• Comment: Unclear where notability lies. Mentions in academic papers are interesting but insufficient to establish notability. A magazine plug doesn't help.  Velella  Velella Talk   10:36, 8 October 2024 (UTC)

Tobaron Waxman (born 1970) is a Canadian interdisciplinary artist, an accomplished filmmaker, curator, educator and singer. His work focuses on gender embodiment and the ways in which it intersects with society, and with religion specifically. He often employs themes of Jewish tradition, combining his heritage with his art.

His work involves the use of contemporary approaches including video installation, performance art, film, photography, and song. In 2015, Waxman spoke as a visiting scholar at the University of California, invited by the Beatrice Bain Research Group.[1] His work is recognized and exhibited at multiple museums, including the Jewish Museum and the New Museum, both located in New York. Waxman has received awards and grants by art councils including the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Toronto Arts Council.[2]

Early Life and Family

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Waxman was born in Toronto to Sara and Al Waxman. His father, now deceased, made his name as a renowned Canadian actor. Before his passing, Al and Sara initiated the Neo-Natal Unit at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Waxman's brother, Adam, was born in 1972. He now works as an executive editor for DINE magazine alongside his mother Sara, who is editor in chief.[3]

Education

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Waxman did course work in integrated media at the Ontario College of Art and Design between 1995 and 1998. He also completed a B.A. in Humanities at the University of Toronto in 1998.[2] He received his M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2014.[4] Most recently, he studied traditional Jewish liturgy, music and vocal techniques in various Orthodox Yeshivas spanning from 2003 to 2007.[4]

Career

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Through his work, Waxman explores the way in which privileged ideals affect embodiment.[4] He uses lens-based media in order to deconstruct the social implications of his own status, by linking gender identity to Jewish tradition.[5]

Waxman has taught courses in video, performance art, history and photography at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the School of Art Institute of Chicago, the University of London and the University of California.[1]

His credibility is notable, as many of his works have been discussed in academic papers and dissertations. Jordy Jones makes reference to Waxman's 'Opshernish' performance in his dissertation on "The Ambiguous I: Photography, Gender, Self". Jones refers to the body as political grounds for social change, and cites Waxman's work as successfully blurring the lines of tradition, and redirecting focus on new and relevant issues surrounding embodiment.[6]

Waxman's academic credibility is further established in an article by Carol Zemel, an associate professor of Art History and Visual Culture at York University, who references the symbolic significance of his work, crediting his ability to dismantle cultural standards.[5] She, and other scholars, including George Doran, have described his art as challenging fixed notions of gender, religion and space.[7]

In 2013, Waxman founded the world's first Intergenerational LGBT Artist Residency. The aim of the residency is to enhance LGBT community building through shared experience. The residency combines curatorial, relational/life art, and sociopolitical praxis.[8]

Filmography

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  • Grrrl (2013) (cinematographer)
  • The Red Window (1997) (actor)

Video Screenings/Projection Art[2]

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Year Occasion/Venue Title/Name
2016 Smack Melon 20th Anniversary Still Life: Israel Eats Itself
2014 National Queer Arts Festival, San Francisco how long has it been
2011 'Queering Sex' how long has it been
2009 Tekfestival True Spirit
2009 'Brooklyn is Burning' transgenred anagram
2009 Artneuland, Berlin Still Life: Israel Eats Itself
2008 MIX NYC, 21st Annual Experimental Film Festival Still Life: Israel Eats Itself
2008 Vidance International Video Dance Festival, Tel Aviv Still Life: Israel Eats Itself
2008 Neutral Ground, Regina, SK transgenred anagram
2008 Neutral Ground, Regina, SK Peytach Eynayim
2007 Vidance International Video Dance Festival, Tel Aviv Techiat ha Metim
2007 Form+Content Gallery, Minneapolis, MN trans.genred.anagram
2006 Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, WI 'Techiat ha Metim'
2003 Lesbian Film Festival Berlin True Spirit
2003 Lesbian Film Festival Berlin how long has it been
2003 Chicago Leather Archives how long has it been
2002 Community Centre Project how long has it been
2002 Tongue-n-Cheeks Collective self-portrait #1: Reverence
2002 New York Lesbian and Gay Experimental Film and Video Festival self-portrait #1: Reverence
2002 Transcinema02 Festival of Expanded Cinema
2001 Links Hall in 'Performing the Problematic' how long has it been
1995 The Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto self-portrait #1: Reverence

Performance Art[2]

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Year Event/Venue Location Title/Name
2015 Kampnagel Festival of Choreography and Protest/hamamness Hamburg, Germany 'The 71st FACE'
2015 St. Gertrude's Church Cologne, Germany 'Singing with Architecture: Cologne'
2014 NU Festival of Performance Tallinn, Estonia guest soloist, 'Chicks on Speed'
2014 Gorki Theatre Berlin guest soloist, 'Tsu Libe Beylen'
2014 Cattle Depot Artist Commune Chinese University of Hong Kong 'The 71st FACE'
2014 Donau Festival Austria guest soloist 'Marriage to the Soil'
2013 New Museum New York City curator, 'NEA 4 In Residence: Performing Beyond Funding Limits'
2012 Lentos Museum Austria 'The 71st FACE'
2012 Dixon Place New York City 'The Diary of Ponim71'
2012 Dixon Place New York City 'Singing with Architecture: Cologne'
2010 Kulturlabor ICI Berlin Berlin 'Mechitza 7.1'
2010 Kulturlabor ICI Berlin Berlin voice performance, 'Overscore'
2010 Palais de Tokio Paris 'GenderfluXXXors UnCoded'
2009 Sonic Art Radio Copenhagen invited artist
2009 Harvestworks SoHo Night New York City 'Block of ice +1/60'
2008 Queer City Cinema Biennial International Media Arts Festival Regina 'Iechem oni/prusa'
2008 International Electroacoustic Music Festival Conservatory of Music Brooklyn College 'Still Life: Israel eats itself'
2008 Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Toronto "Still Life: 'Israel eats itself'
2008 Peacock Visual Art Centre Aberdeen 'Block of ice + 1/60'
2002 Chicago Athaneum Chicago "Mercy" chorus, Meredith Monk

