People

Prof. Dr. Ilana Boltvinik

All People

  • Role in Center:

    Scientific Lead at Core Partner Institution

  • Discipline:

    Research-based Art

  • University:

    Universidad Veracruzana - Core Partner Institution

  • Country:

    Mexico

Biography: Prof. Dr. Ilana Boltvinik  is a full-time researcher at Universidad Veracruzana, with a background in visual arts and a PhD in social sciences from UAM-C (Mexico City). She is a member of the National System of Creators (2018-20, 2022-25) and co-founder of the Research-Based Art collective TRES. Her art-based research practice is concentrated on the implications of urban space and waste. Of particular interest has been the inquiry on garbage as a physical and conceptual residue that entails political and material implications. One fundamental aspect of TRES is the methodological intertwining with biology, anthropology and archaeology among other disciplines and through extra-disciplinary practices.

Selected Publications:

  • Botvinik, I. (2018): Suspender, neutralizar, invertir: heterotopías, modernidad y basura. In:  Akuavi, A./Carballido, L./Galindo, J./Vázquez, F. (Eds). Modernización y espacio. Imaginarios, ordenamientos y prácticas. UAM-C and Universidad del Rosario, CDMX, Bogotá, 132–156.

  • Botvinik, I. (2018): Transoceanic Traveling Trash (TRES), ReVista, the Harvard Review of Latin America, 8 (2). Link to publication

  • Botvinik, I. (2017): TRES and Francesco Scasciamacchia. Permanencia voluntaria, Squash Editions IV.

  • Botvinik, I. (2017): Derivas sobre la basura. Residuos de una estética del desecho. Nexos online. http://cultura.nexos.com.mx/?p=12971

  • Botvinik, I./Viñas, R. (2017): Ubiquitous Trash – Hong Kong Edition. Hong Kong: WMA Commission and Festina Publicaciones. ISBN: 978-607-7818-00-7

  • Botvinik, I./Gonzáles, S. (2014): Prácticas de preguntar: o cómo explorar el país de las maravillas. Dispositivos en tránsito: “Disposiciones y potencialidades en comunidades de creación. Mexico: CONACULTA. In: Eduardo, A. (coord.), 205-228.  ISBN: 978-607-516-952-1

  • Botvinik, I. (2017): Una visión del Centro Histórico a través de su basura: diálogos entre arte y antropología (Dialogues Between Art and Anthropology: a Vision of Downtown Mexico City through its Garbage). Article in the journal of the Permanent Seminar of the Historic Center of Mexico City, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coordination of Humanidades, Programa Universitario de Estudios sobre la Ciudad, Programa de Maestría y Doctorado en Urbanismo, 153–164.

  • Botvinik, I./Mañon, M./Viñas, R. (2013): Chicle y Pega. Estudio Extendido, Casa Vecina & Fundación del Centro Histórico, Mexico.

  • Botvinik, I. (2012): Extrañeza en el espacio público (Strangeness in Public Space). In: Arte transversal: Fórmulas equívocas. Experiencia y reflexión en la pedagogía de la transdisciplina. (Transversal Art: mistaken formulas. Experience and reflection in the transdisciplinary pedagogy). CONACULTA, 165–185. ISBN: 978-607-455-911-8

Areas of Expertise:

  • Art-Based Research
  • Studies of Waste
  • Extra and Transdisciplinary Methodologies
  • Spatial Sociology
  • Urban Studies

Current Position(s):

  • Full researcher-artist, Instituto de Artes Plasticas, Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico
  • Co-director, TRES
  • Pedagogic team member, SOMA, Mexico

Past Position(s)

  • Faculty member, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, National Center for the Arts, Mexico

Prizes & Awards:

  • 2018-2020: National System of the Arts Grantee, SNCA, Mexico
  • 2019: Represented Mexico (official selection), XIII Havana Biennale, Cuba
  • 2016: Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University www.peabody.harvard.edu/node/2635
  • 2015: Winner of the WYNG Master Award Commission on WASTE, Hong Kong, for Ubiquitous Trash-Hong Kong Edition
  • 2020: Grantee, Pollock-Krasner Foundation

Memberships & Networks:

  • ESOCITE (Asociación Latiniamericana de Estudios de Sociales de la Ciencia y la Tecnología) www.esocite.la/
  • Member of the body “Transdisciplinary art practices and research” CENART, Mexico
  • Laboratorio de Análisis Socio Territorial (LAST), Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Cuajimalpa, Mexico Link to the website