Bio

Xenia Benivolski (b. 1983, Moscow, Russia) is an artist and curator based in Toronto, Canada. She had studied Studio arts at the Ofek Arts Institute in Kibbutz Evron, Israel (1998-2000), as well as the Ontario College of Art and Design studio program in Florence, Italy (2005-2006). She is the founder and director of the Whitehouse Studio Co-Operative (2008), and the Cabbage Patch Skids Conceptual Gardening Collective (2009, Toronto), as well as a member of the Board of Directors of Mercer Union Artist Run Centre (2010).
As an independent curator, she had recently co-curated the show Small Gestures (with Greg Denton, 2010) at Double Double Land and a 3 month Talk Series entitled Guess What! (Summer 2010, various locations). She also facilitates workshops and panels such as the discussion panel Bring It: Art Critics Speak (2009)and Extreme Painting (2010)coordinated with Nadja Sayej of ArtStarsTV*. Upcoming projects include This is Paradise, (2011)in conjunction with the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, and Ecnalubma, at gallery 1313 (2011).

Xenia organizes seasonal massive clothing swaps at Mercer Union entitled OMG SWAP. In 2009 she had organized a fashion show of women wearing their mother's clothes for Fashion week 2009.

Xenia is interested in uncommon sensations, comfort, tradition, noise and repetition. In her own art work, she tries to replicate our less reliable senses such as puzzlement, nostalgia, delusion, paranoia and de-ja-vu.

Contact at xeniaster@gmail.com