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.\r\n\r\nAsh has contributed voice for video and performance work by artists including Madison Bycroft, Lukas Simonis & Henk Bakker, Nele Möller, Loom, and Karel van Laere. She regularly makes interview- and music-based shows for radio. She is a member of Short Pieces That Move! publishing collective.
Short Pieces That Move!
In 2022, SPTM! was initiated as a publishing project founded on the principles that publishing is possible (low-cost, anti-gatekeeping, anti-prestige) and that editing, design, printing and making public all present further occasions for co-learning. The collective works closely with new as well as experienced artists/writers to produce paired publications that speak to their different concerns while also contributing to our ongoing open-ended inquiry. They publish around 8 pamphlets per year.
Ever Widening Circles and Early World Catalogue
Ever Widening Circles is a regular radio show on Radio WORM, Rotterdam, co-hosted by Ash Kilmartin and Linus Bonduelle since January 2021. These live audio collages include music, field recordings and sound art. Since December 2023, they've also co-hosted Early World Catalog on Operator Radio, Rotterdam: a monthly breakfast-ish show for distracted deep listeners. Together they have also played on Tirkultura (Riga), Palanga St Radio (Vilnius), Good Times Bad Times (Rotterdam) and elsewhere.
LIFE, 2020-2022
LIFE was a living room for 'wearable art': small-scale objects, books and jewelery by artists; and works of art by people who may not consider themselves an artist. LIFE is concerned with the things people make that are often not encountered in professional visual art practice: the useful, everyday, small experiments and tokens of a gift economy among fellow creators.
Other Versions Press
Other Versions Press is an umbrella for self-published book and graphic works by Ash Kilmartin.
Radio WORM
Since 2021, after several months hosting a weekly radio show, Ash volunteered to join the team at WORM running the organization's DIY online radio station. She looks after (co-)programming, productions and communications with over a hundred regular radio makers. Her mission is to keep the program as low-barrier to makers as possible, and seek out fitting collaborations with other experimental platforms, reflecting the values of WORM and the wide possibilities that online radio has to offer.