Ian Carstens is a writer, filmmaker and curator from the Mississippi River Valley. His work explores temporality, non-human aliveness, multiplicity, as well as critiques of the archive, lens-based art forms and cultural institutions. He has professional experience as a videographer, documentarian, editorial writer, project manager and technical collaborator.

Carstens is the lead curator/filmmaker of Glass Breakfast, an ongoing archival project. His video works have screened at various film festivals, including the Montana Film Festival, the Oneota Film Festival and Speed Cinema as well as on public television. He is an Associate Editor of Ruckus Art Journal and his arts writing has been published with Burnaway, Sugarcane, and Sixty Inches From Center. 

He has made work in partnership with such entities as: the J. Irwin Miller Architecture Program, Indiana University Libraries, the Collaborative Archive & Data Research Environment (CADRE), and Luther College. In 2020 he received grant support from the Columbus Museum of Art & Design and the Columbus Area Arts Council. In 2022 he received an Emerging Artist grant from the Bloomington Arts Commission and an Artist Catalyst grant from the Iowa Arts Council. He was selected for the 2023 Tanda cohort with Chuquimarca.

Carstens currently lives and works in central Iowa.