Welcome to the website of artist, multi-disciplinary technologist, director, hacker, and composer Martin Backes

NEW MEDIA GALLERY Exhibition

My installation “What do machines sing of?” will be shown at this wonderful place called NEW MEDIA GALLERY. The exhibition takes place 20 October — 22 December in Vancouver, Canada. More information after the click.

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MÈQ FESTIVAL Exhibition

My installation “What do machines sing of?” will be part of this years “MÈQ FESTIVAL – Festival international d’art numérique performatif et de création audiovisuelle contemporaine” in Montpellier (France). MÈQ FESTIVAL takes place 12 October — 14 October at Humain trop humain CDN Montpellier. I will also give […]

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LABoral SummerLAB 2017

Happy to announce that I will be part of this fantastic 2-day programme of workshops, roundtables and installations at LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón, Spain. The purpose of summerLAB is to exchange experiences of community work that promote the creative and critical use of […]

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New Artwork: I am sitting in a machine;

I am really happy to present my new work “I am sitting in a machine;”. The work consists of two parts. One part is a web page application distributed via the Internet. The other part is a limited edition dubplate record consisting of 30 units.

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CTM 2017 Festival Exhibition

My work “What do machines sing of?” will be part of the CTM Festival Edition 2017 in Berlin (Germany). CTM Festival’s 18th edition takes place 27 January – 5 February 2017 at various venues in Berlin.

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Pixelhead at TEDx Madrid

My Pixelhead artwork was used for a performance at TEDx Madrid by the spanish undercover journalist and writer (known as) Antonio Salas. The conference was curated by Antonella Broglia. Please find the video documentation after the click.

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SOLEMNE Magazine Feature

My work is featured in the first issue of the lovely SOLEMNE Magazine about contemporary art. Besides myself, other great artists from Berlin like Robert Lippok, Hito Steyerl, and Frank Hülsbömer are also featured in the first issue. The magazine is based in Guatemala, Central America.

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Blackout Privacy – Conference and Exhibition

I’ve been invited by Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt to give a talk about privacy and to show one related artwork of mine in the context of their first ‘Blackout Privacy’ conference and exhibition. Unfortunately, due to time issues, I had to cancel the talk, but my Pixelhead will be […]

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Faceless Expo

After Vienna and Amsterdam, FACELESS in smaller format as part of the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection – CPDP comes to Brussels at De Markten. Opening on 21st of January. The exhibition will be followed by a symposium, guided tours and presentations.

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Pixelhead M.I.A. Collaboration Auction

Back in May, I collaborated with M.I.A. for her latest “Double Bubble Trouble” music video with my very own Pixelhead mask. Three of four Pixelhead masks from the music video are going to auction (Ebay). The masks are strictly limited to four, each worn in the music video, […]

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