Joshua Frankel

Earthworm Productions

BIOGRAPHIE

Joshua Frankel is a visual artist working in a range of old and new media, including drawing, printmaking, animation and opera. He grew up in Hell's Kitchen, New York City in a building filled with musicians, actors and dancers, and spent most of his youth listening to hip-hop and trying not to let anyone take his lunch money. His animated films have been screened by presenters including the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the New Museum, the Annecy International Festival of Animation, Animation Block Party, EMPAC, the Wassaic Project, the UN World Urban Forum, and in a shipping container in Berlin. He has received awards from institutions including the NEA, the Graham Foundation, the Jerome Foundation and the Architecture Film Festival of Lund. Music is often central to Frankel's work. His animation has been presented synchronized to live musical performances by chamber ensembles and full orchestra by institutions including BAM, the Library of Congress, the San Diego Symphony, and The River to River Festival, where his animation took over 50 video advertising screens in NYC’s Fulton Center transit hub at rush hour. Recently, his film EMERGENT SYSTEM (2020), created in collaboration with composer Missy Mazzoli and choreographer Faye Driscoll, premiered at PEAK Performances at Montclair State University, with music performed live by Grand Band—on six grand pianos—along with an exhibition of Frankel’s drawings. His film, PLAN OF THE CITY (2011), created in collaboration with composer Judd Greenstein and NOW Ensemble, was called "One of the best matches of visuals to music I've seen" by Anne Midgette of The Washington Post and "Gorgeous" by Alex Ross of The New Yorker. He is currently at work on an opera about Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs that will feature multi-channel animation throughout, titled A MARVELOUS ORDER (2021, expected), in collaboration with Greenstein and former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith. Frankel was a member of the groundbreaking digital team for President Obama’s 2008 campaign, and is one of the “Superforecasters” described in the NYTimes bestseller by Dr. Phil Tetlock and Dan Gardner. He has also painted over twelve thousand square feet of public murals in collaboration with his wife, artist Eve Biddle.

FILMOGRAPHIE