Jeremy Jacob (b.1985 Albany, Minnesota) lives and works in the Hudson Valley, New York. Jacob’s work examines mourning and desire within the crises of our contemporary socio-technological moment—how we touch, or fail to touch, a world that seems unreachable. At the core of the work is a commitment to hand-crafted paper objects, a medium that serves as a tactile reflection of the fragility and intimacy inherent in our existence. This paper world, both constructed and deconstructed, is pushed and animated by photographic technologies, creating a space where contradictions in our sense of reality come to the forefront. Jacob’s work investigates the spaces between work and play through the question of childhood, the shifting borders of private making and public exhibition, the tension between what is found and what is created. Through the act of transforming books into art, Jacob explores how internal, isolated worlds can be externalized, translated into something tangible, and read by others. Jacob’s work calls into question the possibility of expressing the inexpressible, the difficulty of rendering one’s private, inner life into a form that others can experience.

A long lineage of writers, thinkers, and artists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Disney, and St. Augustine haunt Jacob's work. Their thoughts on nature, solitude, and the human condition guide and inspire the framework within which the work operates. Emerson’s sentiment, “I am not solitary whilst I read and write though nobody is with me,” reverberates throughout the work when publicly exhibited, reminding us of the interconnection between language, nature, and human experience. Thoreau’s longing for unity between internal perception and external reality, call it community—when he asks “Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?”—resonates with Jacob’s desire to use art as a means to connect to other humans and to the world around us, and attempt to prove the existence of the world.

Jacob weaves together the familiar and the strange, using the medium of paper to deconstruct and reconstruct narratives, creating new dialogues from old words and images. The resulting works are both personal and universal, inviting viewers to engage with the fragility of existence and the possibility of reconnection through shared stories.

Jeremy Jacob’s work has been presented by The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Palazzo Grassi, Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), Bard College, The Zuckerman Museum of Art, Cindy Rucker Gallery, DANCECleveland, Projekt 722, Montserrat College Of Art, New York Live Arts, American Ballet Theatre, Dance On Camera Festival, The New York Public Library, among others. 

Co-Host of the Dance and Stuff podcast.

Founding Director of A Doll’s House Pictures

Board Member of the New York Odyssey Film Festival.

FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS, RESIDENCIES, and SCREENINGS

2024. Dance Division Anniversary Fellow. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. New York, New York. // 2024. Jurist for the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. San Francisco, California. // 2024. Nominating Committee Member for the New York Odyssey Film Festival. New York, New York. // 2024. Cannes of Tuna Film Festival. “Dirt(y) Bag”. Zebulon. Los Angeles, California. // 2024. The Carr Center for Human Rights / Harvard Kennedy School. ”Nowhere Apparent”. Screening. Cambridge, Massachusetts. // 2023. Jurist for the New York Odyssey Film Festival. New York, New York. // 2023. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.”Nowhere Apparent”. Screening & Discussion. New York, New York. // 2023. The Watermill Center Residency. Watermill, New York. // 2023. Dance on Camera Festival. “I was waiting for the echo of a better day”. Screening. New York, New York. // 2023. ALL ARTS. “Nowhere Apparent”. Film Release.   // 2022. Bard College. “I was waiting for the echo of a better day”. Screening & Discussion. New York, New York. // 2022. Guggenheim Works & Process and Modern Accord Depot Residency. Accord, New York. // 2021. Palazzo Grassi. La Biennale di Venezia. “I was waiting for the echo of a better day”. Screenings. New York,  New York. // 2021. Palazzo Grassi. La Biennale di Venezia. “David”. Screening. New York, New York. // 2021. Palazzo Grassi. La Biennale di Venezia. “Dancing The Studio” with Pam Tanowitz. Performance. New York, New York. // 2020. American Ballet Theatre. “David”. Film Release. // 2020. Guggenheim Works & Process. “Good Night”. Film Release. // 2020. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Researching the AIDS Oral History Project. // 2020. “Three Deaths”. Sundance Film Festival Official Selection. Production Design by Jeremy Jacob.

