Dr. Jasper Llewellyn (b. 1993) is an artist, researcher and facilitator, based in London. His practice-as-research is concerned with cross-disciplinary forms of improvised artistic practice and the deployment of these practices as vehicles to explore notions of more-than-human liveliness and affective atmospheres. While his background is in performance art and, to a lesser extent, music, his work is intrinsically interdisciplinary and is incorporative of performance art, sound, video, drawing and sculpture. His recent work, as a solo performance artist; in a duo with Daniel S. Evans; and in a group collaboration as part of caroline, works at the intersection of improvisatory sound and performance art, pushing the performative qualities of sound and the sonic dimension of performance art practice.
Jasper is a founding member, and co-director, of the band caroline. Signed to Rough Trade Records, caroline released their self-titled debut album to critical acclaim in February 2022. The album was included on numerous ‘Best of 2022’ lists (Pitchfork, NME, The Quietus) and the band has been interviewed by and featured in The Guardian and The i newspaper amongst others. caroline have regularly performed in the US and Europe since 2021. Notable performances include a five-hour improvised set at the Southbank Centre (London, UK); sold-out shows in the UK, Europe and the USA; two North American tours; multiple EU/UK tours and the invitation to record a Tiny Desk Concert.
caroline are currently finishing their second album for release in 2025.
Jasper also performs his own solo music under a few names. He also improvises in a group with Casper Hughes, Mike O’Malley and Isaiah Hull ('industry poet’).
In terms of academic work, Jasper has recently successfully completed his PhD research project (supervised by Dr. Gavin Butt). The practice-based research project - titled "…wind-plucking-creaks-brick-bright-ebb-rusty-beach-topples…: Attuning to the More-Than-Human in Improvisatory Action-Oriented Performance Art” addresses the lack of scholarship on improvisation in performance art practice. Furthermore, the project adopts a New Materialist lens to explore improvisation’s role in enlivening more-than-human bodies within ‘action-oriented’ performance art contexts. He has presented his solo and collaborative research at academic conferences in the UK and Europe.
As a performance artist, he has been invited to perform in Germany (by PAErsche on multiple occasions), Norway (by Performance Art Bergen), Italy (Venice International Performance Art Week Fringe) and the UK.
Jasper works with Daniel S. Evans in an interdisciplinary duo that explores improvisation as an all-encompassing approach to performance, sound, action and friendship. Through river wading, free improvisation, urban exploration, performance art actions, mudlarking and conversation, they explore what it means to ‘meander’. They recently released their first record, MEANDERS, through the London-based label Cherche Encore, accompanying the release with a short booklet and performances at Cafe OTO in London and HATCH in Sheffield.
With Alicia Radage, he facilitates the Assembly workshop series in Simiane-la-Rotonde, France, as discussed in Frieze Magazine. The workshops seek to explore new forms of performance art pedagogy through nonhierarchical workshop structures.
Between 2017 and 2019, he created and facilitated the London Open Sessions, a series of laboratory sessions for performance artists interested in working with improvisation in public space.