R. Stein Wexler
Installation / Objektkunst, Konzeptkunst, Partizipation, Performance / Aktionskunst, Skulptur
* 1990 (USA)
Bildung:2022 Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung Chancellor’s Fellow; 2017 UNC Chapel Hill Masters in City and Regional Planning; 2012 University of California, Berkeley Bachelors in English, High Honors
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R. Stein Wexler (b. 1990) grew up in Northern California and has lived in Oakland, California; Amman, Jordan; and Durham, North Carolina. She currently lives in Berlin, Germany where she is an Alexander von Humboldt German Chancellor’s Fellow hosted by the Center for Art and Urbanism.
While she is currently developing counter-memorial projects which engage community members in acts of remembrance with regard to Nazi-Socialist history, Wexler’s work spans studio art, public art, urban design, and policy. She curates and co-creates interventions in public space which reframe problematic yet accepted social and political notions through symbolic and subtle gestures. Her works center social equity, community engagement, and collaboration. To do so, she engages gatekeepers, decision-makers, and academics in conversation with local actors, community organizers, and the happenstance passer-by. The concrete expression of her work depends fully on input by local actors, research, and project constraints. With her background in economic development, she thoughtfully engages other local artists, collaborators, and manufacturers or craftspeople to assist in physical manifestations of permanent works. Additionally, she has a studio practice— as a welder and 2-dimensional artist.
Vita
Public art + curation
2020-present | Was hier war | Haus der Statistik | Berlin, Germany
2021 | 64.000 stones | Jewish Culture Festival | Krakow, Poland
2020 | Public Space Project | Season III | Durham, North Carolina
2020 | The Mix @ Durham Station | Season II | Durham, North Carolina
2020 | Walk-a-bull | Durham, North Carolina
2019 | Public Space Project | Season II | Durham, North Carolina
2019 | The Mix @ Durham Station | Season I | Durham, North Carolina
2018 | Public Space Project | Season I | Durham, North Carolina
Policy + urban design
2020 | Mayor’s Advisory Team on Covid Recovery | City of Durham, North Carolina
2019 | City of Durham Wayfinding Steering Committee | Durham, North Carolina
2018 - 2020 | Durham Cultural Advisory Board | Durham, North Carolina
2017 - 2020 | SmART Corridor Resource Team | Durham, North Carolina
2017 | Five Points Plaza Lighting Installation | Durham, North Carolina
Fine art exhibits
2019 | Annual Juried Exhibit | Durham Art Guild | Durham, North Carolina
2019 | Community Show Durham | The Carrack | Durham, North Carolina
2011 | Solo Show | Bau Kein Scheiß! | Berlin | Germany
Selection committees
2019 | Black Wall Street Gardens | City of Durham, North Carolina
2019 | Ground Plane Art | Durham SmART Corridor | Durham, North Carolina
2019 | Artist in Residency | Durham Art Guild | Durham, North Carolina
2018 | Morgan Street Parking Garage Public Art | City of Durham, North Carolina
Lectures + publications
2021 | Wexler, R. Public Art: What is it good for? POCACITO Alumni Network. Virtual.
2019 | Wexler, R. This Economy and Placemaking: I’m just a soul whose intentions are good. Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood. Placemaking Week. Chattanooga,TN.
2019 | Wexler, R. Leveraging Local Assets for Prosperity. National Consortium for Creative Placemaking: Southeast Conference. Columbia, South Carolina.
2018 | Wexler, R. Art and Real Estate. Bull Meets the Bayou. Durham, NC.
2016 | Wexler, R. Closing a Gap in the Artist Ecosystem. Cross-Currents in Creativity, South Eastern Center for Contemporary Art. Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
2016 | Wexler, R and C Hoffman. Just Creativity. American Planning Association: North Carolina Annual Conference, Asheville, North Carolina.
2016 | Barnard, J and R Wexler, editors. Just Creativity. Carolina Planning Journal (issue 41).
2015 | Dinno Taylor, R and R Wexler. Placemaking Underground. The Urbanist (542): 14-15
Honors + awards
2020-21 | German Chancellor Fellow | Alexander von Humboldt Foundation | Berlin, Germany
2019 | POCACITO Fellow | Dessau and Freiburg, Germany
2017 | Best Master’s Project in Economic Development: “Catalyzing Social Change Through the Arts” | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2015-17 | Parker Fellow | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2012 | Bachelor’s Honors Thesis: “Eating in the Underground: Voided Space in Berlin’s Creative Economy” | University of California, Berkeley
Education
2020 | Metal Fabrication | Durham Technical Community College | North Carolina
2019 | Sculptural Welding | Durham Technical Community College | North Carolina
2017 | Master of City and Regional Planning | Univ. of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill
2012 | Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude in English | Univ. of Calif., Berkeley