Born in 1980 in Jerusalem. Lives and works in Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Ariel Schlesinger works in the field of photography, sculpture and installation. His pieces are playful, occasionally kinetic, as well as often threatening and seem to be as much the work of an unhinged inventor as that of a post-conceptual artist. He blurs the line between outsider inventor and studio-bound artist. His practice is based on “self-taught” engineering and an energetic spirit. In his work, there are often two layers: at first sight you see a poetic gesture, but often there is a political twist and a threat of destruction.
Selected solo exhibitions
2023
Intangible Ruins, Vernacular Institute, Mexico City, Mexico
2021
Bubble Machine, Kunst-Station Sankt Peter Köln, Cologne, Germany.
2018
Thank you, gracias (with Wilfredo Prieto), Nogueras Blanchard, Madrid, Spain.
Objects that are not me, Meyer Riegger, Karlsruhe, Germany.
2017
Collegati Scollegati Collegati… with Jonathan Monk, Associazione Barriera, Turin, Italy.
Las estructuras son inconscientes (Structures are Unconscious), Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City, Mexico.
Elvira, Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany.
Reijiro Wada / Ariel Schlesinger, SCAI The Bathhouse, Tokyo, Japan.
2016
11 Hours Forward, Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
2015
hands make mistakes, Galleria Massimo Minini, Brescia, Italy.
2014
Hiding Wood in Trees. Wilfredo Prieto and Ariel Schlesinger, The Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Ariel Schlesinger, Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz/Basel, Switzerland.
Okazaki, Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany.
2013
New Works, Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
2012
Act Without, Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris, France.
2011
Phenomena of Resonance, Musée du château des ducs de Wurtemberg, Montbéliard, France.
Brake Shoe, Project Space, Galerija Gregor Podnar, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Catastrophe is Subjective, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany.
Balanced Acts (with Jonathan Monk), Galerie Meyer-Riegger, Berlin, Germany.
2010
Ghost Rider (with Jonathan Monk), Dvir Gallery, Jaffa Port, Israel.
Reverse Engineering, Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany.
2009
Ariel Schlesinger, Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
2008
Ariel Schlesinger, Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany.
Togetherness (with Jonathan Monk), Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
2007
Ariel Schlesinger, Klerkx Gallery, Milan, Italy.
2006
Tel Aviv Artist’s Studio Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
2005
Ariel Schlesinger, Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
2003
Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya, Israel.
Selected group exhibitions
2020
An Unfinished Project, curated by Ory Dessau, Galerija VARTAI, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Double Wall of Silence, curated by Anja Obradović and Hana Ostan Ožbolt, Hestia Art Residency & Exhibitions Bureau, Belgrade, Serbia.
2019
Double Wall of Silence, curated by Anja Obradović and Hana Ostan Ožbolt, ŠKUC Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Who Writes? curated by Jo Ying Peng, OMR, Mexico City, Mexico.
2018
Recollection – A Journey After 28 Years, PROYECTOSMONCLOVA, Mexico City, Mexico.
KEDEM-KODEM-KADIMA, CCA – The Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel.
2017
And Then There Were None, Meyer Riegger, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Current Affairs, Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Primordial saber tararear proverbiales sílabas tonificantes para sublevar tecnocracias pero seguir tenazmente produciendo sociedades tántricas – Pedro Salazar Torres (Partido Socialista Trabajador), Regen Projects, Los Angeles, USA.
Dizziness – Navigating the Unknown, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria.
Arteinmemoria9, Parco archeologico di Ostia Antica, Rome, Italy.
2016
Paravent, Dvir Gallery, Brussels, Belgium.
Die Kerze | The Candle, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany.
Der Sand aus den Uhren, FRANZ JOSEFS KAI 3, Vienna, Austria.
2015
Mountains with a Broken Edge, 12th Havana Biennial 2015: Between the Idea and Experience, Former bicycle factory Claudio Argüelles. Línea y 18. Vedado, Habana, Cuba.
Bill Bollinger, Paul Czerlitzki, Erik Lindman, Ariel Schlesinger, Alan Uglow, Bischoff Projects, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Verkehrte Welt, Häusler Contemporary Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Dealing with Surfaces, GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst, Bremen, Germany.
