Melissa Ulto has created a unique career, creating award winning video art, immersive, large scale interactive installations, and fine art paintings. She is also a Teaching Artist for JCArts/Arthouse, teaching content production.

She participated in Ars Electronica’s Electronic Arts Festival, as part of the collective XR Ensemble, co-creating installations that utilize addressable LEDs, projection mapping, video art and NFTs. For Fall 2021, she participated in a public art installation for We Are Everywhere, as part of Walk-Bye and JCPride’s window installation at the Jersey City Public Library. She was a part of Jersey City’s 30th anniversary of JCAST, a citywide arts festival, which involved projecting video art on the fountain in Lincoln Park, as a socially distanced art installation. Melissa is part of a Jersey City arts group, West Side MerryMakers, which focuses on bringing inclusive family events to the West Side.

Melissa continues to work in film, as a co-director and editor of All The Ladies Say Part 1 & 2, documentary films about Bgirls. She works with several producing partners on developing new projects, and creating branded content for companies as diverse as Chanel and Escada to Pellegrino and Ben & Jerrys.

Melissa Ulto worked with some of the key players from Blue Man Group, QOTN and STOMP! on workshopping a new project. Melissa was the video designer for the video backdrops and live performance video pieces.

Melissa Ulto’s video art piece, unMade Movie, became part of the permanent video art archive at the Getty Research Institute in 2017, as part of the Joanie4Jackie collection. The piece was part of 2002’s “Who Stole My Chainletter” edition. 

Melissa has a long history with art and activism, and is part of the Guerrilla Girls (as Maya Deren, a performance/activism training group), which included a European tour – live streaming the performances and running workshops for women in Slovenia, Hungary and Greece how to do activist street theater and poster design. She created graphics and on-air art for Occupy Wall Street, was an on-location live streamer, and built a green screen stage, as key member of their streaming team. She continues to lend her support and skills to various movements and non-profits, like the Every28hoursplays.org and Justice Quilt sites. 

Melissa is currently involved in projects using AR/VR content with fine and generative art concepts. She is exploring NFTs and other digital formats for presentation of her work. Melissa taught a workshop on NFTs for ITP Camp 2021, as well as being an attendee and longtime alumnus.  

Specialties: video design/installation, digital signage technologies – dev/code/install/maintain, live streaming installations, digital broadcasting, filmmaking, AR/VR, brand & identity marketing, 3D and digital art techniques, video editing and animation techniques, installation prototyping/layouts, fine art techniques

Experience

Teaching Artist
Fall 2021/Winter & Spring 2022 – Jersey City – JC ARTS/ARTHOUSE

Melissa Ulto teaches students how to produce online video and multimedia content, based around themes of social justice. She works with JCARTS/ARTHOUSE in their educational efforts.

Ars Electronica’s Electronic Arts Festival
Fall 2021 – projection mapping installation & showing NFTs – NYC

Melissa Ulto participated in part of the collective XR Ensemble, co-creating installations that utilize addressable LEDs, projection mapping, video art and NFTs.

We Are Everywhere
Fall 2021 – Jersey City Public Art installation

Melissa Ulto participated in a show focusing on LGBTQ+ artists, where each part of the flag was represented by a color. Melissa was pink, for sexuality, and intersected with her bisexuality and the bi flag colors. 

LIBRE ENFIN
July 2021 – France/Guadeloupe/Virtual 

Melissa Ulto participated in a show curated by NFT ART exhibition by Alain Afflelou Guadeloupe. Her work can be seen here. The show included a Digital: Fair in a 3D hall, Personal exhibitions, NFTs, Smartify, Conversations (Live FB + Face-to-face), presented by Pool Art Fair.

PRIDE IN THE PARK
June 2021 – Jersey City 

Melissa Ulto, as part of the West Side Merry Makers, helped organize the first Pride in the Park event in Lincoln Park. Her involvement included the design of the event’s step and repeat, and running an interactive, touch-less photo booth. This Pride event was historic and groundbreaking, for being the first official Pride event ever in Lincoln Park, including raising the Pride flag.

ITP Camp 2021
June 2021 – New York/Virtual 

Melissa Ulto participated in the 2021 edition of NYU’s ITP Camp, and taught a session on NFTs. Previous years included teaching sessions on live video performance, live video shading/coding, and projection mapping. This year’s physical art pieces included the use of microelectronics to create Lumia sculptures in three dimensional objects. Melissa’s pieces utilized a 10″ deep shadow box, a wooden castle, Raspberry Pis and sound reactive LEDs.

ONE: Walk_Bye and OpenRoad Poetry’s 1st Anniversary, An Art and Poetic Showcase
June 2021 – New York/Virtual 

Melissa Ulto was selected as one of the artists for a virtual gallery exhibit for the first anniversary of the Walk_Bye show. Her digital art piece – Bi Pride: Flower Power Series – was included in the VR gallery here.

Easter Bonnet Parade
April 3, 2021 – Jersey City, NJ

Melissa Ulto participated in a group performance art event, with the Westside Merry Makers. The event involved costume and hat design and construction, and wig styling. The event was very successful and reported here.

Halloween Installation
October 31, 2020 – Jersey City, NJ

Melissa Ulto created a site specific installation for a private building in Jersey City, to create a socially distanced installation for children. The content was Halloween themed and mixed live, to allow for interactive play with the projections. The installation was supported by the neighborhood and building, with a donation of equipment rental by Melissa Ulto.

JCAST 30th Anniversary Festival
October 2020 – Jersey City, NJ

Melissa Ulto created a site specific installation that allowed art festival attendees to experience video art while socially distancing. Her work was projected on 180º of the fountain, with a high lumens, projection mapped presentation. She mixed the content live, to a custom DJ mix she created herself. The installation was well received and written up about in the press. Installation supported by city, JCAST, WALK BYE, with donation of equipment rental by Melissa Ulto.

FIGMENT Festival
June 2020 – New York, NY

As part of the FIGMENT Festival, Melissa mixed video art live, to a DJ, for the Covid-friendly digital edition in 2020. Her presentation, as VJ Miixxy, was viewed on all the FIGMENT social channels live and as part of their archive. 

Louche Exotic: A Singapore Bateaux-Mouche Extravaganza
November 2019 – present – Jersey City, NJ/Nyack, NY

On a renovated canal barge, turn-of-the-century Singapore style meets urban chic. A perfect, intimate setting for an invite-only performance, on a limited one-month run, with maximum capacity per performance of 20 people. The entire interior will be covered in video surfaces, allowing for the morphing of time and space, while sitting still. The exclusivity of the immersive theater event will drive its viral exposure, as key arts world influencers & local arts bloggers will be invited for previews. The invite-only event will create a desire to be one of the few guests included in an unforgettable evening. Currently being workshopped.

The Panther Room
2016 – 2017

Video artist and designer for immersive theater production by Blue Man Group/STOMP/QOTN producing staff. Worked on development of various technologies to sustain a month long run event. Created five immersive video backdrops, as well as projection mapped on dancers and performers live. Installation gained industry and art world interest. Digital signage vendor created a white paper about the cutting edge nature of the installation