Open Studio with Artist-Organizer-in-Residence: Misha Ilyin

We are excited to host a by-appointment open studio with our current Artist-Organizer-in-Residence, Mikhail (Misha) Ilyin from Thursday, January 6 through Saturday, January 8, each day from 2–6 pm. The artist, who divides his time between DC and New York, will be present and available for conversation and possible exchanges.

Over the past few months, Ilyin has turned WPA’s space into a seamlessly interwoven working, living, meeting, and exhibition environment. He has used our residency program to research the art of social instructions and agreements, transforming WPA’s gallery with performative installations that document his collaborative process. Ilyin describes this as a "mise-en-scène for the performance and documentation of instructions shared by the audience and me.”

Please RSVP to attend here. Note that capacity is limited. All attendees are expected to be masked and vaccinated.

About the Artist

Mikhail (Misha) Ilyin moved from Russia to the United States in 2016 to study fine arts. Through his art practice, Ilyin locates cultural contact points at the juncture of politics, aesthetics, and between public and private spheres. Ilyin seeks to contextualize private life experiences within established social rules to comment on common human needs of being understood, recognized, and accepted.

Ilyin received his MFA in interdisciplinary studies from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2019 and has received numerous awards for his thesis research on matters of memory politics. Ilyin’s recent work relies on the idea of instruction-based practice responding to the experience of confinement following practical training at Glenstone Museum. Through the use of mundane materials from the domestic environment as well as a visual vocabulary of situation-based practices, Ilyin explores the everyday exchanges that structure our social lives. Ilyin's installations, instructions, and social sculptures render an existing regimented environment and comment on the matters of mundane labor, the value of exchange, social roles, shame, and inequality. Over the last two years, Ilyin has presented his works in Baltimore, Washington, and New York. His most recent exhibition was at Inadequate Lighting in Baltimore, MD. Follow him on Instagram @ilyin.mike.