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As Seen by Ron John

/ I'm an American artist based in 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. My intention is to achieve this with you - yes, you my dear reader. 

 

Inspired by my 12 years living in the Emirates, I 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); Dubai Design Week; and Tokyo Arts and Space (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

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 | Curated by Maya Allison & Duygu Demir

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

2025  Guest Lecture, NYU Shanghai 

2023  Guest Critic, Massachusetts College of Art & Design

2022  Guest Lecture, MIT List Center

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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