Bio
Ari Merten (*1987, GDR) is an intermedia artist based in Berlin. Their practice revolves around music, exploring personal history, identity, and collective experience. They hold a Meisterschüler degree in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (HGB) and have presented interdisciplinary collaborations at Balance Club/Culture Festival, Spy On Me Festival at HAU, the Black Box of the GfZK Leipzig, and Acting in Concert Festival. Their debut EP Cake has been featured by BBC Radio and PW Magazine.
About
It was through MTV in the late 90s that I first connected with art. Growing up in a working-class family in rural eastern Germany, where museums and galleries were out of reach, music television opened a world of visual experimentation that eventually led me to study media art.
What began as a fascination with sound and image has grown into a multidisciplinary practice. I have worked as a video artist for major theater productions, renowned art institutions, and platforms for contemporary literature, while also developing independent projects with artists, writers, choreographers, and dancers. Simultaneously, I have been active in the club scene as a DJ and electronic music producer, exploring hybrid formats that blur the boundaries between contemporary art and club culture.
Music has been a continuous thread in my work ever since I applied to art school with a self-directed music video. Since then, I have explored music both as medium and as subject across video, installation, performance, and object-based works. This ongoing exploration allows me to connect personal history with shared cultural memory, and to imagine spaces where individual experience meets collective resonance.
CV
Personal Information
● Born 1987 in Thuringia (GDR)
Education
● Since 2023: Master’s Program in Art Education, Universität der Künste Berlin
● 2012 – 2015: Postgraduate Master Class (Meisterschüler), Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
● 2011: Studies in Conceptual Art (Erasmus Programm), Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien
● 2006 – 2012: Studies in Media Arts (Diploma), Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
Teaching Experience
● 2023 – 2024: Guest Lecturer, Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle
● 2023 – 2024: Tutor for the UNESCO project Querklang+
● 2013 – 2015: Lecturer, Evening Academy, Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
Work Experience
● 2018 — 2023: Freelance Video and Sound Artist for theatre, art institutions and platforms for contemporary literature
● 2016 — 2018: Resident DJ at the genre-bending event series Cry Baby at Institut für Zukunft, Leipzig
● 2015 — 2018: Full-time staff member in the Video Department at Schauspiel Leipzig
Selected Work
● Love Songs for a New Future, part of acting in concert festival, Witten (2021)
● Sketches for a New Love Song, part of Spy on Me #3, Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin (2021)
● Peeling Fruit in Front of Strangers, part of Balance Club/Culture Festival (2020)
● Clitorian Reading Room, part of Droste Festival, Burg Hülshoff – Center for Literature (2019/ 2024)
● Nudes, part of Literarischer Herbst, Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig (2019)
● Bodies of Discourse, part of Nachtdigital (2017)
● Blackout, part of Acting Out! #4, Literaturverein im Mousonturm, Frankfurt (2017)
● How to stay single forever, part of The Politics of Friendship, KV Kunstverein Leipzig (2017)
● What’s Good?, part of Show of Talks, Artists Unlimited Bielefeld (2016); Dokfest Kassel (2017); Internationales Frauen Film Fest Dortmund+Köln (2017)
Workshops & Artist Talks
● 2020: Workshop as part of the exhibition This House Is Not A Home, Lothringer 13 Halle, Munich
● 2017: Artist Talk as part of the series Münster: Kur und Kür, Skulptur Projekte Münster
● 2015: Artist Talk Babelsprech, Literarische Gesellschaft Thüringen, Weimar
● 2013: Artist Talk, Halle 14, Leipzig
Scholarships & Residencies
● BV POP, Scholarship (2022)
● Planeta Manas, Residency in Lisbon, Portugal (2021)
● soft power, Residency in Berlin, Germany (2021)
● Musikfonds, Scholarship (2021/ 2022)
● Fonds Darstellende Künste, Scholarship (2021)
● Musicboard, Residency in Marseille, France (2021)
● Skulptur Projekte, Residency in Münster, Germany (2017)
● Schleswig-Holsteinisches Künstlerhaus, Residency in Eckernförde, Germany (2013)