Ilya Rabinovich was born in Chişinău, Moldova (former USSR) in 1965 and immigrated to Israel in 1973. He obtained a BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Design and Art in Jerusalem in 1994. From 1998 to 2000, he participated in the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten’s artist-in-residency program in Amsterdam, where he continues to be based.
The émigré experience informs Rabinovich’s artistic work, which primarily deals with identity and memory.
In 2012 he accomplished the photographic research book Museutopia, for which Rabinovich returned to Chişinău to critically observe the shifting role of museums in post-communist Moldova. The resulting publication contains Rabinovich’s illuminating photographs, in-depth descriptions, and essays contributed by Viktor Misiano, Huub van Baar, Bogadan Ghiu and Ingrid Commandeur.
He is currently working on a project concerning the Historical Military Museums and National Identity in Israel. Museums are instrumental in developing and reinforcing processes of national identity formation. Therefore “reading” the narrative of the history museum through critical artistic eyes has the potential to expose and explore the conceptions underlying national identity, memory, and belonging.
abinovich was a guest artist at the Center for two periods in 2012 and 2013 and accomplished the photography of several military museums. This project is planned to be exhibited at the Center in 2014.
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