All Projects

Misha Ilin: Residency

October 15, 2021 - January 8, 2022

[Research & Development]

WPA’s Project Space, 2124 8th St. NW, Washington, DC 20001

Multidisciplinary artist Misha Ilin was in residence at WPA to research the art of social instructions and agreements. Originally from Moscow, Ilin divides his time between New York and DC.

Over this three month residency, Ilin turned WPA’s Project Space into a seamlessly interwoven working and exhibition environment, where his collaborative research process found form in performative installation. He explained this as a “mise-en-scène for the performance and documentation of instructions shared by the audience and me.”

About the Artist

Misha Ilin moved from Russia to the United States in 2016 to study fine arts. Through his art practice, Ilin locates cultural contact points at the juncture of politics, aesthetics, and between public and private spheres. Ilin seeks to contextualize private life experiences within established social rules to comment on common human needs of being understood, recognized, and accepted.

Ilin received his MFA in interdisciplinary studies from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in 2019 and has received numerous awards for his thesis research on matters of memory politics. Ilin’s recent work relies on the idea of instruction-based practice responding to the experience of confinement following practical training at Glenstone Museum. Through the use of mundane materials from the domestic environment as well as a visual vocabulary of situation-based practices, Ilin explores the everyday exchanges that structure our social lives. Ilin’s installations, instructions, and social sculptures render an existing regimented environment and comment on the matters of mundane labor, the value of exchange, social roles, shame, and inequality. Over the last two years, Ilin has presented his works in Baltimore, Washington, and New York including their most recent exhibition at Inadequate Lighting in Baltimore, MD.

Past

Thursday, September 26, 2024 | 6:30–8:00pm
2024 Wherewithal Research Presentations
Saturday, June 22, 2024 | 3–5pm
Letting Go, Holding Space, & Moving Through
Thursday, March 21, 2024 | 5-7pm
Currency: An Exchange of Artist Solidarity
SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2024 | 6 - 11pm
2024 Collectors’ Night Gala
Thursday, June 18, 2020 | 8–8:45pm
Film Screening: ‘Land of Friends’ by Carolina Caycedo
Thursday, September 17, 2020 | 7:30–8:30pm
Artist Talk with Vyette Tiya, and Theresa-Xuan & Antonius Bui
Thursday, September 24, 2020 | 7:30–8:30pm
Artist Talk with Akela Jaffi & Emily Ames
Thursday, September 10, 2020 | 7:30–8:30pm
Artist Talk with Jamie Garcia & Juliana Pongutá Forero
January - March 2021 |
Bound
Friday, March 12, 2021 | 8–9pm
Radical Disobedience
Thursday, March 11, 2021 | 7–8pm
Moving Verse
Thursday, February 18, 2021 | 7:30-9pm
El Fondo Como Protagonista (The Background as Protaganist)
Friday, January 23, 2021 | 6:30-7:30pm
Virtual Arepera with Mercedes Golip
Friday, November 17, 2023 | 7-8pm
meta-meta: Conversation with Colby Chamberlain
Thursday, November 2, 2023 | 7-8pm
meta-meta: Performance with Joshua Coyne
Thursday, October 26, 2023 | 6-7:30pm
meta-meta: Workshop with Some People Press
Saturday, March 11, 2023 | 1:30pm
Destroy the World
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 | 5:30-7pm
Queer Life Force: Breathwork + Embodiment Practices
Thursday, March 2, 2023 | 7-9pm
How to build a world (one kiki at a time)
Saturday, February 18, 2023 | 1:30pm
Abolition of Policing—A Critical Theory of Police Power
Saturday, September 9, 2023 | 1-4pm
2023-2024 WPA Season Kick-off & BBQ
Thursday, September 21, 2023 | 7-9pm
2023 Wherewithal Research Presentations
Thursday, July 27, 2023 | 6–7pm
Ama BE: We (too) Grow On Water
Saturday, September 30, 2023 | 1-4pm
Ama BE: Open House
Calling all artists What question fuels your practice? Submit Your Idea How does your process manifest?
Calling all artists What question fuels your practice? Submit Your Idea How does your process manifest?
Calling all artists What question fuels your practice? Submit Your Idea How does your process manifest?