Benjamin Ross Nicholson
Boulder CO
benjaminnicholson3 at gmail dot com
SUMMARY
I am a performer, writer, researcher, and musician based in Boulder, CO.
EDUCATION
2018-2023 PhD Media Arts + Practice, University of Southern California, Los Angeles CA
Graduate Certificate in Performance Studies, USC Roski School of Art and Design
Dissertation: “Dying to Be: Prefigurative Performances of Necrontology Against Neoliberal Subjectivity”
2015-2017 MFA Visual Arts, University of Chicago, Chicago IL
2007-2011 BA Electronic Music and Multimedia and BA Literary Arts, Brown University, Providence RI
TEACHING
2024 World Building & Storytelling (LIBB 2510 – 288R), CU Boulder
2024 2D Design: Elements + Principles (FD1020), RMCAD
2024 Time-based Media (FD2220), RMCAD
2023 Experimental Studies (ART3500), RMCAD
2023 Time-based Media (FD2220), RMCAD
2023 Studio Seminar: Methods of Inquiry (FD1600), RMCAD
2018 Visual Language: On Images - Art in the Age of Infinite Replicability (ARTV 10100), UChicago
TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS
Spring 2022
World Building, Narrative Design and Design Visualization (IML 575), Alex McDowell, University of Southern California
Fall 2021
World Building, Narrative Design and Design Visualization (IML 475), Alex McDowell, University of Southern California
Reality Starts Here (CNTV 101), Marcus Anderson, University of Southern California
Spring 2021
World Building, Narrative Design and Design Visualization (IML 475), Alex McDowell, University of Southern California
Forensic and Environmental Media (IML 575), Scott Fisher, University of Southern California
Fall 2020
Design Fiction and Speculative Futures (IML 385), Scott Fisher, University of Southern California
The Languages of Digital Media (IML 201), Virginia Kuhn, University of Southern California
Spring 2020
Visions of Diversity in the Cinematic Arts (CTCS 150), Evan Hughes, University of Southern California
Fall 2019
Sonic Media Art (IML 328), Albert Ortega, University of Southern California
Reality Starts Here (CNTV 101), University of Southern California
Spring 2017
Data and Algorithm in Art (ARTV 32502), Jason Salavon, University of Chicago
Transmedia Puzzle Design & Performance (TAPS 34410), Sandy Weisz, University of Chicago
Winter 2017
Graduate Seminar: Hansel and Gretel (ARTV 39200), William Pope L., University of Chicago
Advanced Study in Theater: Games & Performance (TAPS 38810), Heidi Coleman and Patrick Jagoda, University of Chicago
Fall 2016
Visual Language: On Images (ARTV 10100), Laura Letinsky, University of Chicago
Alternate Reality Games: Theory and Production (BPRO 28700), Heidi Coleman and Patrick Jagoda, University of Chicago
Spring 2016
Visual Language: On Images (ARTV 10100), Nicole Mauser, University of Chicago
Winter 2016
Data Visualization: Aesthetics, Intent, and Practice (ARTV 20333), Jason Salavon and Gordon Kindlmann, University of Chicago
Fall 2015
Visual Language: On Images (ARTV 10100), Bob Peters, University of Chicago
Spring 2011
On Songs and Songwriting (MUSC450), Katherine Bergeron and Butch Rovan, Brown University
Fall 2010
Sound Design (MUSC1250), Jim Moses, Brown University
SELECTED PERFORMANCES AND EXHIBITIONS
2023 Immersive Denver Presents: Immersive Futures Jam | Denver, CO
2023 Consultation with the Corpse | Denver Fringe Festival - Denver, CO
2022 My Friend Kyle (Has a Brain Tumor) | Denver Fringe Festival - Denver, CO
2021 Deathless and Taxless: A Corporate Exorcism | Hollywood Fringe Festival - Los Angeles, CA
2021 Dirty Words: A Collaborative Editing of Obscenity | CARPA7 - Helsinki, Finland
2020 Benjamin Nicholson’s Personal Meeting Room: An Intimate Visit Under Surveillance | Benjamin Nicholson’s Personal Meeting Room, Zoom
2019 disInc. presents: Human Resource | Special Topics - Los Angeles, CA