Installation/Photography[2]

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Year Venue Title/Name Curator/Organizer
2015 Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, NY 'Irreverent: A Celebration of Censorship' Jennifer Tyburczy & Leslie Lohman
2015 La Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris '(Up)rooted: A prospect on today's Northern Culture' Charles Garcin
2014 Momenta Art, Brookkyn 'Nu Age Huste' Katie Cercone
2013 Stamp Gallery, Maryland 'Queer Objectivity' (group exhibition) Kris Grey
2013 Lentos Museum, Vienna 'Vollmilch - The beard as signifier' Thomas Edlinger
2012 AIR Gallery, Brooklyn 'Illegitimate and Herstorical' Emily Roysdon
2009 Jewish Museum, NY (& Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco) 'Reinventing Ritual: Contemporary Art and Design for Jewish Life Daniel Belasco
2009 Diaspora, NYC 'Dark Room/Homme Made' Avi Feldman & Daneyal Mahmood
2008 The Project, NY 'The Left Hand of Darkness' Salvia Jasso & Yasmin Dubois
2006 CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, NY 'Deviant Bodies 2.0' Lawrence Brosse

Awards/Residencies[2]

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Year Group/Council Award/Residencies
2016 Sante Fe Art Institute 'Immigration/Emigration' thematic residency
2015 Beatrice Bain Research Group visiting scholar
2015 Canada Council for the Arts, Visual Arts Paris Residency, La Cite Internationale de Arts
2014 Ontario Arts Council "The 2014 Intergenerational LGBT Artist Residency"
2014 Canada Council for the Arts Visual Arts: "Chimera Project"
2013 Ontario Arts Council Curatorial/Research Grant
2013 New Museum NEA 4 Performing Beyond Limits
2011 Smack Mellon Studio Artist Fellowship
2010 BRIC Rotunda Gallery, BCAT Media Centre BRIC Media Fellowship
2010 Jewish Museum Audience Award for "Opshernish"
2010 Toronto Arts Council Fine Arts Division
2008 Toronto Arts Council Grant
2008 Henry Moore Foundation for Sculpture "Block of Ice + 1/60"
2007 Harvestworks Van Lier Residency
2006 ACO Art and Culture Outreach Artist Residency
2006 Canada Council for Art Grant
2005 Canada Council for Art Grant
2005 Paved New Media New Media Artist Residency
2004 Atlantic Centre for the Arts Associate Artist
2004 Canada Council for Art Grant
2003 Experimental Television Centre Recognition
2003 Franklin Furnace Performance Art Award

See also

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  • Bell, Shannon. & Noam Gonick, (eds) "Tobaron Waxman's Post Queer Pallette," Canadian Dimension Magazine, May 2009.
  • "Diaspora in Permanenz," featured artist interview, StadtRevue Koln, 2014.
  • Hauser, Reine. "Body of Work," Afterimage Magazine, 2007.
  • Jacobs, Katrien. "Tobaron Waxman: GenderFluXXors Uncoded," Hong Kong SexxxChange, 2006.
  • Nahmod, D.A., "Open, Affirming and Diverse," Bay Area Report, 2010.
  • Nuit, Banai, "The Left Hand of Darkness," Time Out New York, Issue 671, 2008.
  • Palmieri, Francesco. "A right to the City/Trans in the Landscape", 2012. http://www.prettyqueer.com/2012.06/08/right-to-the-city-trans-in-the-landscape/
  • Steinbock, E.A., "Shimmering: Towards a Trans-Erotic Film Aesthetic," (diss), Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis, University of Amsterdam, 2011.
  • Vaughan, R.M., "Shows that Rocked, Shocked, and Taught: Tobaron Waxman Gender Diasporist," featured artist interview, C Magazine, June 2012.

References

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  1. ^ a b "The Diary of Ponim71". Beatrice Bain Research Group. University of California, Berkeley. August 19, 2015. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Texts". Tobaron Waxman. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
  3. ^ Stratas, William (2016). "About". DINE Magazine. PPI Inc.
  4. ^ a b c Holzhey, Christophe. "Mechitza 7.1: Performance by Tobaron Waxman with Jesse Zaritt and James Hurley". ICI Berlin. Kulturlabor Institute for Cultural Inquiry. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
  5. ^ a b Zemel, Carol (Winter 2013). "In the Mosaic: Jewish Identities in Canadian Performance and Installation Art". Canadian Theatre Review. 153 (153): 13–19. doi:10.3138/CTR.153.003.
  6. ^ Jones, Jordy (2008). "The Ambiguous I: Photography, Gender, Self". University of California. 293.
  7. ^ Doran, George (2014). "Negotiating the Spectacle in Transgender Performances of Alexis Arquette, Zachary Drucker, DavEnd, niv Acosta, and Tobaron Waxman". Transgender Studies Quarterly. 1 (1–2): 273–279. doi:10.1215/23289252-2400244.
  8. ^ "New: Intergenerational LGBT Artist Residency on Toronto Island". Artscape. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
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Category:1970s births Category:New media artists Category:Canadian mixed media artists Category:Canadian photographers Category:Canadian LGBTQ artists Category:Jewish Canadian artists Category:LGBTQ Jews Category:Canadian film directors Category:Living people