Bio
Julie Orser (b. Chicago, Illinois, USA) is a visual artist who received her MFA in Studio Art from California Institute of the Arts and a BFA in Photography at Pacific Northwest College of Art. Her artistic practice intersects art and cinema to challenge the visual and aural authority mainstream media possesses. With a feminist lens, Orser’s video art and multi-media installations critique and subvert dominant narratives while prioritizing alternative forms of viewer engagement. Her works have exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Luckman Gallery (Los Angeles), Changing Role Gallery (Rome), Shoshana Wayne Gallery (Santa Monica), Christopher Grimes Gallery (Santa Monica), Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin), Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (Salt Lake City), Il Magazzino d'Arte Moderna (Rome), Yuz Museum Shanghai, Kunstraum Innsbruck (Austria), The Gallery Loop (Seoul), Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (Omaha), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, The Armory Center for the Arts (Pasadena), Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Souvenirs From Earth, and Saison Vidéo. Orser is a recipient of the CCF Visual Artist Fellowship (2010), the CCI Investing in Artists grants (2009, 2014), and the 2023 Lucas Artist Fellowship for Visual Art. Julie is a professor and the area head of the Creative Photography & Experimental Media program at California State University, Fullerton. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
CV
Education
2005 MFA, Studio Art, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
1999 BFA, Photography, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
1997 – 1998 Film, Northwest Film Center, Portland, OR
Solo Exhibitions
2018 Captain Rooftop, JAUS Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2017 Captain Rooftop, Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana, CA
2015 Always Green, Ever-Living, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT
2014 Madeleine, Luckman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2010 Playback, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Anna Moore, Changing Role Gallery, Rome, Italy
2007 Anna Moore, Paul Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Anna Moore, Philip Feldman Gallery, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Western Values: Re-Thinking the Old West, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
2022 POST CINEMA, Curated by JAUS and panke.gallery, Open Mind Art Space, Los Angeles, CA
2021 Ultra!, Torrance Art Museum, part of a Public Art Exhibition in The City of Torrance, CA
2020 Archive Machines, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles, CA
2019 In Production: Art and Studio System, Curated by Rita Gonzalez at LACMA, YUZ Museum, Shanghai, China
2018 Do Nothing Until You Hear From Me (Eileen Cowin) and New Narrators... (Julie Orser), Two Person Exhibition,
Glendale Community College Art Gallery, Glendale, CA
2016 End(less), MRK Contemporary Video Art Festival, Museum Romeinse Katakomben, Valkenburg, Netherlands
2014 Hollywood Forever, SIA Gallery, Sheffield, United Kingdom
2013 L.A. Stories: Videos from the West Coast, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
Super 8, Curated by Christopher Grimes Gallery, Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2012 Echo of Echo, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Super 8, Curated by Christopher Grimes Gallery, Traveling Exhibition: Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany and
Yerba Buena Center for the Art, San Francisco, CA
2011 Doublespeak, UMOCA Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, UT
Super 8, Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2010 Seeing is Becoming, Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, Indianapolis, IN
Culture Shock: Video Interventions at the QET, Public Video Exhibition coinciding with Vancouver’s presentation of the
2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver, B.C.
2009 Unusual Behavior, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, CA
Drama of the Gifted Child: The Five Year Plan, The Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA
feeling, Feelings, Compact/Space, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Here Once Again Where Art and Cinema Interact, The Gallery Loop, Seoul, Korea
Video as Video: Rewind To Form, Swimming Pool Project Space, Chicago, IL
Akklimitizatsia (Acclimatization): New Work from Saint Petersburg & Los Angeles, C.A.G. Gallery, Saint Petersburg,
2007 Multiple Vantage Points: Southern CA Women Artists, 1980–2006, Curated by Dextra Frankel,
Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles
Works by Emerging Video Artists, Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, TN
Notes from the Overpass: New Art from Los Angeles and Saint Petersburg, Galleriet G18, Helsinki, Finland
2006 Tomorrowland: CalArts in Moving Pictures, Curated by Josh Siegel, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Contemporary, Magazzino d'Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy
A Play on Action: 5 Los Angeles Artists Consider Feminism, Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Fair Exchange, Curated by Irene Tsatsos and Glenn Phillips, Millard Sheets Gallery, Pomona, CA
At Home in the World, Armory Northwest/965, Pasadena, CA
Action Adventure, CANADA, New York, NY
VideoMixTape5, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Austria
Signal Channel: Contemporary Video Art, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, NE
11:59, Curated by Parker Jones, Compact/Space, Los Angles, CA
Selected Screenings
2022 Text a Love a Muse, organized Insert Blanc Press, 2220 Arts + Archives, Los Angeles, CA
2020 Night at the Movies, Organized by Maura Brewer & Pau Pescador, Online Screening, UV Cinema, Colección AMALITA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Games, Organized by Maura Brewer & Pau Pescador, Online Screening, 18th Street Art Center, CA
2019 Video in Site: The Horror Film & The Western, LACE, Organized by Maura Brewer & Pau Pescador, Los Angeles, CA
2017 55th Ann Arbor Film Festival, Jury Award, Ann Arbor, MI
44th Athens International Film + Video Festival, Athens, OH
19th Annual Maryland Film Festival, Baltimore, MD
12th Annual Montreal Underground Film Festival, Montreal, Canada
Chicago Feminist Film Festival, Columbia College, Chicago, IL
2016 Screening, Open Sessions 7: Hibernating Plan, The Drawing Center, New York City, NY
Femmes Video Art Festival, Curated by Micol Hebron, The Situation Room, Los Angeles, CA
2015 All I could do is watch, ATLAS IN LA, Organized by Paul Pescador, Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA
Intermission, Terry Chatkupt, Julie Orser, Marco Rios, Simon Preston Gallery, New York, NY
2014 16th Annual Maryland Film Festival, MD
2013 26th Annual Dallas VideoFest, Dallas, TX
2012 Souvenirs From Earth, Curated by Alec Crichton, Video Art Television Broadcast, France and Germany
MoMA Documentary Fortnight 2012: MoMA's International Festival of Nonfiction Film and Media, MoMA, New York, NY
2011 Woman Represented, Curated by Akosua Adomoa Owusu, ARTLAB Film Forum, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC
Sight of Place: Landscape in Experimental Film and Video, Curated by David Burns, UCI Art Gallery, Irvine, CA
Between Document & Fiction, Curated by José Carlos Teixeira, Maus Hábitos and Passos Manuel, Porto, Portugal
2010 Into the Great Wide Open: New Video from Los Angeles, The Woodmill Building, London
34 Degrees North: A Selection of Artist Videos from Los Angeles, Curated by Paul Young, Art LA Contemporary,
Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA
2009 Narration, Animation, Provocation: Video Screening Part 2, Curated by Kristi Lippire, Torrance Art Museum, CA
2008 Cinematic, or Moving Images Expanded: Artists' Film and Video Showcase, Insa Art Space, Seoul, Korea
Imitation of Life, Saison Vidéo Screening #32, Lille, France
2007 Stranger than Fiction-Helsinki, Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, Finland
2006 FilmLichter 06, International Short Film Festival Detmold, Germany
44thAnn Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI
19th Annual Dallas Video Festival, Dallas, TX
Contemporary Film Series: Spark Video Program, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Spark Video, Spark Contemporary Art Space, Syracuse, NY
Stranger than Fiction, The LAB, San Francisco, CA
Public Art & Special Projects
2021 Ultra!, Public Art Exhibition, Curated by Torrance Art Museum director Max Presneill, at Madrona Marsh Preserve and Nature Center, The City of Torrance, CA
2015 Black Dahlia Dinner, Special Project: Art and Culinary Dinner Series, Curated by Los Angeles Eats Itself, at WUHO Gallery, Hollywood, CA
2012 Not Your Kind of People: Mini-Films, Special Commissioned Project: 16 Mini-Films for the band Garbage
Big Bright World: Music Video, Special Commissioned Project: Music Video for the band Garbage
2011 Full Screen, Public Art Exhibition, Curated by CULTUREHALL, at Big Screen Plaza, New York, NY
Awards, Grants, Residencies
2023 Lucas Artist Fellow in Visual Arts, Montalvo Arts Center
2017 Jury Award, Ann Arbor Film Festival
2014 ARC Grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation
CCI Investing in Artist grant, Artistic Equipment & Tools
2012 Tokamak Residency Program 2012, Helsinki, Finland
2010 CCF Fellowship for Visual Artists
2009 CCI Investing in Artist grant, Artistic Innovation
2004 California Institute of the Arts Scholarship, Valencia, CA
2003 The Herb Alpert Foundation Scholarship, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
1999 Stephen Swerling Award, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
Artist Lectures
2022 Artist Gallery Walkthrough, POST CINEMA, Open Mind Art Space, Los Angeles, CA
2020 Artist Lecture, Scripps College, Claremont, CA, March 4
2018 Panel Discussion with Eileen Cowin and Britt Salvesen (LACMA), Glendale Community College Art Gallery, Glendale, CA
2016 Interview, Artist Julie Orser, Yale University Radio WYBCX, May 6
Artist Lecture, New Genres, UCLA Department of Art, Los Angeles, CA, October 12
2015 Artist Lecture, Always Green, Ever-Living, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT, October 8
Interview, The Conversation: Contemporary Art Podcast by Michael Shaw, Episode#106: “The Crit” 5 students