2019 disInc. presents: Out of Focus Group | Vibe Check - Los Angeles, CA
2019 disInc. presents: Corporation v. Corpse | PAMLA 2019 - San Diego, CA
2019 The Last PowerPoint | Hollywood Fringe Festival - Los Angeles, CA
2019 disInc. presents: until death do me part | iMAPpening @ USC School of Cinematic Arts - Los Angeles, CA
2017 MBI Presents: Term Life Assurance™ | Logan Center for the Arts – Chicago, IL
2017 And and and (UChicago MFA Thesis Show) | Logan Center for the Arts – Chicago, IL
2016-2017 The Institute for Recurrent Progress (w/ Kyle Hossli) | Open House Contemporary – Chicago, IL
2016 The Path Is Not Linear (Group Show) | Gallery Blanc - Chicago, IL
2016 blackPixel on whiteEmptiness | Emerging Illinois Artists Triennial @ McLean County Arts Center - Bloomington, IL
2016 Partial Foods (fruit punch) | FOTA: Sight x Sound - Chicago, IL
2016 Mip | Kitchen Sink Presents: A Pop Up Museum @ Cornell Florist - Chicago, IL
2015 to begin | Immerse Yourself Opening: Brown University CAVE - Providence, RI
2011 love_me | Honors Thesis Performance - Providence, RI
2011 System | Opening of Granoff Center for the Creative Arts - Providence, RI
2010 invoke(Object object); | Brown University CIT - Providence, RI
2009 224 | Zenman Improvisations V2, performed by Ulrich Maiss - Providence, RI
2009 to begin | Pixilerations Art Festival - Providence, RI
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
2023 “From WaterFire to Earth and Air: Reckoning New Lines of Flight in Downtown Providence” w/ Fidelia Lam and Triton Mobley | Imagining America National Gathering - Providence, RI
2022 “Visioning Alternate Climate Futures” w/ Fawn Douglas, Mary Heglar, and Jared Krause | SXSW - Austin, TX
2020 “The Corporate Vampire: Hostile Takeover in Bram Stoker’s Dracula” | Popular Culture Association National Conference 2020 - Philadelphia, PA
2020 “Use It Less, Use It Differently, Use It Better: PowerPoint as Poetic CounterPoint” | NeMLA Convention - Boston, MA
2020 “Peals of Static: The [Un]Conscious Cyber Corpses of William Gibson’s Sprawl Trilogy” | NeMLA Convention - Boston, MA
2020 “This Corpse as Vulgar Media: Swiss Army Man and Zombie Subjectivity” | Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference - Albuquerque, NM
2019 “The Living Corpse as Archive and Repertoire” | Neil Postman Graduate Conference in Media, Culture and Communication @ NYU - New York, NY
2019 “This Corpse is Your Corpse, This Corpse is My Corpse: Laughing with Our Tentacular Terminus” | PAMLA 2019 - San Diego, CA
2019 “Corpse Subjectivity: A Proposal for an Alternative to the Corporate Subject” | SASE 2019 @ The New School - New York, NY
2019 “EMOVAC: Designing a Mixed Reality Experience for 5G” | IEEE GEM 2019 @ Yale - New Haven, CT
CONFERENCE PANELS
2024 “Selling Out?: The Neoliberalism of the Art World and Academia” w/ Amelia Jones | Association for Art History Conference – Bristol, UK
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Audio - Max/MSP, ProTools, Reaper, Ableton, live sound, studio recording, theatrical sound
Video/Image - Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Jitter
Coding - Java, Processing, Javascript, D3
RELATED EMPLOYMENT
2023- Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design, Adjunct Professor of Foundations
2019- disIncorporated, Sole Proprietor and CEO
2018 EMOVAC, Project Manager
2018-2019 methinks, Project Manager
2016-2017 parasite, Project Manager
2016-2017 Chartmetric, Partnerships
2015-2018 GoGlobal Consulting, Lead Consultant
2011-15 TuneIn, Inc., Business Development Manager, Emerging Content Manager
2010-11 Brown University Multimedia Labs, Emerging Technologist and Consultant
2009-11 Brown University Music Department, Departmental Computer Coordinator
2007-10 Brown Student and Community Radio, Technical Director