Shahar Marcus was born in 1971 at Petach Tikva. His mother was a teacher and father a Diamond dealer. His first child was born during 2011 and in 2014 his youngest daughter joined the family. They currently reside in Tel Aviv, Israel.
In his early works Marcus dealt with the exploration of his own body and its limitations; his body serving as an instrument or rather a platform for the conducting of experiments with various perishable materials, such as dough, juice, ice and fire. While his early video-performances feature himself along with other artists, with whom he had collaborated in the past, in his recent works, Marcus appears by himself, while embodying different roles and characters.
His most recent works he deal with local political issues, by approaching iconic Israeli landmarks with a critical and humorous point of view (like "1,2,3,Herring"). Thus, Marcus reflects on his own heritage, environment and the creation of local historical narratives. He aspires to tackle a local issue, and convey it through universal visual means ("The Curator", "King of Falafel", "Homecoming Artist and Leap of Faith").
As of 2012, Marcus has been collaborating with the Turkish-German performance artist Nezaket Ekici. The both of them have been employing their own bodies as a medium to build up forces and energies, to resolve tensions and conflicts. By pushing their own physical limits, they cause their works to revolve in no small measure around the limits of cultural and political difference. (Methexis, Sand Clock, Salt Dinner).
Education
1993‐1997 BA Linguistics, University of Tel Aviv
1999‐2004 MA History of Art, University of Tel Aviv
Awards and Residencies
2015 The Discovery award, Loop art fair and festival,Barcelona,Spain.
2013 The Israeli Ministry of Culture award for Encouraging Creativity.
2013 Special mention for "seeds" at the 20 minmax film festival, Ingolstadt, Germany.
2012 Winner of the "press" award, Laguna art prize, Venice,Italy
2011 Winner of the celeste prize-video award
2011 ArtMuse video festival, first place for "Freeze", Bocholt, Germany
2010 Art OMI, New York City
2009 Special mention for "frog test" video art. The Jerusalem International Film festival, Israel.
