Orit Ben-Shitrit Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List
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Artist Statement
I’ve been utilizing movement and bodies to address issues of domination and the potential for violence. These issues developed as I engaged with three main topical themes: cycles of violence in the Middle East, invisible mechanisms of political, religious and economic control; and conflicted beings trapped in bodies. The works span a spectrum of historical references, combined with ideas that relate to co-dependency, inner demons and behavioral disorders in texture-rich imagery.
In my work, the body is a site of repression and angst. I work with individual performers to develop movements that infuse their memories and personal pathologies into situations that are evident in societal structures. I’m particularly interested in extracting the control mechanisms from these societal structures and testing them in invented scenarios.
Speech is a control mechanism that I find particularly compelling. The oratory scene in the two-channel video MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY, is delivered in Urdek —a language I conjured up from riffs on German and the Berber dialect of Moroccan Arabic. Although unintelligible, the speaker embodies the mannerisms of a demagogue—controlling and manipulating his audience. The scene is simultaneously about the technique of storytelling and story structure, as well as the observation of the audience’s individual responses and the nuance of their facial expressions.
I’m motivated by the need to probe and examine relationships on a personal, co-dependent level, as well as on broader, group and nationalistic levels. This query originates from having grown up in the fragmented and complex state of Israel, where the need for self-assertion is a daily reality. I’m curious about what keeps people together in one situation and what might turn them into enemies in another. How do we form a sense of allegiance and why? How do we as individuals manage to maintain a constant fragile sense of sovereignty?
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Below are descriptions of individual works:
VIVE LE CAPITAL excerpt
Pascal works on Wall Street and surpasses greed to become a prominent philanthropist. Greed surpasses Pascal because he works on Wall Street. VIVE LE CAPITAL is a deliberation on a love/hate relationship with money. It pirouettes between the incriminating recordings of Pascal, a Banker's Trust investor at 14 Wall Street, and two dancers who employ their bodies to comment like a Greek Chorus.
They travel in time to embody Cosimo De Medici on his bench—the earliest form of banking, and pay homage to the French Revolution and John Law— the first Ponzi schemer in history, who caused the bankruptcy of Louis the 14th's monarchy.
HALF TAMED BEAST excerpt
The site-specific dance performance, HALF TAMED BEAST, tells the story of four people who are lost in the desert. They travel across sand dunes searching for water. All they have left is one small container of water to be shared amongst them. Parched, they struggle with one another for the last few drops. Each of them is trapped in a body shriveled from the heat of the scorching sun. The three of them cast off the BEAST who is an impulsive character with very long arms. The BEAST does not share their social code and basic rules of self-control, which leads to her ultimate demise. The performance is an east/west fusion of visual, movement and sound.
MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY excerpt
The three scenarios in MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY focus on three aspects of the state: The LAW, The LEADER and the PEOPLE.
Each of the three scenes deals with: subconscious pathology, political/religious rhetoric and an abstract life and death scenario, respectively. Each scene is bookended by a Dance of Violence—an actor battling an invisible force in a red room. The silent narrator, also a dancer, carries the action from the dance into the next scene.
The first scene (depicted in the excerpt), The LAW, displays ten people standing in line in a judgment-day scenario. Each of them exhibits an exaggerated nervous behavior, which points to their personal subconscious pathology. The Law’s representative—a female guard—stands at the door. Her presence is forceful yet still, except for one dramatic look at The PEOPLE as they churn, mumble and click like a machine.
I’ve been utilizing movement and bodies to address issues of domination and the potential for violence. These issues developed as I engaged with three main topical themes: cycles of violence in the Middle East, invisible mechanisms of political, religious and economic control; and conflicted beings trapped in bodies. The works span a spectrum of historical references, combined with ideas that relate to co-dependency, inner demons and behavioral disorders in texture-rich imagery.
In my work, the body is a site of repression and angst. I work with individual performers to develop movements that infuse their memories and personal pathologies into situations that are evident in societal structures. I’m particularly interested in extracting the control mechanisms from these societal structures and testing them in invented scenarios.
Speech is a control mechanism that I find particularly compelling. The oratory scene in the two-channel video MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY, is delivered in Urdek —a language I conjured up from riffs on German and the Berber dialect of Moroccan Arabic. Although unintelligible, the speaker embodies the mannerisms of a demagogue—controlling and manipulating his audience. The scene is simultaneously about the technique of storytelling and story structure, as well as the observation of the audience’s individual responses and the nuance of their facial expressions.