FILMS, SERIES, THEATRICAL and OTHER WORKS

//  ONGOING  // “Dance And Stuff”. Weekly Podcast. Co-Created, Edited and Produced by Jeremy Jacob. With Reid Bartelme and Jack Ferver. Premiered June 30th, 2017 // 2021 // “Everything Is True”. Documentary Film. Direction, Editing, Sound Editing, Title Designs, and Co-Produced by Jeremy Jacob. Created with Pam Tanowitz. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. New York, New York. // 2020 // “Good Night”. Short Film. Direction, Director of Photography, Editing, Sound & Music, Special Effects, Production Design and Co-Written by Jeremy Jacob. Presented by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. New York, New York // “David”. Short Film. Concept, Direction, Editing, Sound & Music, Production Design, and Produced by Jeremy Jacob. Presented by American Ballet Theatre. New York, New York // “Nowhere Apparent”. Documentary & Performance Lecture. Direction, Co-Written, Photography, Editing, Sound & Music, and Produced by Jeremy Jacob. Created in collaboration with Jack Ferver. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. New York, New York // “Finally Unfinished”. Virtual Web Design. Designed by Jeremy Jacob. Presented in Collaboration with Pam Tanowitz at The Joyce Theater. New York, New York // “Not The Child”. Music Video. Concept, Direction, Editing, Production Design, Special Effects, Paper Animations, and Produced by Jeremy Jacob. For Chris Garneau. Hudson, New York // “Now On”. Music Video. Concept, Direction, Editing, Production Design, Special Effects, Paper Animations, and Produced by Jeremy Jacob. For Chris Garneau. Hudson, New York // “Talk, Talk”. Short Film. Designs for Screen, Editing, Compositing, Sound & Music, Title Designs, and Produced by Jeremy Jacob. Presented by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. New York, New York // “Paramodernities Live”. Six-Part Livestream Presentation. Production Design, Editing, Sound Design, Livestream Direction and Produced by Jeremy Jacob. Presented by Netta Yerushalmy and Princeton University. Princeton, New Jersey // “Wild Place”. Artist Portrait. Direction, Photography, Editing, Sound & Music, and Produced by Jeremy Jacob. Daniel Rampulla / Chart Gallery. New York, New York // “Will Ryman: Dinner Party III”. Artist Portrait. Direction, Photography, Editing, Sound & Music, and Produced by Jeremy Jacob. Will Ryman / Chart Gallery. New York, New York // “In The Closet”. Web Series. Concept, Direction, Photography, Sound & Music, Editing, Title Designs, and Produced by Jeremy Jacob. New York, New York // 2019 // “State of Desire”. Short Film. Direction, Photography, Editing, Production Design, Sound & Music, Costume Design, Special Effects/Animation, and Written by JeremyJacob. Brooklyn, New York and Annandale-on-Hudson, New York // “Dear Merce”. Short Film. Direction, Production Design, Editing, Sound & Music, Co-Written, and Produced by Jeremy Jacob. With Netta Yerushalmy. Presented by The New York Public Library. “Made At NYPL”. Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Rayner Special Collections Wing and Print Gallery // “Three Deaths”. Short Film. Production Design by Jeremy Jacob. Directed by Jay Dockendorf. New York, New York and Orangeburg, New York. // “Desire”. A Play. Production Design and Costume Design by Jeremy Jacob. Directed by Jack Ferver. Fisher Center at Bard. Annandale-On-Hudson, New York. // “And The Tony Nominees Are…”. 10-Part Interview Series with Tony Award Nominees. Concept, Direction, Production Design, Sound & Music, Editing and Interviews Conducted by Jeremy Jacob. ALLARTS. New York, New York // “The Dance And Stuff Show”. Talk Show / Web Series. Concept, Direction, Production Design, Director of Photography, Sound & Music, Graphics & Title Design, Editing, and Produced by Jeremy Jacob. LMCC. New York, New York // “JenMari”. Comedy Short. Directed, Co-Written, Production Design, Sound & Music, Editing, Title Design, and Produced by Jeremy Jacob. New York, New York // “Remnants”. Artist Portrait. Direction, Photography, Editing, Sound & Music, and Produced by Jeremy Jacob. Text by Ariella Ruth. Boston, Massachusetts. // “Pam Tanowitz Wearing Reid & Harriet Design”. A Book of Photographs. Art Direction by Jeremy Jacob. Photographs by Daniel Rampulla. New York, New York //  2018  // Everything Is Imaginable”. A Play. Production Design and Sound Design by Jeremy Jacob. Directed by Jack Ferver. New York Live Arts. New York, New York //  2016  // “Winter: My Secret”. Group Exhibition: Jenn Dierdorf, Brad Parsons, and Jeremy Jacob. Cindy Rucker Gallery. New York, New York //  2015  // Sun Screening Vol. II. Short Film Screening Series. Presentation of “Courting; or, An American Romance Fantasy”. Videology. Brooklyn, New York. Curated by Claudia Bitran

PRESS

2020. Vanity Fair. “A Few Things That Actually Went Right in 2020” //  2020. Fjord Review. “ABT Rising” // 2020. The New York Times. “At Ballet Theater, New Videos and Signs of a New Era // 2020. The Wall Street Journal. “For Screen, Not Stage” // 2020. KEXP. “Chris Garneau Is Liberated From the Weight of the Past With "Not the Child"” // 2020. The New York Times. “Candid Talk on Cunningham’s Company” // 2020. American Songwriter. “Chris Garneau Unearths Trauma and Triumph on Fifth Album ‘The Kind,’ Reveals First Story ‘Not the Child’" // 2020. Paris Review. “Sex Work, Cigarettes, and Systemic Change” // 2020. The Wall Street Journal. “The Staying Inside Guide: Out of the Rotunda, Onto the Internet” // 2020. The New York Times. “Where Dance Fans Can Escape From Our ‘Sci-Fi Horror’ Moment” // 2018. The New York Times. “Dancing Their Friends and Heroes (and My Little Pony)”.

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