Biography
Through his exploration of history and current affairs, Michael Rakowitz creates public projects, installations and events. He engages in fact-finding and makes connections with people at all opportunities, focusing on individuals involved in situations that range from the personal to the local to the geopolitical.
Rakowitz’s exhibitions include The Monument, The Monster, and The Maquette, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago (2022); Réapparitions, Frac Lorraine, Metz, France (2022); The invisible enemy should not exist (Section 1, Room C, Northwest Palace of Nimrud), Pi Gallery, Istanbul (2021); Return, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania (2020); Imperfect Binding (travelling survey), Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin (2019); Everything is Politics, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago (2018); 40 Years: Part 3. Political , Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago (2017); The Flesh Is Yours, The Bones Are Ours, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago (2016); 14th Istanbul Biennial (2015); 9+1 Ways of Being Political: 50 Years of Political Stances in Architecture and Urban Design, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2013); dOCUMENTA 13 (2012); The worst condition is to pass under a sword which is not one's own, Tate Modern, London (2010); 16th Biennale of Sydney (2008); Just In: Recent Acquisitions from the Collection, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2007–2008); Sharjah Biennial 8 (2007) and Tirana Biennale 3, Albania (2005).
Rakowitz’s work is part of the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Neue Galerie, Kassel, Germany; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Smart Museum of Art, Chicago; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands; British Museum, London; Kabul National Museum, Afghanistan and UNESCO, Paris.
Among Rakowitz’s awards are the Tiffany Foundation Award (2012); Creative Capital Grant (2008); Sharjah Biennial Jury Award (2007); New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Grant in Architecture and Environmental Structures (2006); Dena Foundation Award, New York (2003) and Design 21 Grand Prix, UNESCO (2002).
He received a BFA from Purchase College, State University of New York (1995) and a MS in Visual Studies from MIT, Cambridge, US (1998).
Born in New York in 1973, he currently lives and works in Chicago.
SAF participation:
March Meeting 2022
Sharjah Biennials 14 and 8
