Ofri Cnaani is an artist and educator. Cnaani’s solo exhibitions and performances include: Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC; PS1/MoMA, NYC; BMW Guggenheim Lab, NYC; The Fisher Museum of Art, L.A.; Twister, Network of Lombardy Contemporary Art Museums, Italy; Kunsthalle Galapagos, NYC; Andrea Meislin Gallery, NYC; Braverman Gallery, Tel Aviv; Pack Gallery, Milan; Haifa Museum of Art, Israel; Herzlyia Museum of Art, Israel. Group exhibitions include: Moscow Biennial; The Kitchen, NYC; Bronx Museum of the Arts, NYC; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Arnolfini Foundation Museum, Bristol, UK; Tel Aviv Museum; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Prague Triennale.
In 2015 she will present videos and performances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Israel Museum in Jerusalem and Inhotim Institute in Brazil, among others.
Performance:
Yes, Yes, Yes
The performance reflects on the notion of Ecstasy, the practice and idea of being or standing outside oneself, through the form of a guided tour. How does the ecstasy as an otherworldly, trancelike experience transcend out of the religious-zones and into the streets of a modern city?
Guided by a character named V, the audience will follow the stories of risky sexual, spiritual, and artistic trips out-of-one’s body. Throughout the tour, V’s only quest is building an ultimate “ecstasy machine.” She will be leading her audience around and about, stopping in hidden rooms in and between the French Embassy and the Ukrainian Institute. In each of those rooms artist Ofri Cnaani will be presenting a short lecture performance, reflecting on a different aspect of ecstasy, using one of her invented “ecstasy machines”. Based on the philosophical notion that to be in a state of ecstasy is to be outside of oneself, all of the invented machines take one medium—text, sound, or image—and translate it into another medium.
Time: 9:30 pm
Meeting point: Cultural Services of the French Embassy / Albertine Books, 2nd Floor
>> PARTICIPANTS