Opening Friday, September 10: Guy Ben-Ner, Minna Rainio and Mark Roberts
Franklin Art Works is proud to present solo exhibitions by Guy Ben-Ner, Minna Rainio and Mark Roberts, opening on Friday, September 10 with a reception from 7-9pm. Admission is free. Exhibitions will remain on view until Saturday, October 30.
In the Main Gallery
Minna Rainio and Mark Roberts: “Angles of Incidence” (2006)
The Finland-based artists Minna Rainio & Mark Roberts will present two video installations exploring the issue of immigration from very different viewpoints.
Angles of Incidence (2006), a three-channel video installation, presents the actual voices of Somali and Afghan refugees in juxtaposition with images of the empty rooms through which they must pass on their journey to becoming Finnish citizens.
The three young people describe the arc of their journeys in voice-over, from their initial decisions to leave their home countries, to their travels across the world, and their ultimate encounter with the Finnish immigration system.
In the Screening Room
Minna Rainio and Mark Roberts: “Some we kept, some we threw back” (2010)
Some we kept, some we threw back (2010) depicts a man in contemporary times, making preparations for a sauna in the north woods of Minnesota. As he chops wood, pumps water and lights the sauna fire – a woman narrates a series of experiences from her childhood when she and her parents left Finland for America.
Some we kept, some we threw back creates powerful parallels with the refugee’s stories of Angles of Incidence – the female voice describes the reasons her family left her home country: famine, unemployment, political persecution, and reveals the negative receptions they received as part of a new immigrant community.
In the Video Gallery
Guy Ben-Ner: “Drop the Monkey” (2009)
In his newest film, “Drop the Monkey” (2009), the acclaimed artist Guy Ben-Ner documents 25 trips between Tel Aviv and Berlin over the course of a year as he works through relationships with his family in one city and his girlfriend in the other. Creating a performance as “live film,” the artist films and edits in-camera an ongoing phone conversation with himself as his life unfolds.
Ben-Ner’s film never leaves the camera during a twelve-month period; the film always remains “live,” awaiting the next shot. Since the only editing is done entirely in-camera, the move from one shot to the next requires a real physical move: the camera traveling the full distance from Tel Aviv to Berlin and back as the dialogue progresses.
