Painting lesson

Work by Ilya Rabinovich- 'A lesson in Moldovan identity and painted landscapes':

Paying some visits to The Ethnography Museum in Chisinau, left me with overwhelming impressions. Studying the pictorial landscapes seen almost in each and every hall made me wander upon the roles and symbolism that those masterpieces are designated to convey upon the visitor.

While meditating on the symbolical functioning of the museum a Tchernichovsky's expression 'Man is Nothing but the Shape of His Native Landscape' kept re emerging in my mind.

The representation of dichotomy structures, visually supported by idyllic paintings, depicting Moldovan landscapes as existing since the scientific and mythological Genesis- the possible Garden of Eden till the apocalypse, presented by photographs and material evidences from the Soviet catastrophe made a clear statement about the Moldovan timeline, upon the dream and it's disaster.

But this conceptual dichotomy suffers from some drawbacks, namely the inability to position Moldova in relation to other landscapes and nations. Searching for maps or other representations of Moldova's borders and territory reveals a disturbing situation, namely Moldova is always depicted as a torn out of the glob territory surrendered by metal frames designed and produced during Soviet period.

Thus the painted landscapes and the maps serve as a metaphor for the Moldova's to redefine their own new national identity. From one hand they reject their recent past and from another they fall into the gap ob being in an empty void.




A work that will be exhibited as 35 mm slides with a slide projector.
You can see the digital format of the work at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ilyarabinovich/PaintingLesson#

Stage fondsenwerving Museutopia: een fotografisch onderzoeksproject naar musea van Moldavië.

De Amsterdamse beeldend kunstenaar Ilya Rabinovich (http://www.rhiz.eu/person-33501-en.html) heeft alle grote musea in de Moldavische hoofdstad Chisinau uitgebreid gefotografeerd. Zijn werk is een creatieve verkenning van de post-Sovjet Moldavische nationale identiteit. De foto's, vergezeld van essays van deskundigen op dit gebied (Viktor Misiano, Stefan Rusu, Bogdan Ghiu en Huub van Baar), vormen de basis voor een tweetalige publicatie (Roemeense/Engels), die wordt uitgegeven bij Alauda Publications (www.alaudapublications.nl).


Taken:
Assistentie bij fondsenwerving:
- Onderzoek naar de beschikbare fondsen en ondersteunings mogelijkheden die passen bij de opzet van de publicatie.
- Het schrijven van subsidie-aanvragen.


Profiel van de stagiair:
- MA niveau
- Interesse in kunst- en culturele geschiedenis van Oost-Europa; vertrouwdheid met Moldavië is een pré.
- Vloeiend Nederlands spreken en schrijven
- Bereidheid samen te werken met de kunstenaar en uitgever.


Wat bieden wij:
- Optimale begeleiding en feedback.
- Intellectueel uitdagende stage.
- Ervaring met redactioneel werk en kennismaking met het uitgeefproces.
- Naamsvermelding in de publicatie en gratis exemplaar.

Duur:
- 15 weken, parttime werk, bij voorkeur vanaf begin maart 2010.

Aanvraagprocedure:
Stuur vóór 1 maart 2010 een motivatie en een korte cv in het Nederlands aan: info@alaudapublications.nl met als onderwerp: "Stage Museutopia".

Voor vragen kunt u via e-mail contact opnemen met uitgeverij Alauda Publications.

Research/ editorial internship Museutopia: an artistic project on the museums of Moldova

Amsterdam-based visual artist Ilya Rabinovich (http://www.rhiz.eu/person-33501-en.html) has extensively photographed major museums in the Moldovan capital Chisinau. His photographic work is a creative exploration of post-Soviet Moldovan national identity. The photographs, accompanied by essays commissioned to experts in the field, form the basis for a bilingual publication (Rumanian/English), published by Alauda Publications (www.alaudapublications.com).