I’m motivated by the need to probe and examine relationships on a personal, co-dependent level, as well as on broader, group and nationalistic levels. This query originates from having grown up in the fragmented and complex state of Israel, where the need for self-assertion is a daily reality. I’m curious about what keeps people together in one situation and what might turn them into enemies in another. How do we form a sense of allegiance and why? How do we as individuals manage to maintain a constant fragile sense of sovereignty?
/////////////////////////////////////////////////
Below are descriptions of individual works:
VIVE LE CAPITAL excerpt
Pascal works on Wall Street and surpasses greed to become a prominent philanthropist. Greed surpasses Pascal because he works on Wall Street. VIVE LE CAPITAL is a deliberation on a love/hate relationship with money. It pirouettes between the incriminating recordings of Pascal, a Banker's Trust investor at 14 Wall Street, and two dancers who employ their bodies to comment like a Greek Chorus.
They travel in time to embody Cosimo De Medici on his bench—the earliest form of banking, and pay homage to the French Revolution and John Law— the first Ponzi schemer in history, who caused the bankruptcy of Louis the 14th's monarchy.
HALF TAMED BEAST excerpt
The site-specific dance performance, HALF TAMED BEAST, tells the story of four people who are lost in the desert. They travel across sand dunes searching for water. All they have left is one small container of water to be shared amongst them. Parched, they struggle with one another for the last few drops. Each of them is trapped in a body shriveled from the heat of the scorching sun. The three of them cast off the BEAST who is an impulsive character with very long arms. The BEAST does not share their social code and basic rules of self-control, which leads to her ultimate demise. The performance is an east/west fusion of visual, movement and sound.
MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY excerpt
The three scenarios in MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY focus on three aspects of the state: The LAW, The LEADER and the PEOPLE.
Each of the three scenes deals with: subconscious pathology, political/religious rhetoric and an abstract life and death scenario, respectively. Each scene is bookended by a Dance of Violence—an actor battling an invisible force in a red room. The silent narrator, also a dancer, carries the action from the dance into the next scene.
The first scene (depicted in the excerpt), The LAW, displays ten people standing in line in a judgment-day scenario. Each of them exhibits an exaggerated nervous behavior, which points to their personal subconscious pathology. The Law’s representative—a female guard—stands at the door. Her presence is forceful yet still, except for one dramatic look at The PEOPLE as they churn, mumble and click like a machine.
CV
Orit Ben-Shitrit
www.orit-ben-shitrit.com
orit.ben@gmail.com
2010 MFA Hunter College
2011
7th SESC_Videobrasil Southern Panoramas, selected by Solange Farkas, São Paulo, Brazil, Sept 30-Dec 10
The Coming Community, the Haifa Museum of Art, Israel, curated by Yeala Hazut & Lee Weinberg
Physical Center, curated by Amanda Schmitt, Yinka Shonibare’s Guest Projects, London
URBAN LEGEND, curated by Leonora Loeb, Vaudeville Park, Brooklyn
Collage Logic, organized by Jackie Shatz, and sponsored by Harvestworks, Governors Island May-Sept
2010
HALF TAMED BEAST, site specific dance performance, commissioned by Artis, ZOOM contemporary art fair Miami
MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY, solo project with Artis non-for-profit, at ZOOM, curated by Chen Tamir
PARLOUR NO. 17, curated by Meenakshi Thirukode
MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY, 2 channel HD video installation, MFA thesis, Times Square Gallery
Site Unseen, Curated by Fabian G. Tabibian, Royal College of Art, London
Ghost Dance Machine, curated by Elisa Soliven, Vaudeville Park, Brooklyn
2009
PARLOUR NO. 11, curated by Ciara Gilmartin and Leslie Rosa-Stumpf, Bushwich Cedar House
ARTWALK NY to benefit the Coalition for the Homeless
Orit Ben-Shitrit/Aleksandar Duravcevic/Dejan Kaludjerovic Anna Kustera Gallery, September 10-October 17
MAs Select MFAs, Organized by Joachim Pissarro, curated by Sascha Crasnow, Times Square Gallery
Collage Logic, Curated by Joel Carreiro, Storefront Artist Project, Pittsfield, MA
DisEchoNance curated with Jared C. Deery. Artists: Ensemble One, Lauren Luloff and Jeff Thompson, Times Square Gallery.
