I am a cultural and semiotic anthropologist. My research focuses on the institutional transformations of modern creative agency and modern creative practice. Specifically, I am interested in the ways in which modern normative ideals of rationality, on the one hand, and creativity, on the other hand, are negotiated in different institutional settings in the U.S. and Israel. This interest has led me to pursue a number of research projects. First, I am interested in the organizational cultivation of creativity, especially as it finds expression in forms of art socialization that take place in rationalized bureaucratic settings such as colleges and universities and any institutional setting that relies on standardized and rationalized curricula and pedagogies. This strand of research touches upon and problematizes a long-held dichotomy in anthropological theory between rule-governed or imitative social behavior and spontaneous or creative social action. As part of this research, I conducted a two-year ethnographic fieldwork in creative-writing workshops in Israel and a two-year ethnographic fieldwork in collegiate jazz music programs in the U.S. These research projects resulted in a number of publications in which I approached these questions through different foci such as embodiment (Wilf 2010), the materiality of semiotic forms (Wilf 2011), new media technologies (Wilf  2012), sensory agency (Wilf forthcoming), and the intersection of charismatic education and professional training (Wilf forthcoming); a book-length manuscript is in preparation.

An additional research project that emerged from my interest in the institutional transformations of modern creative agency and modern creative practice focuses on the creative cultivation of the modern organization. I am interested in the ways in which contemporary modern organizational settings mobilize discourses and practices of creativity in an attempt to enhance the productivity of their employees. To study this phenomenon, I have launched an ethnographic research project on the Israeli high-technology start-up sector, as well as the innovation industry in the U.S. Part of this research is supported by a generous Career Integration Grant from the European Research Council.

A third researchc project that I have been pursuing since 2011 focuses on computer-mediated, algorithmic forms of creative agency and sociality, i.e., contemporary forms of sociality and creativity that are heavily mediated and constituted by advanced computerized technologies. This research is based on an ethnographic study in a number of sites in the U.S. in which such technologies are being developed.