Jess Ramsay is a Brooklyn-based sound artist, DJ and multimedia producer. Her work incorporates original sculptural sound objects ranging from repurposed electronics, to circuit-bent toys from her childhood, to woven microphones in fabric. ​​In her work, there is an intentional blurring of human and machine elements. She creates improvised, ephemeral live works, often occurring only once and intended to be experienced in real-time. She’s interested in exploring how the internet has fundamentally changed the landscape of information and notions of public space/sound amidst an increased weaponization of the queer body.

Her work examines the belief of sound as an ever-present sensation in our bodies and worlds – however fleeting and temporary it may be. Using a DIY approach through crafts, found audio/objects, environmental field recordings, experimentation, and thrifted materials, she aims to blur the lines of amateur/professional and creator/listener to dismantle notions of elitism, hierarchy, and gendered norms. There is a quiet subversion in her work that exists at the intersection of rave/noise/queer club culture and the practice of tinkering and choosing your own adventure.

Jess is part of the performance duo Relational Aesthetics with Untitled Queen, and part of the art/comedy duo Bunkr Collective, with Sara Aboulafia. She is the recipient of the Brooklyn Nightlife Award for DJ of the Year (2014) and has shown/performed at The Kitchen (NYC), Kishka Gallery (WRJ, VT), Spotify (NYC), and Bushwig (Berlin). In 2021 she presented a  video/sonic/drag short film, MEEBULA, with Untitled Queen as part of Ars Nova ANT Fest.

Untitled Queen (they/them/theirs) is a Filipinx and Boriquén artist, drag queen, and writer based on the stolen land of the LenapeHoking, (so-called Brooklyn, NY). Through the interplay of drag, sculpture, drawing, and installation, she tells deeply emotional stories on a continuum in a constant flux of construction and deconstruction. In 2020, She presented Untitled (World), the first global LGBTQIA+ digital drag show, with 47 drag artists each representing 1 country, and benefitting 3 HIV/AIDS organizations in honor of World AIDS Day. She has been a fellow at the EFA Project Space Gallery Shift Residency and Urban Glass Residency in NY.

Our digital platform, Ars Nova Supra, is the home to most of our 2022/23 season offerings! Tune in weekly for premieres created specifically for streaming available live and on-demand with a $15/month, cancel-anytime subscription. LEARN MORE.

The Artist’s Suggested Ticket Price: $15-$20

What’s this?

For our 20th anniversary season, we’re throwing our doors wide open! For every show this year, YOU name your price. We’re serving up a multitude of innovative outside-the-box theater, and making it easier than ever for you to be a part of the action. So come hang with us – because what’s Ars is yours!

What’s Ars is Yours: Name Your Price is rooted in our mission to make the smart, surprising new work of New York City’s most promising emerging artists accessible to the next generation of theater-goers, and is an expansion of our long standing Ticket Subsidy Initiative.

Better yet, for this spring’s shows, all single ticket revenue is passed on directly to the show’s lead artists! You can learn more about What’s Ars Is Yours by visiting our How We Do It page.