RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA

Early Years

Born in Buenos Aires, Tiravanija had an international childhood, a result of his father’s diplomatic service. This nomadic life is reflected in his work in the blending together of different cultural contexts.

After time spent in Thailand and Ethiopia, Tiravanija took up his studies in Canada at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto (1980–1984), followed by the Banff Center School of Fine Arts (1984), the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1984–1986), and the Whitney Independent Studies Program in New York (1985–1986).

Rirkrit Tiravanija Artworks

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Public Commissions

In 2017, Tiravanija was selected to create a flag for Creative Time’s ‘Pledges of Allegiance’ public art commission. Each flag, out 16 raised across the U.S., was intended to convey art’s capacity to mobilise political change by engaging with issues the artists are passionate about.

The message of Tiravanija’s flag Untitled 2017 (Fear Eats The Soul) (White Flag), which decorated the roof of the Arts Council of Princeton’s Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, is tied to its allusion to German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. The film explores themes of xenophobia and racism.

Awards and Accolades

Concurrent to his practice, Tiravanija works as a professor at Columbia University School of the Arts and has received numerous awards, including the National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship (1994), the Lucelia Artist Award from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (2003),the Hugo Boss Prize from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York (2004), and the Silpathorn Award from Thailand’s Ministry of Culture (2017).

Exhibitions

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Courtesy STPI