NOAM TORAN
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RECENT/FORTHCOMING
EXHIBITIONS
|
15th Rencontres Internationales Kits for an Encounter Design and the Elastic Mind 14th Rencontres Internationales Deeeeesire Group Show Desire Management Screening Desire Management Products of our Time Don't Panic Tomorrow Now |
Madrid Link Western Front Society, Vancouver Link MOMA, New York Link Cinˇma l'Entrep™t, Paris Gatov Galleries, Los Angeles DE07, Baltic Contemporary Arts Centre, Newcastle Fringe Exhibitions Gallery, Los Angeles Goldstein Museum, Minneapolis The Yard Gallery, London MUDAM, Luxembourg |
May 4 – May15, 2008 April 25 – May 30, 2008 February 24 – May 12 2008 Nov 22 – Dec 1 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September
2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 |
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CURRENT
PROJECTS 2006-2008
Postponing the Inevitable (2007)
Film shot on 16
mm
Postponing the Inevitable
is a short film presenting alternative interpretations on the theme of
near-death. Based on true stories, the film's three chapters Falling, Faking and
Freezing
conceptually sit between traditional cinematic storytelling and an ambiguous
space of visual representation, asking the viewer to interpret the clues
provided: A garbage collector is photographed by a woman for an unknown
purpose, a man walks backwards and forwards at the beach, a hospital contains a
lone patient. In collaboration with Onkar Kular.
Commissioned by
the Wellcome Trust. Sponsored by Arriflex Media and the Royal College of Art.
Running Time:
16 min
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Bra
Machine – Object no 1 from the Obsolete Human
Series (2007)
Mixed
media
Bra Machine is
a fictional teaching aid designed to instruct adolescent boys to overcome the
intricacies of opening the brassiere. When initiated the machine demonstrates
the prinicples of both clasp disengagement and brassiere removal. Following a
short pause the machine then re-secures the bra ready for the next
demonstration. The project was originally inspired by accounts of repressive
post-war institutionalised sex education, but is meant to serve as a future
artifact, demonstrating an obsolete behaviour brought about by developments in
bio-technology and plastic surgery. In collaboration with Nick Williamson.
Commissioned by Alexandra Midal for the Luxembourg Musˇe
d'Art Moderne, Photography by Andres Lejona
.
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Proposal
for an Impossible Library (2007)
Triptych
video Installation
30
min, looped, dimensions variable
Presented
on three screens, Proposal for an
Impossible Library is the first instalment of a compilation of every dying
moment in the history of cinema.
Divided
into 10 categories and taken from over 150 films, the work collectively takes
the same length as a feature film. In collaboration with Onkar Kular.
Commissioned by the Wellcome Trust.
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Billy's
got Robot Legs (2007)
Mixed
media
Proposal
for a speculative future where children purposefully amputate their limbs in order
to be refitted with sophisticated prosthetics that improve their physical
capabilities and ensure they get ahead in business. In this case the prosthetic
is specially designed for the espionage industry. The object sits in a
cinematic space, a prop for a film never completed, as exemplified in the odd
functions of the individual elements; a tentacle, a grappling hook, a brogue, a
running leg. Commissioned by the Science Museum, London. In collaboration with
Nick Williamson.
Images
coming soon
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All
the Robots
(2007)
Video
shot on Digibeta
All
the Robots is a short video directed for the artists Dunne and Raby for
an exhibition at the Z33 gallery in Belgium.
Music
by Scanner, cinematography by Per Tingleff, actress is Meritxell Levanchy.
Running
Time: 6 min
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Desire
Management
(2004-2006)
Film
shot on 16mm and HD
Desire
Management is an installation and film
celebrating the use of products as platforms for dissident behaviour. In the
project, the domestic space is defined as the last private frontier, a place
where alienated people use bespoke appliances to engage in unorthodox
experiences. Based on real testimonials and news reports, the objects created
attempt to reveal the inherent need for expression and identity formation in
the face of conformity. The installation was originally shown at the Venice
Architecture Biennale in Summer 2004. The project was commissioned by the CNAC
Pompidou as part of the D.Day – Design Aujourd'hui exhibition and was screened at the
2005 Raindance
Film Festival. In collaboration with Director of Photography Per Tingleff.
