St.AiR 2026 - Martin Sommer - March & April

Snehta Residency is pleased to welcome Martin Sommer (*1998, Graz), an artist based in Vienna, as part of St.AiR 2026 – Austrian Artists in Residence, taking place in Athens this spring.

Sommer’s work engages with institutional structures, material transformation, and the conditions through which systems become visible. Working with everyday or infrastructural materials, he develops objects and installations through subtle shifts and carefully measured interventions. His practice combines conceptual reflection with precise material processes, often involving chemical, technical, or industrial methods. Rather than opposing existing systems directly, his works tend to operate from within them, introducing small adjustments that reveal how meaning and value are constructed.

Through these minimal but deliberate transformations, familiar materials and structures become newly legible. Sommer’s installations often maintain a quiet presence while subtly altering how viewers read the surrounding environment, drawing attention to the infrastructures and conventions that normally remain unnoticed.

Sommer studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and at the Royal College of Art in London. His work has been presented internationally in exhibitions, art fairs, and site-specific projects.

During his residency at Snehta, he will spend time in Athens developing new research and work while engaging with the city’s material and institutional landscape.