“I use various technologies to disrupt traditional modes of relating between humans, objects, and the natural world. I merge the technical and the artistic to speculate about the conditions for a more socially just and climate conscious world.”
Ash Arder is an interdisciplinary artist whose research-based approach works to expose, deconstruct, or reconfigure physical and conceptual systems, especially those related to ecology and/or industry. Arder manipulates physical and virtual environments to explore materials, mark-making, mechanical portraiture, and sound design as tools for complicating dynamics of power between humans, machines, and the lands they occupy.
Residencies include Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Alberta); Michigan Central x Newlab (Detroit); University Musical Society (Ann Arbor); Bemis Center for Contemporary Art (Omaha); Recess (Brooklyn); and A Studio in the Woods (New Orleans). Recent exhibitions include a solo show at the Cranbrook Art Museum and group shows at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles and Swiss Institute in New York. Arder received an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Donor -The Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship is generously supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
This artist page was last updated on: 05.28.2025
Two Stoned by Ash Arder, 2022. Rocks from late father’s yard, paint, sand, wood, interactive sensors, electronics, and sound, dimensions variable.
Photo by My Proulx.
Broadcast #4 by Ash Arder, 2024. Wood, plastic crates, Black Bottom Detroit soil, brass, hardware, seeds, paper, speakers, mixer, drum machine, audio cables, and sound composition, dimensions variable.
Photo by Chris Gardner, courtesy of NXTHVN.
Consumables (11092024) by Ash Arder, 2024. Display refrigerator, solar-powered battery, storage system, butter, key chain, and vinyl, dimensions variable.
Photo by Daniel Pérez, courtesy of Swiss Institute.