from Michael Asher's Post-Studio seminar, as portrayed in Chapter 2 of Seven Days in the Art World, May 16
2014 Artist Lecture, Madeleine, Luckman Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles, CA, October 16
2013 Artist Lecture, LA Stories: Narrative Videos from the West Coast exhibition, Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, FL, November 7
Artist Lecture, Video and Film, Department of Art, Architecture + Art History, University of San Diego, September 26
2012 Panelist, Multiplicities in Dialogue: From Political Caucus to Engaged Community, Women's Caucus for Art, CAA, Los Angeles, CA, February 24
2010 Artist Lecture, Artists In Their Own Words, California State University, Long Beach, June 13
Interview, Julie Orser, video artist extraordinaire, GYST Radio, Los Angeles, CA, May 2
2009 Artist Gallery Talk, Unusual Behavior, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, CA, November 14
2008 Artist Lecture, MFA Program Visiting Artist Lectures, Otis College of Art and Design, CA, October 23
Artist Lecture, Broad Performance Space, Pitzer College, Claremont, CA, April 24
Artist Lecture, CAP, Community Arts Partnership, California Institute of the Arts, CA July 15
Artist Lecture, Summer Institute, UCLA Department of Art, CA July 17
2007 Artist Gallery Talk, Multiple Vantage Points: Southern CA Women Artists, 1980-2006, Municipal Art Gallery,
Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles, CA, March 31
2006 Artist Panelist, A Play on Action: 5 Los Angeles Artists Consider Feminism, Rosamund Felsen Gallery, hosted by
The Fellows of Contemporary Art, Santa Monica, CA, April 1
Bibliography
2019 Lens 2019 Acquisitions, Unframed.LACMA,org, by Rebecca Morse, December 23
2015 Los Angeles Eats Itself Turned the Entire Black Dahlia Murder into an Edible Art Experience, LAWeekly, by Paul Teetor, April 15
2014 Julie Orser: Madeleine, by Rebecca Sheehan, Exhibition Text: Madeleine, Luckman Gallery Los Angeles
Julie Orser’s Cinematic Fascination, KCET’s Artbound, by Alicia Eler, October
Continuing and Recommended, September 2014 "Analog/Digital", ArtScene Magazine by Roberta Carasso, September
2013 At the Norton: ‘L.A. Stories’ is intriguing, mysterious video exhibit, Palm Beach Post, by Larry Aydlette, November
Norton show explores how video artists deal with narrative, Palm Beach Daily News, Arts Review, by Jan Sjostrom, November
The Anti-Hollywood, Boca Raton Magazine, Review, by John Thomason, November 13
2011 Doublespeak, ARTPULSE Magazine, by Cara Despain, Reviews, December 2011
Doublespeak, 15 bytes: Utah's Art Magazine, by Ehren Clark, November 2011 Edition
2009 Review: Drama of the Gifted Child: The Five Year Plan, X-TRA, by Micol Hebron, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 44 - 47
America’s Absurdist Videos: Unusual Behavior Open at CAF, Santa Barbara Independent, by Elizabeth Schwyzer, November
Off the Off Radar Art, Santa Barbara News Press, Arts Scene, by Josef Woodard, November
2008 Julie Orser, Roma, Changing Role, Exibart.com, by Helga Marsala, March 2008
Julie Orser: Anna Moore, by Hahn Ho, Exhibition Catalogue: Here Once Again: Where the Art and Cinema Interact,
Museum of Art Seoul National University, pgs 71, 82-83
Julie Orser, Changing Role, Roma, ARTKEY Magazine, by Maria Leonardi, April
Julie Orser: Mary Goes Round, Exhibition Catalogue: Imitation of Life, Saison Vidéo Lille France, p.55
2007 Julie Orser, Artforum, Critics’ Picks, by Andrew Berardini, July 2007
Julie Orser: “Anna Moore” at Paul Kopeikin Gallery, Art LTD., by Shana Nys Dambrot, September 2007, p.18
Julie Orser: Occurrence At Lookout Rock, Exhibition Catalogue: Multiple Vantage Points: Southern CA Women Artists,
1980-2006, Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Park Los Angeles, pgs 66-67
2006 Upside-Down and Backwards L.A. Artists go to the Fair, by Glenn Phillips, Exhibition Catalogue: Fair Exchange,
Millard Sheets Gallery Pomona, pgs 51, 53-54
Public Collections
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Academic Positions & Appointments
2012 – Present Professor and Area Coordinator of Creative Photography & Experimental Media Program in the Department of Art, California State University, Fullerton, CA
2012 – 2005 New Genres Lab Supervisor, UCLA Department of Art, Los Angeles, CA
2012 – 2009 Guest Lecturer in Art, Art Department, Scripps College, Claremont, CA
2012 Guest Lecturer in Media Studies, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA
2007 Guest Lecturer, UCLA Department of Art, Summer Session, Los Angeles
Curatorial Projects
2006 – 2017 Co-Director of ART OFFICE for Film & Video, Los Angeles, CA
2008 troooz, ART OFFICE at Parkhaus in Malkastenpark, Düsseldorf, Germany
Reality Testing, ART OFFICE & Slab at Parkhaus in Malkastenpark, Düsseldorf, Germany
Reality Testing, ART OFFICE & Slab at LACE: Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, CA
2008 troooz, ART OFFICE at Show Cave Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Force of Nature, ART OFFICE in the Project Space, Feldman Gallery, Portland, OR
2006 Look, Win, Get It On, ART OFFICE at UCLA Department of Art, EDA, Los Angeles, CA