Boaz Levin


Boaz M. Levin is a Berlin-based artist, writer, and curator. Levin is the co-founder, together with Vera Tollmann and Hito Steyerl, of the Research Center for Proxy Politics. He was a member of the curatorial team of the 7th edition of the Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie, which opened September 2017, together with :de:Florian_Ebner|Florian Ebner, Kerstin Meinicke, Kathrin Schonegg and Christin Müller.
He is the co-curator of the 3rd Chennai Photo Biennale, in Chennai India. Levin is the son of poet and translator Gabriel Levin and Anat Flug-Levin. He is the editor of Cabinet Magazine's Kiosk.

Education

Levin studied in at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, and then at Berlin University of the Arts where he graduated as Meisterschüler from the class of Hito Steyerl in 2014. Since October 2016, Levin is a PhD candidate and member of the "Cultures of Critique" research training group at the Leuphana University, Lüneburg.

Work

Levin's work deals with the relationship between politics, aesthetics and technology. His work has been exhibited at the CCA, Former West, HKW, Recontres Internationales, FIDMarseille, European Media Arts Festival, Human Resources The School of Kyiv, La Gaîté Lyrique, Auto Italia South East, Years and Dinca Vision quest.
Regarding Spectatorship: revolt and the distant observer, an ongoing curatorial research project co-curated together with Marianna Liosi, was shown at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien November 2015.
All That Is Solid Melts Into Data, co-directed with Ryan S. Jeffery, premiered in FIDMarseille. All That is Solid Melts into Data "traces the architectural development of data centers, those curiously mammoth, often inaccessible glass-and-concrete “anti-monuments” that facilitate the ever-quickening communication we modern-day citizens take for granted. The film builds two simultaneous and equally compelling pictures of the USA — through its physical landscapes, and through the more troubling sociopolitical undercurrents that actively shape its digital economy". The film has been described as a "clinical dissection of the material effects of data on the future conditions of the city." The production of the film was supported by the Ostrovsky Family Fund.
Levin was the curator of "Say Shibboleth! On Visible and Invisible Borders", an exhibition by the Jewish Museums in Hohenems, and Munich.

Research Center for Proxy Politics

Between September 2014 and August 2017, the Research Center for Proxy Politics, hosted over twenty talks and workshops for students and the public on the evolving concept of “proxy politics". Founded by Vera Tollman, Hito Steyerl and Boaz Levin, RCPP "reflects upon the nature of medial networks and their actors, that is, machines and things as well as humans." According to RCPP, "proxies are now emblematic of a post-representational political age, one increasingly populated by bot militias, puppet states, ghostwriters, and communication relays". Levin and Tollmann have argued that "proxies are fundamentally ambivalent, and our current politics engages proxies at all levels".

Awards

Last Person Shooter, co-directed together with Adam Kaplan, was awarded the Ostrovsky Family Foundation Award for Experimental Cinema and Video Art in the 32nd Jerusalem Film Festival, 2015.

Writing

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