Jenna Caravello is a Los Angeles based artist, working across animation, performance, installation, and computer games. Her practice embraces the real, the virtual, and the cartoonish through storytelling, ludic structures, and computational systems. Drawing from hyperconsumerist and hauntological discourses, her animated films, interactive installations, and performances investigate physical and digital impermanence, the identity politics of digital avatars, and social relationships across online forums.
Caravello teaches at UCLA in the department of Design Media Arts and serves as Associate Director of the UCLA Game Lab. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Animation and Film/Video Production from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an M.F.A. from the California Institute of the Arts in Experimental Animation.
AWARDS + RESIDENCIES + HONORS
2027
Artist in Residence | MASS MoCA (upcoming)
2026
MacDowell Fellowship (upcoming)
Artist in Residence | Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY
2025
Honorable Mention | Digital Arts Zurich Festival (DAZ)
2024
Artist in Residence | AIR3331 Tokyo
2022
Artist in Residence | Glasgow Sculpture Studios
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
2026
group show Media Art Competition Exhibition | Split Festival, Split, HRV
group show Expanded Play: Exhibition of Playful Media | Ars Electronica, Linz, AUT
group screening Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation & Technology | Portland, OR
group screening Sputnik Festival | Pisticci, ITA
group screening Edinburgh International Film Festival | Edinburgh, SCO
group show CyberFrames 2026 | Boston CyberArts Gallery, Boston, MA
group show The Animate Experience | Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
group show DiGRA Exhibition | Maynooth University, Maynooth, IRL
group show Turbo Cheap: Code Name Doll House | Rip Space, Los Angeles, CA
2025
group show Embodied Frequencies | Smart Objects, Los Angeles, CA
group show Animation Clubhouse | Van Noord Van Noord, Studio City, CA
group show Between a Frame and a Soft Place | The Millennium Film Workshop, NYC
group show Getty PST ART | Sound and Science: From Signal to Noise | The Nimoy Theater, Los Angeles
group show Re–Fest, The Reef Gallery | Los Angeles, CA
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
group show Supercollider presents: METHOD | Angels Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro CA
solo show Easy Ultra Fine | Killscreen Gallery, Los Angeles
solo show lovelike | Occidental College, Los Angeles
group show Now in Digital Art: Game Room | Akbank Sanat, Istanbul, Turkey
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 show 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 screening 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
SELECTED WEB FEATURES
04.01.26 Drunken Boat
01.12.26 Gather Quest: 100 Art Games 100 Artists
12.20.24 Nodd Magazine
10.15.21 Killscreen
11.20.20 PBS
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