Tasks:
Assistance in fund raising:
- Research of available funds and support programs that suite the profile of the publication
- Writing grant applications and accompanying project brochures


Profile of intern:
- MA level
- Interest in art and cultural history of Eastern Europe; familiarity with Moldova would be of added advantage
- Fluent speaking and writing Dutch
- Willingness to work in cooperation with the artist and publisher

What we offer:
- Proper placement guidance and feedback
- Intellectually challenging research internship
- First-hand experience in editorial work and exposure to the publishing process
- Name mentioned in publication

Duration:
- 15 weeks’ part-time work preferably beginning March 2010.

Application procedure:
Send a motivation letter and a brief CV in Dutch to info@alaudapublications.nl with the subject reference: "Internship Muziotopia" before 1 March 2010
For questions and clarifications, you may contact Alauda Publications via email.

9th January 2010- invitation to the opening of REAR WINDOW followed by a party‏

MB Art Agency has the pleasure to invite you to the special opening of the exhibition



REAR WINDOW

An installation realized by Ilya Rabinovich

Saturday 9th of January 2010, between 19.00- 23.00 hours



MB Art Agency’s Project Space, Willemsparkweg 191, 1071 HA Amsterdam.



The opening will be followed by a party.

Practical Information: the venue is situated at the crossroad of Willemsparkweg and Cornelis Schuijtstraat, Tram no. 2, (tram stop Cornelis Schuijtstraat).

Confirmation is kindly required to: info@mbagency.nl or by phone: 0614789395 or 020.7861626.

On the upper floor of MB Agency’s building and in total dark, Ilya Rabinovich invites for a collective participation to a surprising and playful experience.

While entering the dark space of the exhibition, visitors will receive a small penlight and will be initiated to search for the hidden elements of the installation, a collection of Rear Window peep pictures realized by the artist during the year 2008.
The project is both witty and ironic as it plays with our unintentional tendency of spying our neighbours, something that feeds on our own deep-seated desires to watch others, without fear of being watched, in order to live through their experiences whilst sharing none of their physical or emotional existence/state. In this meticulously constructed setup, the watching process is shared and therefore it becomes a space of interaction and reflection.
Furthermore our urge to peep is indulged and we may temporarily escape and forget who we are as we become more and more involved in searching for the other images hidden in the exhibition space.

Simulacrum Journal October 2009 Privé ; for your eyes only

A glimpse beyond the interstice- separating the public and private domain

Donna Wolf

One often wonders, where the public domain stops and the private domain begins. Throughout history, the line of demarcation between public and private space has captured the fascination of artists.Today it continues to serve as an inspiration for contemporary artists, each of them approaching the subject through their own subjective lens. An intriguing example can be seen in the work of Ilya Rabinovich (Moldavia, U.S.S.R, 1965), who relocated to the Netherlands in 1998 to attend the Rijksakademie and now continues to live and work in Amsterdam. Taking his new home as subject matter, he explores the city and its buildings along with the habits and culture of its inhabitants. In this way he is able to explore and probe the notion of personal identity, revealing how it is embedded within the social structure.

Investigating the line between private and public space has been a reoccurring subject in the work of Rabinovich throughout his career. As a newcomer to Holland, he was interested in the daily lives and homes of his fellow immigrants in Amsterdam. The photographs in the Apartments of Friends project (2005)1 embody a sense of duality. They have a certain quality of generalness that transports them out of the specific context and into a more general one. By photographing immigrant’s (temporary) homes he moves their interiors from the private into the public domain. Yet these interiors never lack the personality imparted to them by their inhabitants.This might seem strange when you consider that his photographs are often devoid of people. What can the photograph tell you, when you cannot see the protagonists? Rather than portraying them in the physical sense, Rabinovich chooses to suggest their presence through their personal belongings, which populate and personalize the home. The home is a shelter from the outside. No matter how temporarily one may live in a given space, it is human nature to surround ourselves with things that make us feel at home. We incorporate a part of our past into the present through our personal belongings, our pictures and cherished artifacts. By photographing these interiors Rabinovich affords us the opportunity to peer behind closed doors into the private space of the occupants. He offers us a glimpse of how these emigrants transform the dwelling into a personal domain. Rabinovich’s skillfully composed photographs have been on view in numerous public exhibitions adding a new, public context to these works with a personal touch. The picture is the beginning of the story; how it is read, lies with the beholder. Ayako Yoshimura described this aspect succinctly; reviewing the exhibition Non Places held at 66 East in Amsterdam-Oost in 2006, she noted that “The absence of a protagonist in the setting is enhanced by the sheer beauty of composition and light, which leads us to a distant memory; be it personal or collective.”