2008
TALENT PReVIEW ‘09, curated by Renee Vara, White Box
Cryptoreal—Art and Myth, curated by Darren Jones, Francis Lewis Gallery@St George’s, Flushing, Queens
WET with Liz Magic Laser, Martin Murphy, Suko Presseau and Jeremy Willis at Chashama Midtown
ALL HALLOWS’ EVEN, Curated by Emily E. Elsen, The Gowanus Studio Space, Brooklyn
ARTWALK,NY, a tribute to Robert Rauschenberg
In Transition Russia 2008, National Centres of Contemporary Art, Yekaterinburg and Moscow, Russia
The Mirror Stage, Lanitis Foundation, Limassol, Cyprus + catalogue
Loyal Rooftops 2008, curated by Martin Dege, Galerie Loyal, Kassel, Germany
American Dreams, Pace University Digital Gallery, Curated by Jillian Mcdonald, New York
(PAM) at Scope New York curated by Yiannis Colakides and Helene Black
Digital Media 1.0 Festival, La Nau Universitat de Valencia, Curated by Jillian Mcdonald, Valencia, Spain
Around The Coyote/Looptopia Curated by Catherine Forster, Chicago
2007
Loyal Rooftops 2007 curated by Martin Dege, Kassel, Germany
PIXILERATIONS [v.4]: Stories +/- Ornament, Providence, RI
The Most Curatorial Biennial of the Universe, apexart
Three-Minute Film Fest, Root Division, San Francisco
Electric Rats Dream Video Dreams, Celje, Slovenia
2006
What War? Curated by Larry Litt and Eleanor Heartney, White Box, New York
Valentina’s, Roebling Hall, organized by Guy Richards Smit
Groundswell Project Benefit at Exit Art
BAMart benefit
2005
Poles Apart Poles Together Parallel Project at the 51st Venice Biennale, homage to Leon Golub and Philip Pavia
Artists for Tsunami Relief benefit auction at Phillips de Pury & Company sponsored by the NY Daily News, organized and curated by Orit Ben-Shitrit. 100% of funds donated to Americares.
Project Playdate with Jen Dunlap + Jess Ryan, curated by Amy Beecher, at Diamonds and Oranges Gallery, East Village
Groundswell Project Benefit at Artist’s Space
2004
Pixelgraphic (Solo) Reed Whipple Gallery, alternative space, LV
The Infinite Fill Show - organized by Cory+Jaime Archangel, Foxy Production
2003
14th Annual Exhibition, Viridian Artists in Chelsea curated By Robert Rosenblum
5th Biennial Exhibition - A.I.R. Gallery, NYC curated By Shamim Momin
Fiction ‘n Pixels - a two person show, 55 Mercer Gallery, Soho curated By Jonathan Lev
54th Art of the Northeast - Silvermine Galleries, curated by Harry Philbrick
Awards/Residencies/Visiting artist:
2010-2011 LMCC Swing Space Residency
2010 Tony Smith Award
2009 Two week workshop on the intersection between film and art with Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari
2008 Visiting Artist, Hunter College BFA
2005 SVA Summer Residency Program, NYC
Bibliography:
Laster, Paul. “Checking Out ZOOM…”, artbasel.aol.com, Dec 2nd, 2010.
Marisa Mazria, Katz. “Focusing in on the Middle East”,The Art Newspaper - Art Basel Miami Edition - December 3, 2010.
Burg, Avital. “Arresting Apology”, Haaretz Daily Newspaper, Galleria, Deccember 2, 2010: P. 7.
Schmitt, Amanda. Top 10 picks: May 2010.
Ben-Shitrit, Orit. INPUT journal, First Iteration, FRS, May 2009.
Warren, Fry. “DisEchoNance”, The Brooklyn Rail, March 2009: p. 48.
Crasnow, Sascha. “MAs Select MFAs”, exhibition catalogue, p. 17.
NYFA Featured Artist January 16, 2009.
Jones, Darren. “Cryptoreal - Art and Myth”, exhibition catalogue, 2008.
Bleack, Helene and Colakides Yiannis. “In Transition Russia 2008”, exhibition catalogue, 2008.
Heartney, Eleanor. MAKING GOOD LUCK, exhibition catalogue, 2007.
“Electric Rats Dream Video Dreams”, exhibition catalogue, 2007.
“Poles Apart / Poles Together”, exhibition catalogue, 2005.
“News Helps Raise 125G Tsunami Aid” NY Daily News, March 10, 2005: p. 36.
“Art with Heart” NY Daily News, March 9, 2005: 3 CN.
Artnet News, March 3, 2005.
