- Ron Martin
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- On the Way to the Alps I See Sand
- On the Way to the Alps I See Sand
- Gallery
- This is the Breath...
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- Guards of NY MOMA
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- Venice Biennale
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- Project Proposals
- Without
- Mount-making
- CV
- Plantattion (Collaboration)
- Portikus
- Blowing Paint History
- Ron MartinProjects
- The Main River FloodingExcerpt from On the Way to the Alps I See Sand
- OBSERVING THE INDOOR LAGOONPortikus, Frankfurt
- On the Way to the Alps I see Sand (Concept)The site specific installation, On the Way to the Alps I See Sand, deals directly with the geographical location of the Portikus Gallery. Taking the high levels of toxicity that were killing off fish in the Main River surrounding the Portikus-island as a point of departure, the project grew into a wide-ranging site-specific art investigation of how Frankfurt’s identity, over a period of two centuries, grew in relation to happenings around this historic river. Work began with collecting research materials from digital and print media: on threats to the current state of biodiversity in the Main, on the meaning of rivers as a vital resource and symbol of prosperity at times or flood based disaster, at others. Also explored was our relationship to empathy when harvesting or fishing in a river. This notion, we discovered, really defined the spiritual and cultural identity of Thailand’s Mekong River bank. So much so, that along the Mekong, there are Buddhist fish temples dedicated to expressing gratitude towards the river by feeding cat fish living in the body of water on a daily basis. The only irony is that, because the Mekong River has served Thailand as the home of a very busy industry of floating boat markets over many, many decades, now the Mekong is known as one of the most polluted rivers in the world. This is due largely to a lack of regulation in packaging disposals and industrial waste management.
- On the Way to the Alps I See Sand (Continued)The work culminates in the creation of a water environment inside the Portikus that resembles a traditional Thai Water Temple and a modern western water park at the same time, but also talks about the dangers of rising water levels all over the world. But not before discovering the story of Al Pfiffer, a real life version of Hemingway’s main protagonist in Old Man and the Sea. Pfiffer was once a prominent Frankfurt fisherman in the 1900’s who was said to have had the uncanny ability to communicate to river fish by whistling, hence the success of his one man fishing company.
Pictures of the Main River in Frankfurt, the Mekong River in Thailand, and Al "The Fish Whistler" Pfiffer.
- THIS IS THE BREATH OF SOMEONE THAT USED TO BE HERE_____________________VIDEO LINK.
- THIS IS THE BREATH...(Guards of the MFA Boston)November 21st, 2016: inside the Media Lab at MIT, 9 museum guards convene to testify against the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and ask for public support for their motion to boycott the institution until working conditions improve. Air is pumped out of the room where the guards are speaking to fill up an inflatable to project and live broadcast their testimonies outside the building. Only silhouettes of their faces are projected to help conceal their identity as protection against future retaliation from the Museum of Fine Arts management.
Guards of the NY MOMA
A photographic site-specific exploration of one of the institutional trademarks of the MoMA, New York, carried out on the first month of the re-opening of the museum in 2005.
Since the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans have been integrated into the operations of America's most prominent Art museums in the role of Museum Guard. The job was seen as a legitimate and respected position in the marginalized black society.
This project asks the question, is there today a community or group of communities that art institutions reach out to for filling this essential role? And what are the new social relationships rising from this institutional practice? Many of the subjects photographed were first generation immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Haiti and other Caribbean nations.
- SketchesFrom Keep Something for a Rainy Day
- Keep Something For A Rainy Day project for the Venice Biennale, ArsenaleThis work is conceptually a waterwheel designed to paddle, pump, and disperse fresh water to visitors in its surrounding area. In previous Biennale Exhibitions, blistering sun exposure has tended to cause in visitors heat related illnesses and even deaths via heat stroke. Viewing the vast amounts of art in the exhibit becomes a sort of pilgrimage or marathon and people place their interests in art before their very own health. In Keep Something for A Rainy Day, there is also a system that is dependent on human energy, for it is only active when exhibit visitors induce kinetic motion by giving their physical energy to the project's mechanics (three step-masters). No electricity is involved, only the mechanics of water pumps, so, when a visitor decides to step on the pumps and to share their energy with the artwork, everyone benefits a bit. With the subsequent automatic raising of colorful wind catching curtains, Keep Something's activated form resembles the sails of a wooden ship. The project was commissioned by curator Daniel Birnbaum as a project to address the rise of sustainable energy technology. This project ended employing recycled wood from Frank Gehry’s contribution to the previous Architecture Venice Biennale. Plantattion (Ron Martin) in collaboration w/ @Poomstngon, Durghai K -Architect- and Anton Savov -Public Relations Intern-.
