Talks
Gil & Moti
Gil & Moti Artist Talk
16 October 2015
Post-Graduate Programme in Curating, ZHdK
The Isreal-born artist couple Gil & Moti (1968/1971), graduated of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, have lived and worked together since 1994. Two personas have become one: the identically dressed duo makes no distinction between life and art. Gil & Moti work on their art 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In 1998, settled in Rotterdam where they pursued a Master at the Piet Zwart Institute. In their work, the denial of the boundaries between private and public, performance and social intervention is central. The work often starts small, close to themselves and rooted in their personal life, but naturally extends to a variety of important socio-political themes: gay marriage, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, individualism and identity in contemporary mass society. They effortlessly switch between painting, drawing, performance, video and installation. As Jewish (ex)Israelis and homosexual immigrants living in Europe, they contribute to discourse about being different and about sets of rules that are supposed to regulate social existence. Their social artworks challenge to think over even difficult subjects. They have been showing internationally in museums and galleries. The recent major overview exhibition Totally Devoted to You, accompanied by an extensive monograph (publishing house: Hatje Cantz), was traveling through five important European art centers and museums: Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz, Austria (2012)/ Stavanger Kunstmuseum, Norway / Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden / Kunstmuseum Bochum, Germany / Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, Denemark (2011).
Gil & Moti are the winner of the MK Award 2015, biannual Dutch Art prize.
gilandmoti.nl