Winner of the Artivist Awards – Artivist Lion 2024
The Artivist Awards Biennale Venezia 2024 proudly celebrates Dodi Reifenberg, honoring his groundbreaking militant career in the arts. Renowned for his impactful work addressing critical social and ecological issues, Reifenberg’s career embodies the spirit of activism through art. This prestigious recognition highlights his enduring commitment to creating thought-provoking pieces that challenge norms and inspire change.
Beyond Plastics
“Dodi Reifenberg’s images are made from layers of plastic bag snippets generating a relief-like depth that is atypical for flat imagery. The colors are not mixed by the artist himself; they rather emerge by cutting up commercial plastic bags and composing
images from these snippets. With a technique perfectly appropriating the polyethylene material he uses, the artist re-codes a by-product of the global marketing industry into metaphorical information about us and our time. However, the snippet-made images cannot be categorized as collages. While a collage shapes a new whole by assembling individual elements, Reifenberg chooses each colored plastic snippet depending on the photographic or devised image and shapes it according to his needs before assigning it its place within the composition. The result is literally a new medium: a plastic image with aesthetic qualities of its own.”
Timo Kaabi-Linke
Dodi Reifenberg (born 1960, Haifa, Israel) studied aesthetics under Gideon Orat in Tel Aviv. Following the 1982 Lebanon War, he left Israel, embarking on extensive travels across Europe, Thailand, and the United States, and living for extended periods in cities such as Amsterdam, London, and Bergen, Norway, before eventually settling permanently in Berlin.
From 1995, Reifenberg collaborated with his partner, composer Florian Mutschler (1961-2000), on various exhibitions, performances, and art projects that explored the intersection of plastic waste and sound. In recent decades, Reifenberg’s artistic practice has increasingly centered on environmental concerns, particularly focusing on the impact of plastic pollution. His innovative use of plastic bags as a medium serves as a compelling reminder of the harm inflicted on the natural world by plastic waste.
A particularly distinguished exhibition was ‘See How You Feel’ at Maddox Arts in London in 2009, where Reifenberg’s work received critical acclaim. His presentations at the worldwide touring exhibition ‘Examples to follow!’ from 2010 to 2023, which began and concluded at Uferhallen Berlin, and included stops at the Lodz Biennale and the Artivism Awards Biennale in Venice, further solidified his reputation in the contemporary art scene. Throughout his career, Reifenberg has had the privilege of exhibiting alongside renowned artists such as Ines Doujak and Richard Box.
Today, Dodi Reifenberg is recognized as one of the most significant contemporary artists. This ranking reflects not only his artistic talent but also the impact his work has made on both national and international art communities. His contributions continue to resonate, prompting viewers to reflect on the complex intersections of memory, identity, and environment through his innovative use of materials and themes.
Alexandra I. Mas
“Bag in Water” will be showcased at Art Capital in the Salon Comparaisons, held at the Grand Palais in Paris, February 2025, under the Groupe Expressionnisme Abstrait. This striking 2012 piece, measuring 129 x 96.5 cm, is crafted from plastic bags and Scotch tape, symbolizing the intricate relationship between art and environmental consciousness.
Join us on November 2nd at Palazzo Pisani Revedin, Campo Manin, Venice, for the Artivist Awards ceremony, celebrating groundbreaking art and activism.
For more, read the EDGE Winter 2024-2025 print issue.
Special thanks to Select Venezia, Fiol Prosecco, Palazzo Pisani Revedin, Cristina Gatti PR, Dr. Marco Tassini, and Mr. Peter Hopkins.
Photos courtesy of Hohenthal Und Bergen.
