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I am a visual studies and art history scholar whose research spans material history, cultural geography, history of science, ecological history, and critical theory. My scholarship typically employs archival research, reception histories, and object-based analysis.
In addition to my academic research and scholarship, I have curated online collections from libraries and archives. In 2016, I collaborated with The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California, designing a digital photography exhibition on the American Desert. Funded by UC Irvine's Humanities Commons, the project was a year-long exploration of the larger research theme "The Fabricated American Desert: Modern and Anti-Modern." After six months of research and development, this digital exhibition debuted in 2016 titled A Desert Guidebook. I composed short essays accompanying the virtual gallery's four distinct subthemes, each critically exploring how the desert entered into the American cultural imagination. |
Current Project
My dissertation project, titled The Matter of Eva Hesse: Industrial Collage, Latex, and Plastics within Post-War Material Culture, 1964-1969, traces three interconnected material histories embedded within German-American artist Eva Hesse's sculptural works constructed between 1964-1969. At only 34, she amassed an extensive oeuvre before an untimely death in 1970 from cancer. Most of Hesse's sculptural artworks were constructed during a residency in Kettwig an der Ruhr, West Germany, and in her New York City studio. During this time, the artist conducted pioneering experimentation with industrial and chemical materials, newly made available to the art community by commercial and manufacturing industries.
Three chapters attend to the material, cultural, sociological, and geopolitical context of Hesse's artistic exploration of synthetic substances – respectively industrial collage, latex, and plastics. Specifically, I examine how these materials articulated post- war attitudes towards globalization, production, and environment during the 1960s decade. Hesse's use of industrial and chemical elements illuminated the often conflicting, yet essential history of these substances within human society and culture during the so-called "golden age" of synthetics.
This dissertation project coincides right after the 50th anniversary (May 2020) of Hesse's death, thereby presenting a new historical examination of the artist as a provocative interlocutor for synthetics between the art world, science, and industry.
Three chapters attend to the material, cultural, sociological, and geopolitical context of Hesse's artistic exploration of synthetic substances – respectively industrial collage, latex, and plastics. Specifically, I examine how these materials articulated post- war attitudes towards globalization, production, and environment during the 1960s decade. Hesse's use of industrial and chemical elements illuminated the often conflicting, yet essential history of these substances within human society and culture during the so-called "golden age" of synthetics.
This dissertation project coincides right after the 50th anniversary (May 2020) of Hesse's death, thereby presenting a new historical examination of the artist as a provocative interlocutor for synthetics between the art world, science, and industry.
Professional Training & Certificates
International Summer School on Digital Art History
Certification in creating, modeling, and coding Digital Exhibitions.
A joint initiative of the University of Málaga and the University of Berkeley, with the collaboration of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the Fundación General de la Universidad de Málaga, and the HDH, August 30th - September 4th 2021.
Digital Humanities Summer Institute
Certification in digital modeling techniques and software for cultural heritage projects.
Funding provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and UC Berkeley, in association with UCI’s Critical Theory Archive, to take a week-long class at DHSI on three-dimensional modeling at the University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C., Canada, June 2018.
3D Photogrammetry for Cultural Heritage
Certification in creating digital images using 3D photogrammetric software for cultural heritage projects. Funding provided by the Archeological Research Center at UC Santa Cruz to attend a week-long workshop with industry experts from Silicon Valley learning 3D photogrammetry for object- based research, March 2018.
Curating Controversy: A Seminar for Art Curators
Training in curating controversial topics and artworks. Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, Department of Art and Art Professions, New York University, Co-sponsored by the National Coalition Against Censorship, March 2015.
Certification in creating, modeling, and coding Digital Exhibitions.
A joint initiative of the University of Málaga and the University of Berkeley, with the collaboration of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the Fundación General de la Universidad de Málaga, and the HDH, August 30th - September 4th 2021.
Digital Humanities Summer Institute
Certification in digital modeling techniques and software for cultural heritage projects.
Funding provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and UC Berkeley, in association with UCI’s Critical Theory Archive, to take a week-long class at DHSI on three-dimensional modeling at the University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C., Canada, June 2018.
3D Photogrammetry for Cultural Heritage
Certification in creating digital images using 3D photogrammetric software for cultural heritage projects. Funding provided by the Archeological Research Center at UC Santa Cruz to attend a week-long workshop with industry experts from Silicon Valley learning 3D photogrammetry for object- based research, March 2018.
Curating Controversy: A Seminar for Art Curators
Training in curating controversial topics and artworks. Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, Department of Art and Art Professions, New York University, Co-sponsored by the National Coalition Against Censorship, March 2015.
Publications
Ziegenfuss, Jessica. “Dorothy Arzner.” In Hollywood Heroines: The Most Important Women in Film History, edited by Laura L.S. Bauer, 98-99. ABC-CLIO, 2019.
Ziegenfuss, Jessica. “Disrupting Cause-and-Effect Narratives of Pornography and Violence: A Contextual and Theoretical Case Study of Sexual Violence in Mainstream Media.” Oculus 1, 1 (2010): 77-91.
Ziegenfuss, Jessica. “The Grand Odalisque and Feminist Psychoanalysis: Hegemonic and Subversive Re-Interpretation of an Image.” Ohio State Libraries (2008): 1-28.
Ziegenfuss, Jessica. “Disrupting Cause-and-Effect Narratives of Pornography and Violence: A Contextual and Theoretical Case Study of Sexual Violence in Mainstream Media.” Oculus 1, 1 (2010): 77-91.
Ziegenfuss, Jessica. “The Grand Odalisque and Feminist Psychoanalysis: Hegemonic and Subversive Re-Interpretation of an Image.” Ohio State Libraries (2008): 1-28.
Exhibition Reviews
Ziegenfuss, Jessica. “Fred Tomaselli” CAA Reviews (November 12, 2015). http://www.caareviews.org/reviews/2639 - .Vz3zEmNh2A8
Ziegenfuss, Jessica. “#1 must have: a photo zine for queers at the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art." Museums & Social Issues 9.1 (April 2014): 69-74.
Ziegenfuss, Jessica. “#1 must have: a photo zine for queers at the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art." Museums & Social Issues 9.1 (April 2014): 69-74.
Media Attention
"The Fabricated American Desert," Verso, The Blog of the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, https://www.huntington.org/verso/2018/08/fabricated-american-desert
