An artist and transmedia producer of Ecuadorian and Chinese descent, Marisa Morán Jahn’s works redistribute power, “exemplifying the possibilities of art as social practice” (ArtForum). Characterizing her playful approach, MIT CAST writes, ‘[Jahn] introduces a trickster-like humor into public spaces and discourses, and yet it is a humor edged with political potency.”
Key projects include Bibliobandido (a story-eating bandit in Northern Hondura whose fame rivals Santa Claus); Video Slink Uganda (experimental films slipped or “slinked” into bootleg cinemas); Snatchural History of Copper investigates copper, a key element used in motherboards, homes, and the IUDs of 170 million women across the world. A project that amplifies the voices of America’s fastest growing workforce — caregivers — CareForce includes two mobile studios (NannyVan, CareForce One), an app for domestic workers named by CNN as “one of 5 apps to change the world,” and a PBS/ITVS film series. In the latest extension of the Careforce, Jahn has teamed up with architect Rafi Segal and real estate developer/urban planner Ernst Valery to pioneer the a first of its kind intergenerational care-based co-housing project, where elders, caregivers, and their families have independent living units clustered around a series of shared spaces. Carehaus’ first site is in a historically divested neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland.
Jahn’s art, films, and interactive media have been presented at Obama’s White House, The United Nations, Museum of Modern Art, Tribeca Film Festival, The New Museum, ArtBrussels, National Center for Contemporary Arts Kaliningrad, Creative Time Summit, and more. Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, BBC, Hyperallergic, Mic.com, The Nation, Univision, and hundreds more. She has won awards from Creative Capital, Tribeca, Sundance, Rockefeller Foundation, and Open Society Foundation. She is a collaborating artist on the “Open Collectives” station at the 17th Venice Biennale of Architecture led by MIT Associate Professors Rafi Segal (architecture) and Sarah Williams (civic data design) with Greg Lindsay.
She has taught courses on art, creative technology, civic media, and storytelling at The New School, Columbia University, and across departments at her alma mater, MIT.