Another aspect that was particularly intriguing to Rabinovich was the Amsterdam phenomenon of the open curtain. In his artist statement Rabinovich explains: “I developed a fascination for the ‘open curtains’ phenomena, where one can easily view the private interior of people’s homes from the street level. In social conversations this served to present the locals as an example for how open-minded the Dutch people living in Amsterdam are. A ‘we have nothing to hide’ attitude that proved to be restricted and limited in what I could actually observe when I tried to focus on it.” Does the mental and cultural distance as a foreigner allow him a greater moral freedom to capture and record Dutch culture? Perhaps this is one of the reasons that he was selected for participation in the exhibition Becoming Dutch, held from May through September 2008 at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. Posing the question “What does ‘Being Dutch’ or ‘Becoming Dutch’ mean in the 21st century?” The exhibition explored the notions of identity, nationality, citizenship and social cohesion. More than thirty artists were invited to exhibit their work; all dealing with the context or notion of foreigners assimilating into the Dutch Culture.

The open curtain phenomenon differentiates the city of Amsterdam from other European cities, shedding new light on the relationship between private space and the public sphere. The voyeuristic aspect intrigued Rabinovich, triggering him to investigate it through his photographic lens. He combined his in-depth knowledge of technical capabilities of a specific camera lens with his eye for composition and light, to achieve the desired effect. It led him to make the series of photographs Rear Window, consisting of carefully considered compositions captured with a telephoto lens.

The Rear Window photographs have mostly been taken in the evening by photographing from inside one home through or across the backyard into the rear window of the opposite home. You could say that these images were captured by a photographer who, located in one private home, bypasses the interstitial public space to penetrate and observe the private domain of the opposite interior. At first, this approach may seem to encroach upon the subject’s privacy. This series of photographs includes images of partially visible people in their homes, cooking dinner, watching television or carrying out some other daily activity.They are engaged with themselves in the comfort of their homes, completely unaware of our observant role. Through the window we can see part of their interior and part of the person. Just enough details to give our mind something to work with, but leaving sufficient room for our fantasy to fill in the rest of the story. It might seem as if we have penetrated deep into their personal space. Yet Rabinovich is careful to disguise the identity of the person and the setting in the photograph. He zooms in on his subject eliminating exterior details, which could help identify the location. This generic impression and effect is strengthened by a raster technique, blurring our vision even further. This conceals the details while adding an additional layer, creating a distance between the viewer and the image. Somehow we are kept at bay. As if to say: you may have a glimpse into this private space, but don’t get too close, the realm you behold remains in the private domain.

Our vision is impeded as we enter into Rabinovich’s installation where photographs in various sizes are scattered throughout a darkened room and are directly affixed to the surface of the black walls and floor. We embark with a small penlight in hand in search of the images, and the exhibition begins to take form. Through the darkness, we have the impression that we are peering inside the homes of unsuspecting residents throughout the city of Amsterdam at night. This voyeuristic aspect is intensified by the excitement of discovering another image on the wall, capturing yet another glimpse inside the private homes. We revel in the hope of uncovering the one detail which will disclose the identity of the person and specific location where the image was taken.

