Martin Beck

Martin Beck (born 1963) is a visual artist based in New York and Vienna. His artworks often derive from in-depth research into narratives from the fields of architecture, design and popular culture and are characterized by his usage of diverse media, including installation, photography, video, writing, sculpture, and drawing. Beck also works collaboratively and has, since the late 1990s, co-authored various exhibitions, publications, and exhibit design projects with artist Julie Ault. Education and teaching Martin Beck studied at the University of Applied Arts as well as at the Academy of Fine Arts, both in Vienna, Austria, where he graduated in 1988. Beck has been a visiting artist in the art and design programs at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California (1999–2000); he has held a guest professorship in the CCCS program at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Geneva (2001–2005). Since 2004, he has worked as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna where he teaches courses on exhibition and display issues as well as artistic and design methodology. Artistic practice Beck’s artworks range from complex, mixed-media installations to subtle architectural interventions, and often explore the role of display in exhibition frameworks. He adapts many mediums and strategies in order to “...problematize the exhibition form, along with the social and aesthetic implications it wields on our perceptions.” His exhibitions investigate the boundaries between artworks, exhibit and support structure, as well as the relationship between art and social conditions or popular culture. Artist and critic Yuki Higashino writes in the Avery Review: “[Beck’s] true medium is exhibition making. It is the totality, the configuration of artifacts, the social context, the supplementary materials like a press release, and the architecture of the venue that together constitute the art exhibition and the work of art that Beck produces.” Frequently Beck’s projects and shows include artifacts or works by other artists, architects, designers, and historical objects. His practice elaborates and expands the conceptual tradition of redefining the role of the artist and of what constitutes an artistic practice. Bodies of work His main bodies of works from the 2000s investigated how the modern conception of display developed in the mid-20th century.