Maayan Sheleff () is an independent art curator and researcher based in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, Israel. Her projects explore social and political issues through participatory practices, at the intersection of art and technology. Sheleff holds a Ph.D. in Practice in Curating in a joint program of the Department of Art at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

and the postgraduate program in Curating at the

Zurich University of the Arts Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK, ) 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's School of Art and Design (HGKZ) and ...

Biography

Sheleff was raised in

Kiryat Ono Kiryat Ono () is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel. It is located east of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Modern Kiryat Ono is adjacent to the biblical Ono, which was located in what is now the area of Or Yehuda. The city also ...

, Israel. She studied plastic arts at the Thelma Yellin High School of Arts,

Givatayim Givatayim () is a city in Israel east of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area. Givatayim was established in 1922 by pioneers of the Second Aliyah. In it had a population of . The name of the city comes from the "two hills" on w ...

. Sheleff graduated

Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design () 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 oldest institution of higher education and is considered the ...

with a B.Des in

industrial design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in adva ...

, 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 th ...

and

Politecnico di Milano The Polytechnic University of Milan (, abbreviated as PoliMi) is a university in Milan, Italy. It is the largest technical university in the country, with about 40,000 enrolled students. The university offers undergraduate, graduate, and higher ...

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

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

. She received her PhD from the Curatorial Platform in

(ZHdK) and

Reading University The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

, 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 Sapir College (, ''HaMikhlela HaAkademit Sapir'') is a college in Israel, located in the northwestern Negev desert near Sderot Sderot (, , ; , sometimes Romanized as "Sederot") is a western Negev city and former development town in the South ...

Sderot Sderot (, , ; , sometimes Romanized as "Sederot") is a western Negev city and former development town in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel. In , it had a population of . Sderot is located less than a mile from Gaza St ...

. 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 is a public university, public research university located in Haifa, Israel. Established in 1912 by Jews under the dominion of the Ottoman Empire, the Technion is the oldest university in the coun ...

'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 is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

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 Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, invited by Paraflows Festival for

Digital Art Digital art, or the digital arts, is artistic work that uses Digital electronics, digital technology as part of the creative or presentational process. It can also refer to computational art that uses and engages with digital media. Since the 1960 ...

* 2012 – Truth is Concrete, Steirischer Herbst Festival,

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

, Austria * 2012–2013 – Artport residency, Tel Aviv * 2012 – Artis grant recipient * 2012 – International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) Curator Award * 2010 –

Independent Curators International Independent Curators International (ICI) is a non-profit headquartered in New York City that has produced exhibitions, events, publications, and training opportunities since 1975. History Independent Curators International (ICI) was founded in 197 ...

(ICI) Curatorial Intensive, New York City * 2010 – Artis grant recipient

Selected exhibitions

* 2017 – Poland ↔ Israel,

Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków The Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków (MOCAK), (), is a contemporary art gallery in Kraków, Poland that opened on 19 May 2011. Situated 3 kilometres from the centre of the city, on a demolished part of the factory of Oskar Schindler, the aim ...

(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 Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

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

Bat Yam Bat Yam ( ) is a city 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 , it had a population of . History British Mandate Bat Y ...

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 ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

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

Selected publications

* 2022 – InConcrete Stones, participating artists: Hannan Abu-Hussein, 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 * 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 The Yes Men are a culture jamming activist duo and network of supporters created by Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos. Through various actions, the Yes Men primarily aim to raise awareness about problematic social and political issues. To date, t ...

, 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

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 Academic staff of Kibbutzim College Alumni of the University of Reading Zurich University of the Arts alumni