Schillaci, Kelle. “Breaking it Down”, Las Vegas CityLife, January 7, 2005.
Yowell, Erika. “Art: Pixelgraphic by Orit Ben-Shitrit”, Las Vegas Mercury, January 6, 2005.
Laster, Paul. “Dreamland” Artnet, August 10, 2004.
Smith, Roberta. “The Infinite Fill Group Show”, New York Times, August 6, 2004.
Dr. Ofrat, Gideon. “The Doll Show”, Time for Art exhibition catalogue, 2004.
NYFA.org Featured Artist March 2, 2004.
Orit Ben-Shitrit
www.orit-ben-shitrit.com
orit.ben@gmail.com
2010 MFA Hunter College
2011
7th SESC_Videobrasil Southern Panoramas, selected by Solange Farkas, São Paulo, Brazil, Sept 30-Dec 10
The Coming Community, the Haifa Museum of Art, Israel, curated by Yeala Hazut & Lee Weinberg
Physical Center, curated by Amanda Schmitt, Yinka Shonibare’s Guest Projects, London
URBAN LEGEND, curated by Leonora Loeb, Vaudeville Park, Brooklyn
Collage Logic, organized by Jackie Shatz, and sponsored by Harvestworks, Governors Island May-Sept
2010
HALF TAMED BEAST, site specific dance performance, commissioned by Artis, ZOOM contemporary art fair Miami
MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY, solo project with Artis non-for-profit, at ZOOM, curated by Chen Tamir
PARLOUR NO. 17, curated by Meenakshi Thirukode
MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY, 2 channel HD video installation, MFA thesis, Times Square Gallery
Site Unseen, Curated by Fabian G. Tabibian, Royal College of Art, London
Ghost Dance Machine, curated by Elisa Soliven, Vaudeville Park, Brooklyn
2009
PARLOUR NO. 11, curated by Ciara Gilmartin and Leslie Rosa-Stumpf, Bushwich Cedar House
ARTWALK NY to benefit the Coalition for the Homeless
Orit Ben-Shitrit/Aleksandar Duravcevic/Dejan Kaludjerovic Anna Kustera Gallery, September 10-October 17
MAs Select MFAs, Organized by Joachim Pissarro, curated by Sascha Crasnow, Times Square Gallery
Collage Logic, Curated by Joel Carreiro, Storefront Artist Project, Pittsfield, MA
DisEchoNance curated with Jared C. Deery. Artists: Ensemble One, Lauren Luloff and Jeff Thompson, Times Square Gallery.
2008
TALENT PReVIEW ‘09, curated by Renee Vara, White Box
Cryptoreal—Art and Myth, curated by Darren Jones, Francis Lewis Gallery@St George’s, Flushing, Queens
WET with Liz Magic Laser, Martin Murphy, Suko Presseau and Jeremy Willis at Chashama Midtown
ALL HALLOWS’ EVEN, Curated by Emily E. Elsen, The Gowanus Studio Space, Brooklyn
ARTWALK,NY, a tribute to Robert Rauschenberg
In Transition Russia 2008, National Centres of Contemporary Art, Yekaterinburg and Moscow, Russia
The Mirror Stage, Lanitis Foundation, Limassol, Cyprus + catalogue
Loyal Rooftops 2008, curated by Martin Dege, Galerie Loyal, Kassel, Germany
American Dreams, Pace University Digital Gallery, Curated by Jillian Mcdonald, New York
(PAM) at Scope New York curated by Yiannis Colakides and Helene Black
Digital Media 1.0 Festival, La Nau Universitat de Valencia, Curated by Jillian Mcdonald, Valencia, Spain
Around The Coyote/Looptopia Curated by Catherine Forster, Chicago
2007
Loyal Rooftops 2007 curated by Martin Dege, Kassel, Germany
PIXILERATIONS [v.4]: Stories +/- Ornament, Providence, RI
The Most Curatorial Biennial of the Universe, apexart
Three-Minute Film Fest, Root Division, San Francisco
Electric Rats Dream Video Dreams, Celje, Slovenia
2006
What War? Curated by Larry Litt and Eleanor Heartney, White Box, New York
Valentina’s, Roebling Hall, organized by Guy Richards Smit
Groundswell Project Benefit at Exit Art
BAMart benefit
2005
Poles Apart Poles Together Parallel Project at the 51st Venice Biennale, homage to Leon Golub and Philip Pavia
Artists for Tsunami Relief benefit auction at Phillips de Pury & Company sponsored by the NY Daily News, organized and curated by Orit Ben-Shitrit. 100% of funds donated to Americares.
