Invert , 2010 ,11’
New Media Center, Israel
INVERT is a project conceived in homage to the cinematic film and its creation one minute before it disappears forever.
A surrealistic dreamlike film, Invert portrays 24 hours in an inverted world where the inanimate and the human are based on a logic of complementary colors (black turns white, red turns green, blue turns orange, and yellow turns purple) and an inversion of light and shadow (infiltration of light darkens the negative, and shaded places become phosphorescent). The result seen on film (on the celluloid) is a positive image, with surprising distortions resulting from the manual inversion process.
The film begins at the crack of dawn, when the house is bathed in darkness; it concludes at nightfall, as light enters. The camera moves between the rooms of the house, focusing on various objects. Invert, the figure of the artist in color reversal, moves around with eyes shut, ears sealed, and nostrils plugged. He attempts to maintain the order in his inverted world by performing everyday chores and trying to teach his parrot to speak. The words, names of the objects appearing in the film, are said in Hebrew, uttered backwards.
Ben Hagari (Tel Aviv, 1981) lives and works in Tel Aviv. He studied at BFA, Hamidrasha School of Art, Beit Berl Academic College, Israel and since 2010 has headed the Department of Hamidrasha video School of Art, Beit Berl Academic College, Israel. In his works, the artist tries to create "another" world, imaginary, building from scratch the internal logic, the family, the objects that inhabit it, and the stories and events that happen.
www.benhagari.com