Profile

Don Ritter is an artist and writer who has been active in the field of media art since 1988. His interdisciplinary artworks and writings integrate fine art and digital media with aesthetics and ethics. Ritter’s immersive video-sound installations enable audiences to direct their experiences through body motion or voice, and his live performances and media façades present ultra-high-definition video projections controlled by live music or sound. His most recent work includes large architectural projections based on the symbolism of substances and metal prints resembling road signs that convey issues of morality, sustainability, and ontology. Ritter’s work has been exhibited throughout North America, Europe and Asia, including SITE Santa Fe (USA), Winter Olympics 2010 Cultural Olympiad (Vancouver), Metrònom (Barcelona), Sonambiente Sound Festival (Berlin), Exit Festival (Paris), Ars Electronica Festival (Linz), and New Music America (New York City). His work has received support and recognition from the Canada Council, The Banff Centre (Canada), Pratt Institute (USA), ZKM (Germany), Ars Electronica (Austria), DGArtes (Portugal), the Goethe Institute (Germany), the European Union Culture Programme (EU), and City University of Hong Kong.

Ritter held full-time and tenured professorships between 1989 and 2017 at Concordia University in Montreal, Pratt Institute in New York City, Hanyang University in Seoul and City University of Hong Kong, and he maintained his art studio in Berlin, Germany from 2006 to 2013. Ritter currently lives in Montreal, Canada where he works as an independent artist. documentary website: http://www.aesthetic-machinery.com