Rachel Libeskind was born in Milan, raised in Berlin and educated in America, holding a B.A. with Honors in Visual Studies from Harvard University. Libeskind is currently based between Berlin and New York, where she has become known for her multidisciplinary approach to her practice. Libeskind often merges her installations and performances with her studio practice, as well as incorporating everything from canvas to collage. The artist further completed two residencies at Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center in Long Island in 2012 and is the 2014 winner of the Arts Students League Fellowship to create work at their studios in upstate New York.
An artist who is constantly pushing the boundaries of available mediums, Libeskind draws inspiration from themes both personal and public, creating a body of work that intelligently marries historical and contemporary notions of identity, gender, re-appropriation and reproduction, creating a situation where social commentary and materiality go side by side.
With residing in New York, Libeskind takes influence from both the fast pace movement of the city, as well as the social constructions the environment is surrounded with. By representing feminist values, the artist believes that there is an importance in raising awareness concerning the notion of inclusion with all individuals, and focusing the intention of her work to be about the experience of humanity, and transcending the confines of gender.
Before her academic career at Harvard University, Libeskind studied Opera for 15 years, where she pulled away from the idea of performance. However, after being invited to a festival in Spoleto, Umbria, Italy to perform, Libeskind was reminded of the memorable art of working with the audience and realized that performance is a very big part of her life. Following this revelation, Libeskind grasped the idea that performing is an immediate form of art you can't deny, and inspired her as an artist to spread her work to be engaging and expressing her ideas across in an efficient manner.
Libeskind has presented solo exhibitions, installations and performances at Center for Jewish History, New York; Watermill Center, Long Island; Pioneer Works, Brooklyn; Bombay Beach Biennale; and Mana Contemporary, Miami. She has also been included in group exhibitions at institutions such as ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe; Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Mobile; Carpenter Center at Harvard University, Cambridge; and National Media Arts Festival of Lithuania, Vilnius. She has been awarded residencies and fellowships at Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, Kaneohe; The Watermill Center, Long Island; Long Road Projects, Jacksonville; and The Arts Students League in New York.