Sharone Lifschitz

Sharone Lifschitz is an artist based in London (born in Beer Sheva). Her moving image, urban interventions and text-based works centre on the investigation of Individual and collective histories in relation to the urban environment and travel networks. Her work often begins with encounters with individuals. For her project Speaking Germany she travelled through Germany meeting over 45 people who answered ads she placed in various newspapers. Lifschitz investigates the relationship that we have with our individual and collective pasts and explores multifaceted aspects of human interactions and the language that facilitates them. To that end, she has devised imaginative strategies for propelling herself into the world. Her tools include advertisements placed in newspapers in order to meet people; and systematic journeys undertaken by train, bus, and Underground. Traveling has brought her into contact with a variety of people as she seeks “the perfect encounter.” The ensuing conversations have provided Lifschitz with the raw material for much of her art. Along the way, she has made use of everyday activities—traveling, eating, sleeping, talking—as the means for making art and understanding the world.


She has recently been awarded funds from the Ostrovsky Family Film Fund, Art Council England, and The Elephant Trust, in support of her film The Visitor. The film is a major collaboration with Pritzker Prize-winning Chinese architect Wang Shu. In 2014, Lifschitz’s work was the subject of a major survey show at the Jewish Museum Munich. She has had a solo show at the Jewish Museum in New York City and has been included in shows at the Royal Academy of Art, London; Wroclaw Contemporary Museum, Wroclaw; Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa; Weltmuseum, Vienna; Kunsthaus Dresden; Beit Hagefen Arab-Jewish Cultural Centre, Haifa; Red Line, Beer Sheva; Musée d'Histoire de la Ville de Luxembourg, Luxembourg CIty; The Soap Factory, Minneapolis; and House of World Cultures, Berlin. In 2007, Speaking Germany was her winning entry in the international competition for the inaugural commission for QUIVID (Munich’s Art Program for Public Buildings) and the Jewish Museum Munich. The permanent part of her winning project can be seen on the external glass walls of the Museum in St. Jacobs Platz, Munich. Lifschitz received the 2010 Adi Foundation Prize in association with the Israel Museum. Her works are included in the collections of the Lenbachhaus Munich; the Jewish Museum Munich; the Great Eastern Hotel, London; and the Jewish Museum NYC, as well as in private collections.
 
In 2017 She completed her PhD at the University of East London where she is a senior lecturer in the Department of Fine Art (since 2008). Lifschitz trained as an architect at the Architectural Association, London, and the Cooper Union, New York. In 2002, she completed her MA in Fine Art at Central St. Martins. She has also been a visiting lecturer at numerous institutions, including the University of Westminster, London; Chelsea College of Art and Design, London; Kunstuniversität Linz; Betzalel Academy of Arts, Jerusalem; University of Ulster, Belfast; and the University of Television and Film Munich.