Photo by Jill Greenberg, January 2020
An artist, filmmaker, and transmedia producer of Ecuadorian and Chinese descent, Marisa Morán Jahn’s work redistributes power, “exemplifying the possibilities of art as social practice” (ArtForum). “[Jahn] introduces a trickster-like humor into public spaces and discourses, and yet it is a humor edged with political potency,” notes MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology, characterizing her playful approach. Codesigned with youth, new immigrants, and working families, Jahn’s civic-scale projects have engaged millions both on the street and at venues such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Venice Biennale of Architecture, the United Nations, Tribeca Film Festival, and Obama’s White House. Her public artwork, civic media tools, films, architectural and urban-scale collaborations have been supported by The New York Times, the BBC, PBS, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Univision Global, Hyperallergic, Art in America, Architectural Review, CNN, and hundreds more. She has received grants and awards from National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, Creative Capital, Open Society, Tribeca Film Institute, Anonymous Was A Woman, and more.
In 2008, she embarked on creating the artwork / literacy movement “Bibliobandido” (Book Bandit) with a community in rural Honduras. This project centers around the eponymous character, a bandit who EATS stories and whose fame rivals Santa Claus. As a living legend still active today, Bibliobandido has transformed the lives of 20,000 young believers in Central and North America. In 2022, Jahn and award-winning filmmaker Benjamin Murray began shooting their Sundance-supported documentary film chronicling the impact of the beloved, story-hungry villain.
For another civic-scale artwork called “CareForce” (2010-present), Jahn collaborated with the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) to create a social practice artwork including a PBS film that amplifies care workers' voices. This movement for domestic workers’ rights has contributed to new laws in 10 states and a federal bill underway. NDWA co-founder Ai-jen Poo writes, “CareForce harnesses the catalytic power of art, architecture, and storytelling to dream bigger, dream futures into being that we’ve never experienced and create new protagonists.” In 2020, “CareForce” informed the creation of “Carehaus,” an artwork that is also the U.S.’s first care-based co-housing building designed with architect Rafi Segal. The Biden administration and U.S. Congresspeople interviewed Jahn regarding the possibility of proliferating the “Carehaus” model across the country. With Segal, Jahn co-authored the related book “Design & Solidarity” (Columbia University Press, 2023).
Jahn has taught at Columbia University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (her alma mater), and Parsons/The New School, where she is the Director of Integrated Design.
She was a 2022 Sundance Fellow a Senior Researcher at MIT, and an artist in residence at the National Public Housing Museum.