Biography 

Martín Rodríguez (born in Mexico/United States border)

Martín Rodriguez is a Chicanx transmission and sound artist from Nogales (United States-Mexico border) who is based in Montréal. He is a MFA student in Studio Arts with a focus in Intermedia at Concordia University. From 2014 to 2018, he was the technical director, the lab director and the co-general director of Eastern Bloc, an artist-run centre dedicated to presenting emerging media artists in Montréal. He is also a curator of various events and happenings and has facilitated several workshops on sound and transmission art.

Rodríguez’s performances, interventions, and installations exploring dimensions of “aural histories” and transmission began during his recovery from a brain tumor removal surgery, when he accidentally caught radio waves in the pickup coils of his guitar. By further exploring this relationship between radio and healing, his artworks reflect radio’s ability to embody presence through time, space and affect. His practice is also rooted in his Chicanx identity and in the idea of rasquachismo, or the reimagination, juxtaposition, and hacking of disparate material elements with the purpose of ‘making the most out of the least’. Solo exhibits and happenings include Ehécatl, as the wind blows in all directions (Montréal, 2024); In Search of Aztlan… (US/Mexico Border and Montréal, 2022). Performances include El Mariachi Perdido (2023) and Aural Histories (2022), performed in Montréal; and Los Subrogados (Mexico City, 2019). He has also participated in collective exhibitions such as Tracing Labor Territories (Sur Gallery, 2024), Flux Acoustiques (Montréal, 2023), and Common Currents (San Antonio, Texas, 2018).