Gili Avissar

 Gili Avissar (*1980 in Haifa) based and works in Israel and Germany. He studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, the Glasgow School of Art and the MFA Bezalel Academy of Art in Tel Aviv.

Avissar's art encompasses sculpture, installation and video performance, originally intending to study fashion design, in the end he opted for the visual arts. Over the last years, Avissar Has collaborated with performers, dancers and choreographers, each time allowing the other artists interpret his work in a new way, creating stage and costume design for dance and theater productions, among which are the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt, Theater Freiburg, The Israel Festival and Theater & Orchester Heidelberg.

Practicing Empathy #3 (2021) Simple action (2017) and Common Emotion (2016) are three dance pieces were Avissar also designed the stage, costumes and objects for the Yasmeen Godder Dance Company.

Avissar has won various grants and art prizes, among them from the Stiftug Künstlerdorf Schöppingen, DE (2021), The Artis Grant, US (2019,2020), The Artport Residency Program in Tel Aviv (2016-2017), Israel Lottery Council for Culture and Arts (2016,2017,2019), Rabinovitch Art Foundation, IL (2010,2012,2019), The Young Artist Award, IL (2012), The Isracard and Tel Aviv Museum of Art Prize, IL (2010) and The Bronner / Goethe/ NRW Residency Exchange Program, Düsseldorf, DE (2010). 

Avissar has exhibited widely, across Israel and abroad. A partial list of solo exhibitions and large-scale textile installation were presented at Seminar Collage of Art, IL (2021), Art Safari, Bucharest, RO (2020), Facebook AIR program, Sarona Market, Tel Aviv, IL (2020), Mishkan Museum of Art, Ein Harod, IL (2019), Tower of David Museum, Jerusalem, IL (2019), Mewo Kunsthalle, Memmingen, DE (2018), Kostka Gallery, Prague, CZ (2018), Nehushtan Museum, Kibbutz Ashdot Yaacov, IL (2017), Galerie Koal, Berlin, DE (2017), Mekudeshet Festival, Jerusalem (2017), Nahum Gutman Museum, Tel Aviv, IL (2015), Kunstverein Leipzig, DE (2012) and Rupert Pfab Gallery, Dusseldorf, DE (2011).

His works are often featured in group exhibitions and video screenings, among them at, Marta Herford Museum, DE (2021,2012), Brno House of Arts, CZ (2019), Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina, Novi Sad, RS (2018), Mana Contemporary New Jersey, US (2017), US Mana Contemporary Chicago, US (2017), Flux Factory, NY, US (2015), KARST contemporary art venue, Plymouth, UK (2015), Tel Aviv Museum of Art, IL (2015-2017), Marl Media Art Award, Marl, DE (2013), Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, IL (2013,2011,2008), Museum Schloss Moyland, DE (2012); Museum Kunst Palast, Dusseldorf, DE (2011).

Works by Avissar are kept in collections in Israel and abroad, among them the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Igal Ahouvi Collection, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art; the Philara Collection, Düsseldorf.