Yael Bartana (1970, Kfar-Yehezkel, Israel) is a video artist who explores the imagery of cultural identity. In her films, installations, photographs, staged performances and public monuments Yael Bartana investigates subjects like national identity, trauma, and displacement, often through ceremonies, memorials, public rituals and collective gatherings. Her early work documents collective rituals introducing alienation effects such as slow-motion and sound. In her recent work the artist stages situations and introduces fictive moments into real existing narratives.
Bartana’s work has been shown in numerous leading museums and biennials: Philadelphia Museum of Art (2021, 2018, 2016), Jewish Museum Berlin (2020, 2017), Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, (2017), Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne (2017), The Banff Centre, Alberta (2016), Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv (2015), Petzel Gallery, New York (2015), Capitain Petzel, Berlin (2015), 31st Sao Paulo Biennial, Sao Paulo (2014), 19th Biennial of Sydney, Sydney (2013), PAMM, Miami, (2013), Walker Art Center, Pittsburgh (2013), Carnegie International (2013), Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2012), Secession Vienna, Vienna (2012), 7th Berlin Biennale, Berlin (2012); 54th Venice Biennale, Venice (2011). She studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, the School of Visual Arts, New York and the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.
Her work is part of the collection of a.o.: van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague; Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Jewish Museum, New York; Kadist, Paris; Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam; Tate Modern, London; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.
In 2011 Yael Bartana represented Poland on the 54th edition of the Venice Biennial.
Bartana co-represents Germany at the 60th Venice Biennial, 2024.