An American of Jewish-Iraqi descent, Michael Rakowitz (New York, 1973) is an artist, architect, teacher and chef. His works address the history and memory of places, explore the concepts of emptiness and absence, and create a kind of symbolic re-fascination. Interested in investigating the notion of the fragment, through his works the artist proposes a process of reconstruction, based on the principle of the social value of actions of exchange, sharing and participation.
In 2020 he was awarded the prestigious Nasher Prize, intended for a living artist whose body of work has had an extraordinary impact on the development and understanding of sculpture. In 2019 he presents at the Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea his first European retrospective Michael Rakowitz. Imperfect Binding, curated by Iwona Blazwick, Carolyn Christov- Bakargiev, and Marianna Vecellio, and realized in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery, London.
The archival collection at CRRI is closely related to the creation of the monographic publication produced on the occasion of the exhibition and served to compile the first comprehensive bibliographic apparatus on the artist. It includes books, articles and essays written by the artist; catalogs and publications of solo and group exhibitions; interviews and conversations with the artist; selected articles in magazines and newspapers; and general texts. It also consists of documentary material such as magazines, pamphlets, brochures, invitations, leaflets, postcards, stickers and posters of solo and group exhibitions since the beginning of the artist’s career in 1993.