hellman Fellows
Artist in Residence | DISI St. Andrews Residency
Faculty Development Award | University of California, Los Angeles
2021
Outstanding Achievement in Motion Graphics or Animation, Feels Good Man | Cinema Eye Honors
2020
Instructional Improvement Grant | University of California, Los Angeles
2019
Helen Hill Award | Chicago Underground Film Festival
2018
Stephen Hillenburg Animation Award | Princess Grace Foundation USA
Jules Engel Award | CalArts
Best Departures Short | Indie Memphis Film Festival
SELECTED SHOWS + SCREENINGS
2025
group show Between a Frame and a Soft Place, The Millennium Film Workshop, NYC
group show Sound and Science: From Signal to Noise, The Nimoy Theater, Los Angeles
group show Re–Fest, The Reef Gallery, Los Angeles
group show Queering Digital, Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood
2024
solo show Spirit Clock, Yūbi dō Gallery, Tokyo
solo show Amber Row, National University of Seoul Design Gallery, Seoul
solo show Easy Ultra Fine, Killscreen Gallery, Los Angeles
solo show lovelike, Occidental College, Los Angeles
2023
solo show lovelike, 2220 Arts + Archives, Los Angeles
group show Salon de Physique, Larry Spring Museum of Common Sense Physics, Fort Bragg
2022
group screening Multiple Repeating Programs, Design in Motion Festival (DEMO), Netherlands
group screening Mirror Image, Comfort Station, Chicago
2019
group screening Animated Shorts Block, Slamdance Film Festival, Park Slope
solo show Amber Row Demo, C113 Gallery, Valencia
group screening Slamdance Cinema Club, ArcLight Cinema, Hollywood
group screening Shorts Programme: Animation, Raindance Film Festival, London
group screening Animation Program, Buenos Aires Film Festival
group screening Stockholm Independent Film Festival
group screening Night Seven, Drunken Film Fest, Oakland
group screening Mecal Pro Barcelona International Short and Animation Film Festival
group screening Chicago Underground Film Festival, Logan Theater, Chicago
group screening Silk Road International Film Festival, Dublin
group screening Animation Block, PUFF, Hong Kong
2018
solo showcase Butter Elbow, The National Taiwan Arts Education Center, Taiwan
group show Motion Capture Spotlight, CALARTS Digital Art Expo, Valencia
group screening CALARTS Film/Video Showcase, REDCAT, Los Angeles
group screening GIRAF International Festival of Independent Animation, Alberta
group screening Indie Memphis Film Festival, Memphis
group screening Square Lake Film & Music Festival, Minnesota
group screening Queen Palm International Film Festival, Los Angeles
group screening International Shorts, Calcutta International Cult Film Festival, Calcutta
group screening San Diego Underground Film Festival
2016
group show Current Underwater Weather, Roxaboxen Gallery, Chicago
2015
group screening BilBolBul International Comics Festival
group screening Animation Screening & Panel, Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE)
group screening Chicago International Music and Movies Festival
group screening Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation, Rijeka
2012
group screening Chicago Underground Film Festival, Gene Siskel Film Center
group screening Melbourne International Animation Festival (MIAF)
group screening International Program #3, Australian International Animation Festival (AIAF)
group show Body Places, BigFForever, Chicago
2011
group show PROXIMITY Is There Too Much, Nightingale Theater, Chicago
group show On the Other Hand, The Southside Hub of Production, Chicago
SELECTED WEB PREMIERS
12.05.19 Directors Notes
01.27.19 We Are Moving Stories
05.18.18 NPR
04.03.18 Gorilla vs Bear
05.25.16 Stereogum
11.25.15 Vice
05.06.15 AdHoc
12.01.14 Magnet Magazine
11.18.13 The Fader
08.21.13 Impose TV (Impose Magazine)
04.29.13 AdHoc
EDUCATION
CalArts | Experimental Animation | MFA
School of the Art Institute of Chicago | Film Video New Media + Animation | BFA