- Dia de los Muertos at ACT, MIT, 2015Project description (Excerpt from invitation)Thursday Nov. 5th, ACT first year student Ron Martin and his collaborator (wife), Alejandra Bandala, will host Dia de los Muertos at ACT, a feast (chicken and vegan mole) accompanied by an art installation, short performance and a curated discussion. Formatted as a typical Mexican Day of the Dead Celebration, the discussion of the lunch will address issues of health, wellbeing and toxicity in the process of making art and working in the arts. We would like to define innovative and creative ways of approaching topics like stress, tension, the tools of wellness inside spaces for creative work, and working towards actions to address them. Similarly we will talk about MIT based technologies that could potentially augment our ability to see and interact with the composition of the air inside our built environments. Ideas and conceptual input of all of you is welcomed and encouraged.
Dia De los Muertos Kunstlerdorf
Shoeppingen, Germany
Mask of the Opisthokonta
Thesis presentation at the MIT Media Lab
What if we could speak to a fungus and it could speak back to us?
in this proof of concept prototype, the participant is invited to wear a specially designed mask that uses voice sensors and air extractors to inject CO2 and Microbia into a clear dome that houses a live reishi mushroom mycellieum.
During the two week period when the reishi's fruits begin to bloom and expand, the movement and shape of the reishi fruits will be a factor of how much clean oxygen is available for respiration. the participant is thus able to change the shape of the Reishi fruits (causing them to rise upward) by displacing clean oxygen with co2, the main bi-product of speaking through the mask. in other words, because c02 is heavier than oxygen it will linger at a lower height inside the dome. the reishi's fruit will respond to this stimulus by continually reaching up the more it is spoken to.
the circular dips and rings in the surface surrounding the mushrooms are filled with Agar gel. They are designed to catch the various types of microbes that are also expelled while speaking. Over time, these surfaces along with the Reishi mycellium itself will become visibly inhabited by fungi and bacteria, demonstrating to the naked eye how humans intervene in the often invisible dispute for territory in the microbial world.
- Without
This series of images are the result of several manipulations to make famous historical photographs appear less recognizable by stripping them of their central subjects.
Many important and influential artists have lost their lives to diseases related to the toxicity inherent in their production methods: Yves Klein, Piero Manzoni, Eva Hesse, Nikki de Saint Phalle, Donald Judd and Gordon Matta-Clark.
A great part of the 20th Century was colored by the idea of progress for progress’ sake, growth for growth’s sake. The word tumor in English is also referred to as a growth. Too many times, at the expense of their own health and of those around them modern artists, architects and designers experimented with toxic materials. Pigments, cadmiums, varnishes, photo chemicals, fixatives, plastic polymers and resins; what promoted this negative symbiosis between toxicity and artistic form?
My goal is to bring attention to the fact that there is a diversity of artists whose legacy could inform us how to better understand the road to a future without toxic health risks for arts workers. Art Makes You Sick will begin this mapping by carrying out the first survey and assessment interviews of artist health concerns.
