Dan Zakheim

Dan (Dani) Zakhem (1958–1994) was an Israeli performance artist and sculptor.

Dan Zakhem was born in Tel Aviv in 1958. From 1983 to 1985, after returning from studying art in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, he worked as an art director and graphic designer. In 1988 he established, together with Tamar Raban and Anat Schen, an organization called "Shelter 209", a non-profit organization for the advancement of performance art in Israel.

Alongside ceremonial and Shamanistic performances, such as "Falling Asleep on a Forest's Nipple" (1985), he created performances with post-modern artificial and spectacular characteristics, such as "The Babel Party" (1984).

In many of his works he created deliberate blurring between art and life. In 1986 he was diagnosed with the HIV virus. Under this influence has created a series of works in which ballet of death as a central motif. In 1994 he died of a brain tumor caused by AIDS.

• 1974–76 Talma-Yalin High School, Givatayim, Israel
• 1978–79 Classical Ballet, Bat Dor, Tel Aviv, Israel
• 1979–82 B.F.A. Major Studio Arts, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• 1983 Gray Adams Steps Schools, New York City
• 1983 Fashion, television, theatre make-up, Audrey Morris & Co, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

• 1990 Art Teachers College, Ramat Hasharon, multimedia

• 1987 Second prize, for the performance "Impressions from Above: a Phenomenon", Israel Festival, Jerusalem
• 1991 Young Artist Prize, The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport