Ilya Rabinovich was born in Chişinău, Moldova (former USSR) in 1965 and immigrated to Israel in 1973. He obtained a BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Design and Art in Jerusalem in 1994. From 1998 to 2000, he participated in the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten’s artist-in-residency program in Amsterdam, where he continues to be based.
The émigré experience informs Rabinovich’s artistic work, which primarily deals with identity and memory.
In 2012 he accomplished the photographic research book Museutopia, for which Rabinovich returned to Chişinău to critically observe the shifting role of museums in post-communist Moldova.
In 2015 in collaboration with The Israeli Center for Digital Art in Holon he accomplished the second Museutopia chapter researching Military Museums in Israel, shedding light on some of the narratives that construct the Israeli national identity,
Currently he develops the third Museutopia chapter, he will research part of the Israeli Ethnographic museums. His aim is to explore visually and analyze contextually what are the narratives that are being exhibited to the public and exemplify the bond between the nation and the land of Israel.