Talk Show. The show presents Omer Fast's latest video installation. Originally recorded live in front of an audience for Performa 09 in New York, Talk Show combines the familiar childhood game of Telephone with the confessional talk-show format. In a theatrical setting, invited guests recounted personal memories with direct links to current global events and the projection of power and freedom.
Arratia, Beer presents Talk Show, Omer Fast's latest video installation. Originally recorded live in front of an audience for Performa 09 in New York, Talk Show combines the familiar childhood game of Telephone with the confessional talk-show format. In a theatrical setting, invited guests recounted personal memories with direct links to current global events and the projection of power and freedom. In the video installation shown at the gallery, the invited guest, Lisa Ramaci, relates her story of love and loss during the War in Iraq to an actress, Rosie Perez, who is listening to the account for the first time.
When the guest is finished, the actress retells what she has just heard to another performer who subsequently narrates another rendition of the story. This sequence repeats six times over the course of the evening, allowing the unscripted story to spontaneously transform from individual memory to communal recitation, from an intimate story of tragedy into a comedy of sex and identity. The 65 minute performance will be shown on three monitors. It is strongly recommended to see the work in a linear fashion, from start to finish.
Appearing in the video are Lisa Ramaci, Rosie Perez, Jill Clayburgh, Tom Noonan, Dave Hill, Lili Taylor and David Margulies.
Omer Fast' s work has been recently exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Kunstverein Hannover, Barbican Art Gallery, London; Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel MUMOK- Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna; The Carnegie Museum, Pittsburg; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin and Centre Pompidou Paris. In 2008 Omer Fast participated in the Whitney Biennial and received the Bucksbaum Award and in 2009 he was awarded the Preis der Nationalgalerie für Junge Kunst.
Talk Show is a Performa Commission co-produced by Artis Contemporary Israeli Art Fund with support from the Edith Russ House for Media Art in Oldenburg and the Goethe Institute.
A new staging of the performance with a German guest and cast will take place as part of the Berlin Documentary Forum 1 at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin on June 5, at 8pm.
Opening 29 April 2010 at 6:30 pm
Arratia, Beer
Mehringdamm 55 - Berlin
Gallery opening hours: Tuesday – Friday 12 – 6 pm
Saturday 1 – 6 pm
free admission