Born 1973, New York City, lives and works in Glasgow
Ilana Halperin graduated with a BA (Honours) in Fine Art from Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, in 1995. She went on to receive an MFA from Glasgow School of Art in 2000.
In her work, Halperin focuses upon geological activity and phenomena in an engagement with our understanding of time. Her approach combines fieldwork in diverse locations: Hawaii, Iceland, France, China, and in museums, archives and laboratories. Her art practice also develops in collaboration with geological specialists such as The Global Volcanism Program and British Geological Survey. Within her work, drawing parallels between very personal events – for example when she was born or when her father died, with the birth of a volcano – allows for a space to think about our place within the geological time continuum from a more intimate perspective. Recent work focuses on new landmass through the formation of geologically occurring artworks alongside their biological counterparts – body stones.
Selected Exhibitions
Forthcoming – 2013
Solo Exhibition. National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
2012
‘Steine’, Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum der Charité, Berlin
‘Hand Held Lava’, Schering Stiftung Project Space, Berlin
Solo Exhibition. Travelling Gallery, Scotland
2011
Heavy Rotation. Franklin Street Works, Stamford, CT
We Make Versions. Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster
Industrial Aesthetics: Recent Art from Scotland. Hunter College Gallery, New York
Experimental Station. Curated by Virginia Torrente and Andrés Mengs. CA2M, Madrid and touring
Just Photography. Curated by Bruce Haines. Martos Gallery, New York
2010
‘Volcano’, curated by James Hamilton, Compton Verney, Warwickshire
‘Experimental Geography’,  The James Gallery, Graduate Center CUNY, New York (touring exhibition)
‘Portscapes’, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
‘This Matter’, The Royal Standard, Liverpool
‘Exploratory Lab’, Bridport Arts Centre, West Dorset
2009
‘Physical Geology (slow time)’, Spring Exhibitions, three solo projects. Artists Space, New York
‘Running Time, Artist Films in Scotland 1960 to now’, Dean Gallery, Edinburgh
‘An Entangled Bank’, Talbot Rice University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh
‘The Audio Show’, curated by Seth Kelly, 535 Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York
‘Timecode’, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee
‘Polar Dispatches’, Portland Museum of Art, Maine
2008
‘Physical Geology (part one)’, Manchester Museum, Manchester (solo)
‘Estratos’, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud. PAC Murcia. Murcia, Spain
‘Conspire;transmediale.08’, curated by Natasa Petresin-Bachalez, House of
World Cultures. Berlin
‘Art Forms From The Ocean’, National Glass Centre, Sunderland
2007
‘Towards Heilprin Land’, doggerfisher, Edinburgh (solo)
‘Infinite Orogeny’, Double with Adam Putnam, Studio Visconti, Milan
‘It Starts From Here’, De la Warr Pavilion. Bexhill on Sea
‘Alchemy Artists Fellowship Exhibition’, Manchester Museum. Manchester
‘Enlightenment; Collecting for the Future’, Hunterian Art Museum. Glasgow
2006
‘The Square Root of Drawing’, Temple Gallery. Dublin
‘How I Finally Accepted Fate’, curated by Jason Murison. Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York
‘Where the Wild Things Are’, curated by Anne Marie Watson, Dundee Contemporary Arts
‘Drawing Links’, The Drawing Room, London and touring
Our House is a House that Moves’, Living Art Museum. Reykjavik
2005
Nomadic Landmass. doggerfisher, Edinburgh (solo)
2004
‘Dromocroma’, Double solo show with Marina Fulgeri. Autori Cambi,
Rome (solo)
2001
‘The Difficulty of Falling in Love During an Earthquake’, Tramway, Glasgow
(solo)
1999
‘Geologic Intimacy’, Switchspace, Glasgow (solo)