“TransMit”: Jessica A. Rodríguez talks about this Performance and Digital Mixed Media Installation
Can you tell us about yourself?
Jessica A. Rodríguez
Mexico-Canada. Media Artist, Designer and Researcher.
Currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Communication, New Media and Cultural Studies at McMaster University in Canada (expected defense: summer 2024). I completed a Master’s in Fine Arts (Universidad de Guanajuato, Mx) and a BA in Visual Arts (Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo, Mx).
Co-founder of Andamio.in, a collaboration platform that collides technologies with practices that mix text, visuals, and sound. I am part of the collaborative project RGGTRN, a collective that engages in algorithmic dance music and audio-visual improvisation informed by the Latinx context. I have collaborated with composers, writers, designers, and other visual artists to explore practices such as visual music, electronic literature, video experimentation, and live coding.
I am the Chair of the Board of Trustees at Factory Media Centre located in Hamilton, Canada, a not-for-profit artist-driven resource centre dedicated to producing and promoting creatively diverse forms of independent films, videos, and other streaming multimedia art forms. I am the Secretary of the Board at the Media Arts Network of Ontario, a not-for-profit organization that provides a unifying voice for its members.
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/jessicaarianne
What is “TransMit” about?
TransMit [Performance + Digital Mixed Media Installation] was an artwork exhibition at Factory Media Centre presenting the results of my doctoral project. For these artworks, I use a tool with the same name, TransMit, a culturally situated tool for live video responding to the specific situations navigating my life as Jessica A. Rodriguez, a live coder, a video artist, and an immigrant student in a Canadian (and English-speaking) academic institution.
Artworks
encarnadas => (f.) embodiments is an audio-visual project in the form of a performance piece and a dance-video piece. This is an 8-minute performance mixing a dancer, live video coding, and ASMR sonic experiences. Dancer: Angela Josephine.
afrontaciones => (f.) copings is an auto-ethnographic and artistic project revolving around the practice of creating “testimonies” and collective story-sharing through complex layers of inhabiting a city crossed by violence.
How did you become interested in the topic of this Artwork Exhibition?
As a media artist, I was already working with similar themes and tools. All my work is somehow connected to me. In the last few years, I started to define my work as auto ethnographic, responding to my life experiences. I was also already interested in creating my own media art tools that would respond more directly to my artistic needs.
Specifically, for afrontaciones => (f.) copings, I wanted to reflect on my experiences growing up in my hometown of Uruapan in Mexico, a city crossed by violence. I wanted to explore how those experiences shaped my identity.
How did you find balancing the work in your program at McMaster, as well as your project?
It was tough. I am about to complete my doctorate program, and it took me two additional years (six in total). As an international student at the beginning, the cultural shock and the cultural translations were challenging. Additionally, I experienced depression due to the death of my grandmother, plus the COVID-19 pandemic and health issues with my father, which stopped me from working for a long time.
Fortunately, mental health is important at McMaster, and I received therapy and medications that helped me manage my depression and anxiety. I also think the support, communication, and friendship with other Ph.D. peers helped me since it is easier when you share your struggles with people on the same journey.
What kind of support did you get in developing your project/research at McMaster?
From 2018 to 2023, I worked as a Research Assistant for my supervisor, Dr. David Ogborn, as part of the development team for a collaborative live coding web platform called Estuary. When I started this doctorate project, I knew some programming languages for artists, but this job helped me gain more specific technological knowledge that I later used to design and implement TransMit.
Since spring-summer 2023, Professor Briana Palmer from the School of the Arts has been teaching me hand printing techniques and providing feedback on my visual work, as well as giving me access to the printing studios, which was crucial to complete the artwork afrontaciones => (f.) copings.
For the encarnadas => (f.) embodiments piece, I used different spaces at McMaster to record materials and rehearse: the Networked Imagination Laboratory, Media Art program’s equipment and spaces, and the Lyons Family Studio (with the help from the team of technicians).
Do you want to share anything else about your work or your studies at McMaster?
I have worked as a sessional instructor since 2021 teaching courses at the Media Art Program (MEDIAART 1A03 – Media Arts, MEDIAART 3I03 – Narrative Strategies) and The School of Arts (ART 1TI3 – Making Art & Understanding Technology & Images).