Lavender weaving 2022
image: Maya Baran
Wilschanski’s primary medium is sculpture, layered with performance and video. Her time based architectural garments carefully construct large geometrical forms, evoking frames such as window, door and table. These transformative wearable items the artist enters into, suggest structural shifts in both the artist’s body and the garments. Based on wood or PVC pipe frames, these opaque swathes of material caress her body as they progresses into various forms, gradually revealing several garment sourced from, and returned back into the frame. Through her choreography and combination of mediums, Wilschanski examines the notion functionality and corporeality in a surreal environment she creates.
As the artist moves within and reconstructs relation to these fabrics, not only does the form change, but also the appearance of her own body in them, as it (dis)appears in between these layers, in which it morphs with care and balance. Wilschanski embodies the very idea of self-maintained in her performances and attire: she builds and destroys; sets the table, eats, and then cleans; she mourns, grieves and consoles; she is the one being born, and the deceased. The playfulness this setting enables, transforms the appearance of her body; at times it seems diminutive in relation to the structure, and at times consumes it.
Working with fabric and assembled pieces, are both pragmatic and creative choices for Wilschanski. Like a magician, she disassembles and reassembles these forms that are larger than her body, while their compactness allows for a less cumbersome transport and minimal studio space. This sophisticated design and mechanism is essentially an extension of her body and reframing of her body, which she considers to be the anchor in her performance pieces.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS | PERFORMANCES
2022 Afloat, Ta Tarbut, curated by Lee Barbu, Tel Aviv, Israel
2022 Afloat, HaMifal, Haya Performance Events Series, Jerusalem, Israel
2022 Afloat, The Border Gallery, curated by Jamie Martinez, NY, USA
2021 Apertures, Das Schaufenster, curated by Anna Mlasowsky, Seattle, WA, USA
2021 Queen Size Aqueduct, mhPROJECTnyc curated by Mayumi Hayashi , NY, USA
2020 Bat Levi, A.I.R. Gallery, curated by Nicole Kaack, NY, USA
2019 Molehill, 7Midnights Physical Research, Arts on Site, curated by Jiali Wang, USA
2019 Pelvic Floor: Blue Walls Brown Floor, Movement Research at the Judson Church, NY, USA
2019 Knife, Gallery Cubed, Spring/Break Art Show, curated by Nathan Rayman, Queenie Wong, NY, USA
2015 Molehill, Tower of David, curated by Inbal Dekel Goldberg, Jerusalem, Israel
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS | COLLABORATIVE PERFORMANCES
2022 Gravity, Long Story Short NYC, curated by Will Leung NY, USA
2021 The Maze, What Would The Egg Do? curated by Rinat Sherzer, The New School XReality Center virtual.
2020 Famous Chimps curated by James Chrzan, virtual.
2018 The Maze, Sanatorium of Childhood, curated by Li Jie, A4 Art Museum, Luxelakes ,China
2018 Memorial Wreath, Aesthetics & Bias, curated by Adina Bar-On, Marek Wasilewski, Galeria Arsenal, Poznan, Poland
2016 Memorial Wreath, Body: Of Works, curated by Hila Lulu Lin, Nivi Yahalom, Bascula, Tel Aviv, Israel
2015 Woman's Sphere, curated by Shirel Safra, The Great Flood Collective, Jerusalem, Israel
2015 Sitting Breathing Touching, Granata, curated by Nina Schwartz, Hansen Media Center, Jerusalem, Israel
2015 Movement Research Performance Events #1-5.
Collaboration with Dotan Dvir, Assaf Lederman, Gili Inglis and Dror Shoval
Barbur Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel
2014 Collaboration with Kerem Shemi and Amir Pinchasi, curated by Dan Ormian, HaKubia, Jerusalem, Israel
2014 NO,Jerusalem Hostel, curated by Adi Yekutieli, The Jerusalem Festival, Jerusalem, Israel
2014 APPROACHING, Invisible Cities, curated by Yehudit Shlosberg Yogev, The Cube, Jerusalem, Israel
2008 Alrov Mamilla Avenue Public Art Program, Jerusalem, Israel
RESIDENCIES
2023 NARS Foundation, NY, USA
2023 Performance Residency, Monira Foundation, NJ, USA
2022 Ponderosa Artist Residency, Stolznhagen, Germany
2020 Performance Keyholder Residency, A.I.R. Gallery, NY, USA
2015 MASH Dance House, Jerusalem, Israel
2015 Beita Artist Residency, Jerusalem, Israel
2014 Lake Studio Dance Research Residency, Berlin, Germany
2014 Aesthetics & Bias, Wroclaw, Poland
AWARDS
2023 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship: Craft/Sculpture
2020 ILYSM Artist Grant
2020 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant
2012 The Hadassah Award for Artists/Social Activist
PUBLICATIONS
2021 Hannah Phang, What Would The Egg Do?, Crystals. Clits. Climate, Podcast, video, USA
2020 Jenna Elizabeth Gonzalez , ILYSM zine, USA
2020 Glenn Adamson, Crafts Magazine, UK
2018 Willyi Wang, 儿童疗养院, Grace, China
2018 Galerii Miejskiej Arsenał w Poznaniu „Estetyka i uprzedzenia” Magazyn Szum, Poland
2015 Dario Rutigliano, Katherine Williams, LandEscape Art Review, ISSUU, UK
TEACHING
2021- ... Pottery, Tribeca ClayWorks , BKLYN CLAY
2022- ... Guest Lecturer, School of Visual Arts, BFA
EDUCATION
2017-20 MFA Hunter College CUNY, NY, USA
2014 The World is Sound, (SMASH) Berlin, Germany
2009-14 BFA Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem, Israel
2012 Student Exchange, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
2006-8 Musrara Art College (HaKubia), Jerusalem, Israel