Maayan Sheleff is an independent art curator and artist based in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, Israel. Her projects explore social and political issues through participatory practices, at the intersection of art and technology.

Biography

Sheleff was raised in Kiryat Ono, Israel. She studied plastic arts at the

Thelma Yellin High School of Arts Thelma is a female given name. It was popularized by Victorian writer Marie Corelli who gave the name to the title character of her 1887 novel ''Thelma''. It may be related to a Greek word meaning "will, volition" see '' thelema''). Note that alth ...

Givatayim Givatayim ( he, גִּבְעָתַיִים, lit. "two hills") is a city in Israel east of Tel Aviv. It is part of the metropolitan area known as Gush Dan. Givatayim was established in 1922 by pioneers of the Second Aliyah. In it had a population o ...

. Sheleff graduated

Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design ( he, בצלאל, אקדמיה לאמנות ועיצוב) is a public college of design and art located in Jerusalem. Established in 1906 by Jewish painter and sculptor Boris Schatz, Bezalel is Israel's oldes ...

with a B.Des in industrial design, also studying at the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

and

Politecnico di Milano The Polytechnic University of Milan () is the largest technical university in Italy, with about 42,000 students. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and higher education courses in engineering, architecture and design. Founded in 186 ...

. She later pursued postgraduate studies at the Interdisciplinary Arts Program,

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

. She is currently studying towards a PhD at the Curatorial Platform in

Zurich University of the Arts Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK, german: Zürcher Hochschule der Künste) has approximately 2,500 students, which makes it the largest arts university in Switzerland. The university was established in 2007, following the merger between Zurich ...

(ZHdK) and

Reading University The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

, UK. Sheleff has been regularly teaching at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, department of photography, the International Curatorial Studies Program of the Kibbutzim College, Tel Aviv, at the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School, Jerusalem and at Sapir Academic College,

Sderot Sderot ( he, שְׂדֵרוֹת, , lit. ''Boulevards'', ar, سديروت) is a western Negev city and former development town in the Southern District of Israel. In it had a population of . Sderot is located less than a mile from Gaza (the c ...

. She has been a guest lecturer in many institutions such as HaMidrasha – Faculty of the Arts, and the

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology ( he, הטכניון – מכון טכנולוגי לישראל) is a public research university located in Haifa, Israel. Established in 1912 under the dominion of the Ottoman Empire, the Technio ...

's Division of Continuing Education and External Studies curating program.

Curatorial positions

* 2014– Artistic Advisor and chair of artistic committee at the Art Cube Artists' Studios,

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and curator of its international residency program, LowRes Jerusalem * 2009–2012 – Curator at the Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv * 2009–2012 – Assistant Director at the International Curatorial Studies Program of the Kibbutzim College and the CCA Tel Aviv * 2006–2009 – Director and chief curator of Line 16, a public gallery for contemporary art

Awards, grants and residencies

* 2015 – International Curatorial Retreat, organized by Vessel/Mada, Bari, Italy * 2014 – Residency Unlimited, NYC * 2014 – Quartier 21,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, invited by Paraflows Festival for

Digital Art Digital art refers to any artistic work or practice that uses digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process, or more specifically computational art that uses and engages with digital media. Since the 1960s, various name ...

* 2012 – Truth is Concrete, Steirischer Herbst Festival,

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popu ...

, Austria * 2012–2013 – Artport residency, Tel Aviv * 2012 – Artis grant recipient * 2012 – International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) Curator Award * 2010 – Independent Curators International (ICI) Curatorial Intensive, New York City * 2010 – Artis grant recipient

Selected exhibitions

* 2017 – Poland ↔ Israel, Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków (co-curated with Agnieszka Sachar, in collaboration with Miri Segal) * 2015 – Preaching to the Choir, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art * 2014 – The Infiltrators, Artport Tel Aviv * 2013 – The Promised Land, The Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan * 2012 – Other Lives, Bloomfield Science Museum, Jerusalem, a new-media exhibition inspired by scientist Allan Turing * 2012 – Secondary Witness, International Studio & Curatorial Program,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, New York City * 2012 – Connected, An Exhibition About Girls and the Internet,

Bat Yam Bat Yam ( he, בַּת יָם or ) is a city located on Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast, on the Central Coastal Plain just south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area and the Tel Aviv District. In 2020, it had a populat ...

Promenade * 2012 – Prolonged Exposure, The Center for Contemporary Art (CCA), Tel Aviv * 2009–2010 – Co-curator, Transit project, cooperation between The Center for Contemporary Art (CCA), Tel Aviv and MADRE,

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, Italy * 2009 – Co-curator, ARTLV – the 1st Tel Aviv-Yafo Biennial

Selected publications

* 2022 – InConcrete Stones, participating artists:

Hannan Abu-Hussein Hannan Abu-Hussein (in Arabic: حنان أبو حسين; born 1972 in Umm-El-Fahem) is a Palestinian visual artist and educator. She is known for installation art and video art. Abu-Hussein lives in Jerusalem. Early life and education Hanna ...

, Nikolaus Eckhard, Avner Pinchover, Christoph Weber, Arkadi Zaides, Art Cube Artists' Studios, Jerusalem * 2021 �
M/otherland
Ruth Patir & Maayan Sheleff, OnCurating, Zurich. * 2019 �
(Un)Commoning Voices and (Non)Communal Bodies
Maayan Sheleff & Sarah Spies (Eds.), OnCurating, Zurich. * 2019 �

participating artists: Ronit Porat, Guy Konigstein, Art Cube Artists' Studios, Jerusalem. * 2018 �

participating artists: Morehshin Allahyari, Lior Zalmanson, Art Cube Artists' Studios, Jerusalem. * 2017 – Fear and Love in Graz: Steirischer Herbst’s Truth Is Concrete (2012), in Empty Stages, Crowded Flats – Performativity as Curatorial Strategy – Performing Urgency #4, Florian Malzacher and Janna Warsza (Eds.), Alexander Verlag, Berlin * 2017 �
"Jerusalem of Gold" vs. "The Yelllow Fleet" & "The Day When Nothing Happened"
Art Cube Artists' Studios, Jerusalem. * 2017 – 50 Years,

B'Tselem B'Tselem ( he, בצלם, , " in the image of od) is a Jerusalem-based non-profit organization whose stated goals are to document human rights violations in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, combat any denial of the existence of su ...

* 2016 �
»The Infiltrators« – Crossing Borders with Participatory Art
in Geflüchtete und Kulturelle Bildung Formate und Konzepte für ein neues Praxisfeld, Maren Ziese & Caroline Gritschke (Ed.), Transcript Verlag, Bielefeld. * 2016 �
The Chosen People - A Small Guide For a Big Revolution
a conversation with Andy Bichlbaum from The Yes Men, Tohu online magazine * 2014 �
The Infiltrators
Artport Tel Aviv * 2012 �
Secondary Witness
International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP). * 2012 – World Order, Dana Levy, Braverman Gallery and CCA Tel Aviv.

External links

Maayan Sheleff
at the Independent Curators International website
Frankie the Documentation Robot
website, a project by Maayan Sheleff, Gal Eshel and Eran Hadas

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheleff, Maayan Living people Israeli artists Israeli art curators Thelma Yellin High School of Arts alumni Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Israeli women artists Israeli women curators