
Selected Video Works 1999–2004, courtesy the artist.

Selected Video Works 1999–2004, courtesy the artist.

Selected Video Works 1999–2004, courtesy the artist.

Selected Video Works 1999–2004, courtesy the artist.

Selected Video Works 1999–2004, courtesy the artist.
Immigrant house-husband Guy Ben-Ner tackles the claustrophobia of being housebound with his one and then two small children, by making art from what's at hand: the history of cinema and vaudeville, body and conceptual art, video, his children and 19th century literature and philosophy. Narrative laden, these 'almost documentaries' make playful use of the everyday whilst tackling larger themes such as exile and imprisonment within the domestic, the narcissism of parenting and loss of childhood innocence under the burden of education. While there is plenty of slapstick and (not very) special effects, the armature of these 'home-epics' spanning a six year period, Berkeley's Island 1999, House Hold 2001 and Wild boy 2004, is making something from nothing, imaginative use of minimal means including video, sculpture and his body. Ben-Ner's fixed camera colludes with the actors in ensuring that there is no suspension of disbelief and in a Brechtian sense, the viewer is not seduced by technology or realism but engages with ideas.
Currently on a Daad (Berlin Artist in Residence Program) residency, New York based Israeli artist, Guy Ben-Ner represented Israel at the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005.
Supported by

Selected Video Works 1999–2004, courtesy the artist.
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