George Ferrandi
George Ferrandi is an American artist whose performance, installation and participatory projects address issues of vulnerability, impermanence, fallibility and spectacle, often through experimental approaches to narrative. Employing a unique humor and a deep sense of humanity, her work ranges in form and scale from a simple gesture—like resting her head on the shoulder of a stranger on the subway, to a giant spectacle—like parading with hundreds of people through the streets of South Philly. It’s often a collaborative experiment in storytelling, with participants becoming performers in the narrative or even creating it.
George is the Creative Director of Jump!Star, a multi-media initiative that uses the eventual transition of our North Star as a catalyst for building a better future–and for planning ceremonial traditions for the people who will live there. Jump!Star projects have been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Our Town Grant and featured in Documenta 15 in Kassel, Germany. George’s work has also been performed/exhibited at venues such as the World Museum in Vienna, the International House of Japan (Tokyo), Brunnenpassage (Vienna), Abrons Arts Center (NY), The Kitchen (NY), Cinders Gallery (NY), McKinney Contemporary (Dallas), Wexner Center (Columbus), Harn Museum (Gainesville), Fleisher Art Memorial (Philadelphia), and at Sluice (London). She is an NEA fellow of the Japan-US Friendship Foundation and has been awarded grants from the Franklin Furnace Fundwinners for Performance Art, MAP fund, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Council, and Kindle Projects. Ferrandi teaches Sculpture and Performance Art periodically at Pratt Institute, Virginia Commonwealth University and the Rhode Island School of Design.
Since the pandemic, George has produced George’s Lovely Variety, a monthly subscription art dispatch.