ILYA & EMILIA KABAKOV: DISAPPEARING INTO AIR. INTERVIEW WITH EMILIA KABAKOV

Abstract

IlyaandEmiliaKabakov areSoviet-born,American- based artists that live and work in Long Island. Their work is deeply rooted in the social and cultural context of the Soviet Union. They both grew up in the city of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. Emilia attended the Music College in Irkutsk, in addition to studying Spanish language and literature at the Moscow University. She migrated to Israel in 1973, and moved to New York in 1975, where she worked as a curator and art dealer.

In New York she met her future husband, Ilya. Since 1989 they have worked side by side in several art installations and public commissions. Their work has been exhibited at the MoMA in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Documenta IX, and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. In 1993, they represented Russia at the 45th Venice Biennale with their installation “The Red Pavilion.” Ilya and Emilia Kabakov have received many honors and awards, including the Oscar Kokoschka Preis in 2002, and the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 1995.