Ash Kilmartin

sound - performance - printing (2d) - sculpture

Ash Kilmartin is an artist from Aotearoa (New Zealand), who has been active in Rotterdam since 2015. Her recent work concerns the speaking voice as an aid in finding and creating public space, as a hinge between the physical material of the body and the social fabric of language. She is interested in historical characterizations of the speaking body; in non-linguistic vocalizations such as communication; and how the voice can be translated into spelling, texture or space. She works in performance, sculpture, sound and text.


Soft Teeth (2017) - Performance for amplified, disembodied voice. TAC Eindhoven. Photo: Koos Siep
Eiland Bouwen (dredge the centrum to build the edges! Take a copy!) (2017) - Installation of recycled building materials, found objects, cast resin, publications. Galerie de Kromme Ellebog, Rotterdam. Photo: Sol Archer
Eiland Bouwen (dredge the centrum to build the edges! Take a copy!) (2017) - Installation of recycled building materials, found objects, cast resin, publications. Galerie de Kromme Ellebog, Rotterdam. Photo: Sol Archer
Old House Noises (the Sleeper, the Dreamer and the Guard) (2019) - A performance with members of the Groningen Vocal Exploration Choir, conducted by Annegreet Bos. Kusthuis SYB, Beetsterzwaag.
Stonecarver’s Dilemma (with Bergur Thomas Anderson) (2019) - Choose-your-own-adventure, performed at puntWG, Amsterdam; Mengi, Reykjavík; Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam.
KLOPPEN AUB, BEL IS KAPOT (with Bergur Thomas Anderson) (2019) - Exhibition-as-riddle, puntWG, Amsterdam
KLOPPEN AUB, BEL IS KAPOT (with Bergur Thomas Anderson) (2019) - Exhibition-as-riddle, puntWG, Amsterdam
Tell Me About (with Johanna Kotlaris) (2018) - Improvised duet of public speech, Kiosk, Ghent. Photo: Koos Siep
Gaps (2018) - Performance for forgetful voice with two cassette tapes and publication, Gardena Fest, De Player, Rotterdam. Photo: Koos Siep
You, as a paragraph (2018-19) - Performance by phone and PA, seen only jumping up and down through the window, obscured. Koffie en Ambacht, Rotterdam, 2017/Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, 2019.