About
Martin Backes, born in 1977 in Germany, is a Berlin-based artist, creative technologist, director, hacker and composer. He studied Media Art & Design as well as Sound Studies at the University of Arts in Berlin. In his works, he often uses media technologies to reflect certain functionalities, effects, ideologies, and human perception, playing with the ambiguity between the physical world and the digital realm, reflecting the blurred boundaries between analog and digital, reality and simulation, stability and disruption, figure and abstraction. Backes cross-border and experimental field of activity in the intermediate area of art, science, technology, and culture ranges from augmented reality (AR) and multimedia sound works to theatre dance pieces and installations, as well as sculptural and computer/video works.
His work has been shown at numerous international museums, galleries and theatres including Municipal Theatre Bielefeld (DE), Mediamatic Amsterdam (NL), MuseumsQuartier Wien (AT), MAK Design Lab (AT), International Spy Museum (US), Belgrade City Museum (RS), Mochvara Gallery (HR), NIU Art Museum Illinois (US), New Media Gallery (CA), Austrian Cultural Forum (DE) and TEDx (ES), been featured at festivals including Vienna Biennale (AT), CTM (DE), MÈQ (FRA), Nemo (FRA), Nuit Blanche Paris (FRA), Transmediale (DE), BIAN/Elektra (CA), Die Digitale (DE), B-Seite (DE), ADAF (GR) and EMAF (DE). WIRED, CreativeApplications.Net, The Creators Project, Create Digital Music, Gizmodo, Boing Boing, Business Insider, Engadget, Fast Company, Designboom, The Local, El Periódico and Süddeutsche have written about his work, as has Neural Magazine, Quotation Magazine, Kaltblut Magazine, and the European Youth Trend Report.
Besides his experimental work, he is working as a creative director & technologist, audiovisual consultant, sound & media designer, design sprint facilitator, and lecturer. Martin Backes is co-founder of aconica, a design studio for audiovisual communication and founder of Design Sprints Studio, a product design, strategy and innovation consultancy based in Berlin.
Curriculum Vitae
| Martin Backes lives and works in Berlin, Germany | |
| since 2019 | founded Desgin Sprints Studio, Berlin, Germany |
| 2019 | Lectureship at CODE University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, Germany |
| 2014-2017 | Lectureship at SRH Hochschule der populären Künste (hdpk), Berlin, Germany |
| 2011-2017 | Master of Fine Arts “Media Art and Design”, UdK, Berlin, Germany |
| 2009-2014 | Lectureship at the btk – University of Applied Sciences Europe, Berlin, Germany |
| 2009 | Master Programm Christina Kubisch, Artsummer 09 Schwaben, Germany |
| since 2009 | founded aconica, agency for sound, design and interactive media, Berlin, Germany |
| 2008 | worked as a Sound Designer for Native Instruments GmbH, Berlin, Germany |
| 2006-08 | Master of Arts “Sound Studies”, UdK, Berlin, Germany |
| 2006 | founded Studio Martin Backes, Berlin, Germany |
| 2005 | works as a freelance Sound Designer |
| 2002-2003 | worked as Radio DJ and Producer, DJ-sets.com, Berlin, Germany |
| since 2001 | works as music producer, composer and sound engineer |
| since 1999 | DJ, several residencies |
| 1995-1998 | worked as a brewer and maltster, Werneck, Germany |
| 1977 | born in Rosenheim, Germany |
Nominations
| 2013 | GASAG Artprice 2014, Germany |
| 2012 | INDEX Award 2013 (Category ‘Community’), Denmark, Copenhagen |
| 2011 | THE LEO Award (Most successful combination of image and sound) – Braunschweig International Film Festival, Germany |
Scholarships
| 2018 | Q21 / MuseumsQuartier Vienna, Artist-in-Residence, Vienna, Austria |
| Temp Studio Residency, Lisbon, Portugal | |
| 2009 | Abbey Irsee, in cooperation with University of Augsburg and Schwabenakademie Irsee, Germany |