MARIO ONTIVEROS is an art historian who focuses on critical art practices since 1970, examining issues of social belonging,political obligation, and ethical responsibility. While much of his work has concentrated on nationwide, socially committed art movements (e.g. Chicana/o art, the Black Arts Movement, HIV/AIDS activism, as well as the "alternative" art movement and art and feminism), his current research considers how localized, small-scale projects and practices address the changing sociopolitical pressures and conditions of transnationalism, such as diasporic communities /international migration, gentrification, labor relations, and cultural tourism. The methods of address that artists employ to engage viewers and the sites of intervention-from the streets, to the museum/gallery, and to more recent Internet-based projects-are also main areas of interest and research. He received his PhD in Art History from the University of California Los Angeles.