This intriguing and engaging work of Rabinovich is not only defined by his skilled photography techniques. The images are further enhanced by the chosen method of production - a silk screen technique on paper - and its subsequent display in the installation setting, in which the viewer is invited to participate. We crawl into the role and assume the eyes of the photographer, continuing the quest he initiated; to reveal what goes on in the private domain of an unsuspecting actor. In viewing the photography installation Rear Window one is transported into the active role of a voyeur.

Biography: Donna Wolf is the director of Déiska BV

en CV de Verzameling and is a Masterstudent Art

History at the University of Amsterdam

1. These photographs were commissioned for the exhibition:

Interieurs van een nieuw huis, april 2006 in the former home

of Anne Frank on the Merwedeplein in Amsterdam.

See also www.ilyarabinovich.com

A book was also published in conjunction with the exhibition:

Rabinovich, Ilya. ‘Interieurs van een nieuw huis’ (in:) Nauta,

N. e.a. Het Andere huis van Anne Frank: geschiedenis en

toekomst van een schrijvershuis. [exh .cat.]. Amsterdam:

Anne Frank huis, 2006. Amsterdam: Thoth, 2006: p.72-107

Arnhem
MMKA en andere locaties in Arnhem
12/09/09 - 25/10/09

Verschillende locaties in het centrum van Arnhem staan tot en met 25 oktober in het teken van het kunstfestival Made in Arnhem. Arnhem wil in deze editie haar internationale ambitie naar de rest van de wereld kenbaar maken en heeft daarom het thema ‘invites’ gekozen. De organisatie heeft kunstinitiatieven uitgenodigd, die op hun beurt kunstenaars uitnodigen, en ‘als gastvrij gebaar’ wordt uiteindelijk het publiek uitgenodigd. Deze ‘keten van uitnodigingen’ zou deze editie van het kunstfestival uniek moeten maken, maar verschilt wezenlijk weinig van de organisatie van elk willekeurig ander festival. Niets nieuws onder de zon dus. Toch is er een aardige draai aan het thema gegeven door Arnhemse kunstenaars te verzoeken een kunstenaar van buitenaf te inviteren. Hierdoor ontstaan er op verschillende plaatsen in de stad dialogen tussen kunstenaarsduo’s die elkaars werk op originele wijze aanvullen in thematiek, inhoud of beeld.

Helaas is internationale allure van Arnhem als kunststad niet altijd geholpen met invitatie-systeem. Veel van de interessante werken blijken afkomstig te zijn van niet-Arnhemse kunstenaars, wat het gevoel oproept dat de ‘buitenstaanders’ zijn toegevoegd om het gebrek aan Arnhems talent te compenseren.

MMKA

Karen Sargsyan, All Together, 2009

Toch waren er een aantal werken te ontdekken die een bezoek aan Arnhem zeker de moeite waard maken. Op de hoofdlocatie, het Museum voor Moderne Kunst blijkt de eerste kunstenaar waar ik tegenaan loop meteen ook mijn favoriet. De Armeense ex-Rijksakademie kunstenaar Karen Sargsyan - op dit moment ook te zien in Double Dutch in HVCCA in New York - maakte een poppentheater van papier met op de achtergrond folkloristische Armeense volksmuziek. Ondanks het kwetsbare materiaal zet Sargsyan een krachtig beeld neer waarin de bewegingloze figuren tot leven komen.

Ilya Rabinovich, Muziotopia, 2009

Sargsyan nodigde de van oorsprong Moldavische kunstenaar Ilya Rabinovich uit, ook een ex-Rijksakademiestudent. Hij presenteert in Muziotopia een indrukwekkend onderzoek naar de veranderingen in museale collectie-opstellingen na de val van het communistische systeem in Oost Europa en de onafhankelijkheid van Moldavië. Het samenspel tussen de werken van Sargsyan en Rabinovich levert een mooie dialoog op die een kijk geeft in processen in de kunst tijdens en na het sovjetregime.

Made in Arnhem Invites is t/m 25 oktober te zien op verschillende locaties in Arnhem.

Auteur

Jolien Verlaek

Muziotopia project installation view in museum voor moderne kunst arnhem