Running
Time: 11 min, 20 seconds
Sponsored
by Arriflex Ltd, The Royal College of Art, The National Film and Television
School, and Fuji Film
Photograph of Baseball Bed (2004)
– Spiazzi Gallery, Venice
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SELECTED
PROJECTS 2001-2006
Object for Lonely Men (2001)
Video shot on
DVCAM
The film tells
the story of a man so obsessed with Godard's A Bout de Souffle that he designs
and builds a
tray which reflects the physical language of the film. The tray is made from a
single
sheet of vacuum
formed plastic and has recesses which house the objects that the man interacts
with. The
objects include a mannequin head which resembles Jean Seberg (the female lead),
a gun, hat,
telephone, Herald Tribune newspaper, sunglasses, ashtray, steering wheel, rear
view
mirror and a
pack of Gitanes non-filtered cigarettes. The tray serves as an outlet for the
man's
desires; it
allows him to directly channel the influence of the movie on his fantasies into
physical action.
Running Time: 8
min
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Accessories
for Lonely Men (2001)
Mixed
media
Accessories
for Lonely Men consists of a collection of eight
fictional products designed to alleviate loneliness after the
departure
or loss of a woman. The project is an attempt to understand what initiates
loneliness; do we miss the
individual
or the generic traces they leave behind?
Images (Clockwise)
Chest Hair Curler
Shared Smoke
Plate Thrower
Sheet Thief
Hair Alarm Clock
Silhouette Light
Heavy Breather
Cold Feet
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An Evening of Violence and
Destruction
(2005)
Three screen
video installation
Part of the Red Asphalt and Acme
Product Series in collaboration with Onkar Kular, An Evening of Violence and Destruction is
a three screen video installation at the Yard Gallery, London. The video was a
compilation of 500 clips from over 100 films where buildings, automobiles or
objects are destroyed. From classics such as Zabriskie Point to B-Movie disaster
films, from the Arnold Schwarzenegger canon to Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr,
the result was a one and a half hour film made up entirely of destruction
scenes edited together.
Running Time: 1
hour 30 min
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Buried Alive
(2004)
Installation
and video shot on hi-8
Buried Alive
is an installation project with Shona Kitchen as part of a brief we set for our
students about engineering experience. We shot a video of Shona being buried
alive for 15 minutes in my backyard in a custom-made coffin as she wore
binaural microphones to record the sounds. We then exhibited the video and audio
recording in the coffin. With the help of Dominic Robson and Eelko Moorer.
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Subliminal Furniture (2002-2003)
Video shot on
DVCAM
Images coming
soon
In collaboration
with Tom Hulbert and Stijn Ossevoort
Sponsored
through a research grant from the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea.
Subliminal Furniture
is an installation and film looking at the role of persuasion in our human and
technologically mediated experience. The project proposes a narrative in which
objects become protagonists, a physical form representing the subtleties of
persuasion within human relationships.
To do so a fictional setting is fabricated, one with all the conventions
and conduct of present society, save that subliminal persuasion has been
successfully relocated into the domestic arena. The installation is comprised
of three objects (a laz-e-boy chair, a lamp, a radio), with hidden subliminal
capabilities. A message is typed into a secret keyboard located in the footrest
of the reclining armchair. The message is then sent electronically to the lamp
and radio where it is converted into a subliminal format and transmitted,
allowing the user a discreet method of influencing family members, guests and
themselves. The film, comprising two vignettes, depicts the objects being used
under varying circumstances, In the first vignette, a woman uses the subliminal
furniture to influence her husband into having sex with her. In the second vignette,
a woman uses the same furniture to exact revenge on an unfaithful husband.
Running Time: 8
min
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(c) noam toran
2008