Books & Movies

Element Wasser

Flying with the sun

The knowlege about the American West today and the important role that ranchhorses still play in it hardly exceeds Marlboro cliches.
Therefore Martina Ward combines geographical, historical and professional informations about rachelife today with the story of a young horse. Seen from the colt´s perspective it gives young readers an inside view into everyday life on a modern Oklahoma ranch and into the schooling of horses today. See how trainers win the trust of their young “students” and how they bring out their unique talents of cowsense, their team sense and their unflappable calmness that helps the cowgirls and cowboys to get the job done.

Just Imagine...

Imagine, two museum paintings start suddenly talking to you. 
Imagine you are afraid of the dark and you would paint your fear...
Imagine you are Walter Macke, son of the famous painter August Macke. You are ten years old when you suddenly discover…
12 journeys into your own imagination and back into a time, when painting was re-invented and artists re-invented themselves. What happened a little more than a hundred years ago, how did the people feel and how did they receive these drastic changes?

Published in 2003 by Daedalus, Muenster publisher Jo Herbst, the book accompanied the audio tour for children through the collection of Modern Painting in the local Museum for Art and Cultural History. The artists are Edvard Munch, Pauls Modersohn-Becker, Emil Nolde, Erich Heckel, Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, August Macke, Franz Marc, Ludwig Meidner, Heinrich-Maria Davringhausen, Paul Klee and Kurt Schwitters.

Graphic and Layout: Robert Ward, AWard Associates

Vivat Pax! – A journey into the 17th century

”Vivat Pax! History of the Thirty Year War and the Westphalian Peace Treaty for young readers” 
Published by the Westphalian Museum of Art and Cultural History Münster in cooperation with Verlag Aschendorff, 1998
Grafic and Layout: Atelier 4 plus, Münster. 

Martina Ward is co-author in this book project that accompanied the children´s exhibition „Vivat Pax!“ that took place in the two cities that hosted the representatives from all over Europe to work out this famous peace treaty after thirty years of battles and brutal raids, hunger and desease, personal interests and religious conflicts between secular and clerical rulers. The team of authors, among them Martina Ward, doesn´t only give an outline of an extremely complex historical situation. They also give young readers an inside look into everyday life of peasants, merchants, marketenders, soldiers, and ofcourse, children and just how it might have felt to never experience times of peace. 

Martina Ward was also part of the exhibition team and responsible for the complete editing process of the book as well as the realisation of the exhibition in Osnabrück.

The best of all possible worlds

Exhibition project during the “Sculpture.Projects in Muenster 1997” by New York Concept Artist Allan Ruppersberg 

Concept: Allen Rupersberg 
Graphic design and layout: Award Associates 
Ruppersberg´s project curator: Dr. Martina Ward 

"Muenster is crammed with history and artefacts, the circles of old and new, beginning and end is one of the most tangable elements. The particular form of reinventing I found here was new to me.” 
(Allen Ruppersberg, foreword, p.6) 

Inspired by Voltaire´s „Candide“ Ruppersberg transforms Candides journey (that begins in historic Westphalia) into an individual journey into the private und the official history of the town. Supported by Martina Ward, he collected favourite stories and memories and locations from senior citizens. From the series of interviews he selected 11 stories and marked the locations connected with them with a sign saying “The best of all possible worlds”. 

This way he created a personal tour through downtown Muenster because the stories and places not only marked history that the visitors could read about in the “Tour guide” but theses places also interacted with the visitors´ feelings and impressions now.

When stories are to become hi-story they have to be preserved. Therefore the book was an essential part of the project.

Horses of the prairie - a book for young readers

Text/Story: Martina Ward
Konzept/Photos/Design: Robert Ward

The knowlege about the American West today and the important role that ranchhorses still play in it hardly exceeds Marlboro cliches.

Therefore Martina Ward combines geographical, historical and professional informations about rachelife today with the story of a young horse. Seen from the colt´s perspective it gives young readers an inside view into everyday life on a modern Oklahoma ranch and into the schooling of horses today. See how trainers win the trust of their young “students” and how they bring out their unique talents of cowsense, their team sense and their unflappable calmness that helps the cowgirls and cowboys to get the job done.

Work´n Quarterhorse I, II Part I: The Ranchhorse

“Work´n Quarterhorse“ gives an inside view into a way of life that most Europeans consider to be extinct or only movie material.

It is a film about an outstanding horse race that still is an essential and highly effective partner in everyday ranch life: the Quarter horse. And ofcourse it is a film about dreams, cowboys, trainers and a highly unusual kind of team work. One of the issues was to show the work not only from the rider´s perspective, but also from the animals. 

Many shots were taken from the saddle, Robert Ward working the mobile camera. “Work´n Quarterhorse“ not a traditional documentation or film feature but also experience of nature, source of first hand information and a glimpse into a way of work and life that is alien to most Europeans.

Work´n Quarterhorse I, II Part II: The Cutter

“Work´n Quarterhorse“ gives an inside view into a way of life that most Europeans consider to be extinct or only movie material. The knowlege about the American West today and the important role that ranchhorses still play in it hardly exceeds Marlboro and movie cliches.

Work´n Quarterhorse is a film about the exceptional abilities of ranch and show horses and their twolegged partners. And it is about the American West that continues to lives in this race and carries its legacy into the future. 

One of the main issues was to show the work not only from the rider´s perspective, but also from the animals´. Many shots were taken from the saddle, Robert Ward working the mobile camera. “Work´n Quarterhorse“ not a traditional documentation or filmfeature but also experience of nature, source of first hand information and a glimpse into a way of work and life that is alien to most Europeans. 

Watch how trainers win the trust of their young “students” and how they bring out their unique talents of cowsense, their sportsmanship and their unflappable calmness that helps the cowgirls and cowboys to get the job done -or winning contests together. 

Reigning and cutting are diciplines that derive from hard ranchwork, but it seems that horses and riders alike enjoy the challenge.

Automorrow U.S.A. THE FILM

DVD PR Film: AUTOMORROW U.S.A.
THE FILM By: Robert Ward
Languages: english, german

Luigi Colani...designer, artist, philosopher. The spectrum of his creativity is a challenge to our imagination. Colanis source of inspiration is nature itself: the anatomy of the human body, of insects, plants whatever neccessary to make his design work and fit it to peoples demands.

His philosophy is especially reflected in his futuristic vehicles. In 1989 he sent his vehicle collection to Amerika where it amazed and surprised professionals and amateurs alike.

From Ford Motors, Detroit, where Colani gave his first lecture, the vehicles went to Salt Lake City and the legendary Bonneville Salt Flats. For nine days the vehicles were tested, did spactacular test runs for speed and economy records, all of which was closely followed and observed by the press.

From there the two semi trucks (one ofcourse colani designed) moved the entourage through the City of lights Las Vegas and from there directly to Hollywood and Los Angeles. The prestigous Art Center College of Design Pasadena hosted the last stop and exhibition. Colani kept his promise and flew in to for another lecture and visit.

Via Arizona and Tennessee the show moved back to New York and finally reached Bern after two month tour.