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As Seen by Ron John

/ I'm an American artist based in Miza, Abu Dhabi working in socially engaged art and installation. I collaborate with academics, architects, scientists, and everyday people to imagine new ways of living and create new sites of knowledge production. Inspired by my 11 years living in the United Arab Emirates, I like to research how the homeland endures inside immigrant populations.

 

Current long-term artistic research projects include spearheading an archive of Black dance with scientists from MIT’s Immersion Lab with funding from Meta and Brooklyn Museum; designing a public park for the government of Abu Dhabi; and heading a team of architects and urbanists to re-imagine overcrowded low-income housing in the United Arab Emirates.

 

My exhibitions have been presented at museums, biennials and art fairs around the world including the Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial, Fikra Graphic Design Biennial (Sharjah, UAE), and Abu Dhabi Art: Beyond Emerging (59th Venice Biennale). Further projects have been exhibited at Jameel Arts Centre (Dubai, UAE); 421 Art Campus (Abu Dhabi, UAE); Dubai Design Week; and BLOCKHOUSE (Tokyo, Japan), among others. My art and research have been televised on the BBC and CNN, and in print with GQ, Harper's Bazaar, and Architectural Digest.

While in Cambridge, I earned a master’s degree in Art, Culture, and Technology from MIT and studied at Harvard, receiving the Obermayer Prize and the Harold & Arlene Shnitzer Prize. I've participated in programs and fellowships with the University of Georgia as a HOPE Scholar, the University of Oxford as a Gilman Scholar, and the Rhode Island School of Design as a Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation fellow. I'm the former global creative director for Huawei.

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Feature story televised on CNN International

Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

Massachusetts Institute of Technology                                                                  

Master of Science in Art, Culture, & Technology

School of Architecture and Planning

                            

The University of Georgia                                                                                         

Bachelor of Arts in English

Franklin College of Arts & Sciences

                                                                         

University of Oxford                                                                                                  

Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholar

Keble College | Study Abroad

 

ADDITIONAL ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

 

 

Harvard University

Graduate-level MIT-Harvard cross registration

Film, theatre, and religion departments

 

Rhode Island School of Design

Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation Fellow

Post-baccalaureate program

                

SOLO PRESENTATIONS & BIENNIALS

2025. Tokyo Art and Space Hongo | Tokyo, Japan

2022.  59th Venice Biennale, Collateral Exhibition at Palazzo Franchetti Cavalli, Venezia, Italy

2021.  Abu Dhabi Art: Beyond Emerging |  Curated by Till Felrath and Sam Bardaouil

2021.  Worked (So and so and on and on and so on and so on) | Art Space, Al Ain, UAE

BIENNIALS

 ​

2026. Contemporary Biennial Sardegna [Forthcoming]

2024. A Gulf Quinquennial, NYU Abu Dhabi Gallery

2024. Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial | Curated by Reem Fadda

2018. Fikra Graphic Design Biennial, Sharjah, UAE | Curated by Prem Krishnamurthy & Common-Interest

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITONS

2025. The Other Side of the Moon, Baró Gallery, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2025.  Intersections, Baró Gallery, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2024.  All is Flux, Nothing Stays Still, Rizq Art Initiative, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2023.  Zero.zero, MIT.nano, Cambridge, MA

2023.  Counteractions, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA

2023.  Documentary Fictions, Harvard Carpenter Center, Cambridge, MA

2023.  Counteractions, Distillery Gallery, Boston, MA

2023.  Noshka Presents, Sikka Art Fair 2023, Dubai, UAE | Curated by Zayed University

2022.  Abu Dhabi Art 2022

2022.  Frome Photo Festival, Culture Pool, Maker’s Yard, Frome, UK

2022.  Harold & Arlene Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts Exhibition, MIT Wiesner Art Gallery, Cambridge, MA

2022.  I Shout My Laughter to the Stars, Aicon Contemporary, NY, NY

2021.  So Different, So Appealing, Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi, UAE (collab. w/ Rakan Ghresi & Ashay Bhave) 2021.  Garden of E-arthly delights, Sumac Space, Dubai, UAE | Curated by Ruba Al-Seel

2021.  East East Vol. 4: The Curio Shop Part III, ILY Hub, Tokyo, Japan | Curated by Sophie Arni

2021.  East East Vol. 4: The Curio Shop Part II, Block House, Tokyo, Japan | Curated by Sophie Arni

2021.  East East Vol. 4: The Curio Shop Part I, H.B. Nezu, Tokyo, Japan | Curated by Sophie Arni

2021.  Al Seef Festival, Al Seef, Dubai, UAE

2020.  UAE Designer’s Exhibition, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE | Curated by Ghassan Salamat

2020.  Practice & Critique, Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2019.  Localities, Satellite Gallery, Dubai, UAE

2019.  001, Blue Cave Gallery, Dubai, UAE

2019.  SIKKA Art Fair, Dubai, UAE

2018.  Blue Cave Urban Art Festival, Dubai Design District, Dubai, UAE

2017.  SIKKA Art Fair, Dubai, UAE

COMMISSIONS

2023.  “When I Get Home.” Dubai Public Art | Dubai, UAE | Curated by Samayya Vally [Finalist]

2022.  “City Behind My Window.” Adidas Middle East Flagship, Dubai, UAE

2020.  “How to Be at Rest.” Dubai Design Week, Dubai, UAE

2019.  “Who Gets Paid for Digital Labor?” Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE

RESIDENCIES & FELLOWSHIPS

2025.  Tokyo Arts & Space Residency (TOKAS), Tokyo, Japan

2024.  421 Art Campus Residency, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2023.  Massachusetts Institute of Technology ACT Research Affiliate, Cambridge, MA

2023.  Zayed University Noshka Printmaking Residency, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2022.  Satellite Residency, Satellite, Dubai, UAE

2021.  Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation Art Residency, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2019.  Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation & Rhode Island School of Design Artist Fellowship

GRANTS & AWARDS

2023.  Artadia Award - Boston (Finalist)

2023.  MIT Obermayer Prize for Academic Writing 

2023.  MIT Sandbox Grant 

2023.  MIT ACT Gallery Grant 

2022.  Council of the Arts at MIT Grant 

2022.  Instagram / Brooklyn Museum Emerging Black Visionary 

2022.  Harold & Arlene Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts Prize

2022.  MIT ACT Pilot Grant

2021.  MIT ACT Pilot Grant

2021.  Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation Emerging Artist Fellowship Scholarship

2021.  MIT Department of Architecture Graduate Fellowship

2020.  Art Jameel Research and Practice Platform Grant 

2010.  Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship 

2010.  UGA Incentive Scholarship

2010.  UGA Foundation Scholarship

2010.  International Education Week Scholarship

2010.  Katherine John Murphy Scholarship

2010.  The Georgia HOPE Scholarship

TEACHING & LECTURES

2022.  Teaching Fellow at MIT

2022.  Guest Lecture, MIT List Center

2022.  Guest Critic, Massachusetts College of Art & Design

2021.  Visiting Artist, Zayed University, Noshka Printmaking Lab

2021.  Guest Critic, MIT

2020.  Workshop, Al Qattara Arts Centre

2020.  Workshop, Cultural Foundation Abu Dhabi

2020.  Panelist, Dubai Design Week Talks

2018.  Workshop, 421 Arts Campus

2018.  Panelist, 421 Arts Campus 

2018.  Visiting Guest Lecture, American University of Dubai

2018.  Panelist, World Art Dubai

 © 2025  Studio Benton

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