Project Playdate with Jen Dunlap + Jess Ryan, curated by Amy Beecher, at Diamonds and Oranges Gallery, East Village
Groundswell Project Benefit at Artist’s Space
2004
Pixelgraphic (Solo) Reed Whipple Gallery, alternative space, LV
The Infinite Fill Show - organized by Cory+Jaime Archangel, Foxy Production
2003
14th Annual Exhibition, Viridian Artists in Chelsea curated By Robert Rosenblum
5th Biennial Exhibition - A.I.R. Gallery, NYC curated By Shamim Momin
Fiction ‘n Pixels - a two person show, 55 Mercer Gallery, Soho curated By Jonathan Lev
54th Art of the Northeast - Silvermine Galleries, curated by Harry Philbrick
Awards/Residencies/Visiting artist:
2010-2011 LMCC Swing Space Residency
2010 Tony Smith Award
2009 Two week workshop on the intersection between film and art with Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari
2008 Visiting Artist, Hunter College BFA
2005 SVA Summer Residency Program, NYC
Bibliography:
Laster, Paul. “Checking Out ZOOM…”, artbasel.aol.com, Dec 2nd, 2010.
Marisa Mazria, Katz. “Focusing in on the Middle East”,The Art Newspaper - Art Basel Miami Edition - December 3, 2010.
Burg, Avital. “Arresting Apology”, Haaretz Daily Newspaper, Galleria, Deccember 2, 2010: P. 7.
Schmitt, Amanda. Top 10 picks: May 2010.
Ben-Shitrit, Orit. INPUT journal, First Iteration, FRS, May 2009.
Warren, Fry. “DisEchoNance”, The Brooklyn Rail, March 2009: p. 48.
Crasnow, Sascha. “MAs Select MFAs”, exhibition catalogue, p. 17.
NYFA Featured Artist January 16, 2009.
Jones, Darren. “Cryptoreal - Art and Myth”, exhibition catalogue, 2008.
Bleack, Helene and Colakides Yiannis. “In Transition Russia 2008”, exhibition catalogue, 2008.
Heartney, Eleanor. MAKING GOOD LUCK, exhibition catalogue, 2007.
“Electric Rats Dream Video Dreams”, exhibition catalogue, 2007.
“Poles Apart / Poles Together”, exhibition catalogue, 2005.
“News Helps Raise 125G Tsunami Aid” NY Daily News, March 10, 2005: p. 36.
“Art with Heart” NY Daily News, March 9, 2005: 3 CN.
Artnet News, March 3, 2005.
Schillaci, Kelle. “Breaking it Down”, Las Vegas CityLife, January 7, 2005.
Yowell, Erika. “Art: Pixelgraphic by Orit Ben-Shitrit”, Las Vegas Mercury, January 6, 2005.
Laster, Paul. “Dreamland” Artnet, August 10, 2004.
Smith, Roberta. “The Infinite Fill Group Show”, New York Times, August 6, 2004.
Dr. Ofrat, Gideon. “The Doll Show”, Time for Art exhibition catalogue, 2004.
NYFA.org Featured Artist March 2, 2004.
VIVE LE CAPITAL, catching the tears of the moon, single channel video projection, 2011
VIVE LE CAPITAL, the Republic of Property, single channel video projection, 2011
VIVE LE CAPITAL, Cosimo de’ Medici, single channel video projection, 2011
VIVE LE CAPITAL, Cosimo de’ Medici, single channel video projection, 2011
VIVE LE CAPITAL, vault log, single channel video projection, 2011
VIVE LE CAPITAL, access, single channel video projection, 2011
VIVE LE CAPITAL, Butoh revolt, single channel video projection, 2011
VIVE LE CAPITAL, dominate, single channel video projection, 2011
HALF-TAMED BEAST, site specific dance performance, 2010
HALF-TAMED BEAST, site specific dance performance, 2010
HALF-TAMED BEAST, site specific dance performance, 2010
HALF-TAMED BEAST, site specific dance performance, 2010
MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY, the speech, 2 channel video projection, 2010
MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY, the birth, 2 channel video projection, 2010
MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY, viewing the dead, 2 channel video projection, 2010
MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY, the People in line, 2 channel video projection, 2010
MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY, installation view, 2010
MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY, the guard and the People, 2 channel video projection, 2010
MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY, here again, 2 channel video projection, 2010
MEN DIE AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY, Dance of Violence production still, 2010