A Man Walks Into a Bar – Jokes & Postcards, me Collectors Room / Stiftung Olbricht, Berlin, Germany.
2014
A Man Walks Into a Bar…, Mainburg
, Germany.
Back to Berlin / Re-view, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya, Israel.
You Can Only Think about Something if You Think of Something Else – Times Heterotopia Trilogy 2, Guangdong Times Museum, Guangdong, China.Magic Tricks, insitu, Berlin, Germany.
Feeling Queezy?, EKKM, Estonian Contemporary Art Museum, Tallin, Estonia.
Fantome, Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
The Square, François Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
The Text, Centre d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona Fabra l Coats, Barcelona, Spain.
New in the Collection, Spertus Gallery, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel.
2013
Only to melt, trustingly, without reproach, Škuc Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
By-cycles, Heldart interstitial # 4, Münzsalon, Berlin, Germany.
Works on Paper, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík, Island Sabotage, Insitut, Berlin, Germany.
What You See Is What You Get, Tel-Aviv Museum of Art, Israel.
The Enormous Speed Of Change, Call od the Mall, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
2012
Berlin.Status (1), Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany.
Without (Jonathan Monk), curated by Adam Carr, Meessen De Clercq, Brussels, Belgium.
about:blank, Kunsthalle Münster, Münster, Germany.
Das Unerwartete Erwarten, Künstlerhaus Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
2011
Body Without Body, Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin, Germany.
Homage to Bas Jan Ader, Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Uncommonplaces, Extra City – Kunsthal Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium.
Emotional Blackmail, SAAG, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Alberta, Canada.
Blowing on a Hairy Shoulder / Grief Hunters, ICA, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
Energies, unplugged and reloaded, Häusler Contemporary Zürich, curated by Christina von Rotenhan, Zürich, Switzerland.
Ha Ha Road, curated by Dave Ball and Sophie Springer, Quad Gallery, Derby, UK.
Based in Berlin, Atelierhaus Monbijoupark, Berlin, Germany.
Experimental Station, CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid, Spain.
Durchsichtige Dinge (Transparent Things), Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Under Destruction, Swiss Institute, (traveling exhibition from Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland, 2010), New York City, USA.
Les Brasseurs, Liège, Belgium.
autoMOBIL – Kunst + Bewegung, curated by Jürgen Knubben, Galerie Abtart, Stuttgart, Germany.
2010
Gabriel Orozco was here, Bezalel Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
The hybrid fuels, Gallery der Stadt Sindelfingen, Sindelfingen, Germany.
Christmas in July, Gallery Yvon Lambert, New York City, USA.
The Tale of a Blind Resistance Fighter, Gallery Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
I’m Not Here. An Exhibition Without Francis Alÿs, De Appel Art Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Being There, Meet Factory, Prague, Czech Republic.
Under Destruction, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland.
La part des choses (Get the Balance Right), RDV Galerie, (off site program of In Extenso) Nantes, France.
What happens if…?, Storey Gallery, Lancaster, UK.
2009
Zeigen. Eine Audiotour durch Berlin von Karin Sander, Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin, Germany.
Magic Show, Hayward Gallery (London) touring exhibition, various venues across UK.
Kunstverein Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
What does sculpture want? Sculpture after installation, Bezalel Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland.
BRXLBRAVO, Brussels, Belgium.
Romantische Maschinen, Georg-Kolbe Museum, Berlin, Germany.
Science vs Fiction, Beton Salon, Paris, France.
7×4.5, Contemporary Art Center, Tel Aviv, Israel.
2008
Can art do more?, 5th Jerusalem Biennial, Jerusalem, Israel.
Baken -/ Sammler, Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Re-Construction, Biennial of Young Artists, Bucharest, Romania.
Le Revolver à Cheveux Blancs, Musée de l´objet, Blois, France.
Signs of Life, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel.
2007
Like to Like, Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin, Germany.
Herzliya Biannual, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya, Israel.
2004
Asis, Gordon Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
2003
Midrasha Art Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Public collections
Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel.
Jewish Museum, Frankfurt, Germany.
LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur, Münster, Germany.