- Ron Martin CV
EDUCATION
THE COOPER UNION SCHOOL OF ART, Manhattan, New York 2003–2008
BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS, BFA Degree
STÄDELSCHULE, Class of Simon Starling. Frankfurt, Germany 2006–2007
ACT, MIT SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING, Cambridge, Massachusetts 2015-May 2017
SCIENCE MASTERS IN ART, CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY, S.M. Degree
EXHIBITIONS
PRO-CRISIS STUDIO. Solo show and lecture. Salem State University, Sociology Dept., Salem, MA. 2016
THIS IS THE BREATH OF SOMEONE THAT USED TO BE HERE Public Art Event. Kendall Sq., Cambridge, MA. 2016
GARDENS OF SURVEILLANCE Solo show. Media Lab MIT. Cambridge, MA. 2016
INFINITE FOOTSTEPS. Curator and Art Director. Consisted of an exhibition, performances, workshops and symposia with international artist guests. K. I. Space Research Center, McNair Building, MIT. Cambridge, MA. 2016
THE BOUNDLESS AIR LAB Solo show. The Mars Lab, Media Lab, MIT. Cambridge, MA. 2015
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS @ ACT, MIT With Alejandra Bandala. Media Lab, MIT. MA. 2015
TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENTS Solo show. Fotoscheune Gallery, Künstlerdorf Schöppingen, DE. 2014
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS @ KÜNSTLERDORF SCHÖPPINGEN. With Alejandra Bandala DE. 2014
LOCKED With Alejandra Bandala & Christian D. Hagerman. MIKC Productions. Delden NL 2014-2015
ON THE WAY TO THE ALPS I SEE SAND Collaboration. Portikus –Melanie Ohnemus curator, Frankfurt, DE. 2009
53RD VENICE BIENNALE INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBIT: “MAKING WORLDS”. PROJECT: KEEP SOMETHING FOR A RAINY DAY. Group Show. Arsenale. Curated by Daniel Birnbaum. 2009
INTERSTICE With Juanita Cardenas. Houghton Gallery, Cooper Union. Manhattan, NY. 2008
SLAM DUNK MILOSEVIC Solo show. Daimler Project-raum. Städelschule. Frankfurt, DE. 2006
OTHER EXPERIENCE
FUNDAÇÃO SAO PAULO BIENAL ARCHIVO HISTORICO W.S. – Research Internship, 2016
NAYLAND BLAKE, Artist – Assistant 2007
MATHEW MARKS Gallery – Internship 2007
LECTURES, RESIDENCIES, AND PUBLISHED WRITINGS
FABNOW CONFERENCE 2017 “THE A IN STEAM EDUCATION”. Panel Talk, TC College, Fort Worth, Texas
CHUS MARTINEZ, “THE DUCK IS THE ÜBERMENSCH” 2016, Discussant. Cambridge, MA. MIT
MARJETICA POTRČ, “PUBLIC SPACE IS A SOCIAL AGREEMENT” 2015, Moderator, Cambridge, MA. MIT
SENSING-BOT AND PERSUASIVE SYSTEMS FOR THE NEW MAKERSPACE Research Paper, 11th International Conference on Persuasive Technologies, Salzburg, Austria. 2016
STIFTUNG KÜNSTLERDORF SCHÖPPINGEN 3 month artist residency and $4,000 grant. Muenster, DE, 2014
TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENTS Lecture at Pictorius College, Coesfeld, DE, 2014
ART MAKES YOU SICK Lecture with Alejandra Bandala, Künstlerdorf Schöppingen, Muenster, DE, 2014
ON THE WAY TO THE ALPS I SEE SAND Artist talk, Portikus-Städelschule, Frankfurt, DE, 2009
CU @ LUNCH WITH RON MARTIN Talk, Cooper Union School of Art. New York, 2009.
53RD VENICE BIENNALE. Essay for Biennale’s exhibit catalog. (Plantattion & A.P.)
THE DEVIL FINDS WORK FOR IDLE HANDS TO DO Text for exhibit catalog. Kunstverein-Wiesbaden, 2008
“REAL PRESENCE: BELGRADE” Two week international artist residency. Belgrade, Serbia, 2006
Bibliography & Awards
GUEST JUDGE, 1st Annual Portfolio Design Competition, Cooper Union School of Engineering 2014
DOMUS Magazine: BETWEEN TWO WORLDS: BIENNALE VENEZIA, By Daniel Birnbaum. Architecture, Interiors, Design, Art. Issue 926, June, 2009
ART AND USELESSNESS Interview for Il Sole 24 ORE Newspaper Milano, Italy. August issue of monthly On-line Arts and Entertainment Review, 2009.
NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR’S AWARD for Education in the Arts 2003, Visual Arts Division, from the NEW JERSEY STATE COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS
ROLEX MENTOR AND PROTÉGÉ INITIATIVE 2008, Top 5 finalist.