Nina Yankowitz (Day and Night)

Artist Statement
With an interest to re-right history, I continue making sculpture and video ​projection installations ​about women Unsung (S)heroes in science​ ​who made contributions that expanded their fields but were ‘ghosted’, excised from records at the time of their discovery. Before leaving NYC, I built an immersive steel aquarium sculpture to portray the discoveries of French marine biologist Jeanne Villepreux-Power. She made the first aquarium and discovered that Paper Nautilus mollusks secrete liquid to heal its shell when it breaks. After stepping thru a portal, people experience her discoveries​ ​and​ ​challenges; seeing and hearing perspectives​ ​expressed from various time​ ​periods​ ​via respective media styles projecting​ ​on the floor and four walls ​surrounding those inside this 360° aquatic​ ​environment. BUT due to Covid-19, no one can enter the physical art installation so I used photos and the interior video projections to make an immersive 360° video that virtually simulates the experience of being inside the aquarium with her, seeing and hearing animated stories all around you without wearing any Virtual Reality headsets. It’s displaying on an IPad resting on a wood beam. Another beam hosts a sculpture of a woman, built as a female Power Tower. It’s made from a deck of cards and pleated plasticized shades, characterizing games we play to survive quarantine isolation during a pandemic.

Nina Yankowitz
Power Tower, 2020
Deck of Cards, Pleated shade, glass vase
11 1⁄2 H x 9 Dia inches

Nina Yankowitz
Secret Science Virtual Tour Villepreux-Power, 2020
Framed video set into an IPAD

Biography
Nina Yankowitz is a visual artist making sculpture Installations and video projections that address environmental and societal upheavals we face. Sometimes she infuses social networking tools into her installations. Her multi-faith sanctuary was an Interactive art installation “Criss~Crossing the Divine”, and was exhibited at Guild Hall Art Museum summer 2014, Siggraph Asia in Macou, China, and at Creative Tech week NYC in 2016. Using interactive technology embedded in her sculptures allows sharing multi-perspective content and has been an ongoing effort in her art practice. Some exhibits include: Premiere Whitney Biennial 1973 Whitney Museum of American Art, “Hell’s Breath” PS.1 MOMA Queens N.Y. 1982, National Academy Museum 2010, MOMA Drawings Today, Pop-Rally Dadabase/Archives MOMA 2013 New York.  Her Global Warming installation was at the Museum Quartier, Vienna 2012. Other venues include: The Katonah Art Museum, Indianapolis Mus. of Art, Kunsthaus, Hamburg Germany, The Art Institute of Chicago Museum, MOMA, Kiev, Ukraine 2011, Bass Museum, Fla. The Larry Aldrich Museum, Conn. The Parrish Art Museum Centennial Exhibition 1998 Southampton NY. “Interactive Global Warming Game “Truth or Consequences” was part of ISEA 2012 in New Mexico.  Kiosk.Edu” Public Art Installations was at the Chicago Art Fair 2005 & the Guild Hall Garden. New York. Some gallery exhibits include The Jill Kornblee Gallery, Germans Van Eck Gallery, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts 1994, Frederieke Taylor TZ Art, Rosa Esman Gallery, Art in General, and Pat Hamilton Gallery, New York City. Some collaborations with global teams are: The Third Woman interactive film/game at the Greek Museum of Art at the Thessaloniki Biennale 2009, “Crossings/An interactive installation, The Thessaloniki Biennale Greece 2009. She has been awarded The Creative Arts Projects, N.Y., Pollock-Krasner Grant, National Endowment for the Arts 1981,1979, and was a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome.