Nira Pereg: Black Box August 13, 2011

Nira Pereg creates documentary-based multimedia projects that transform reality into quasi-theatrical events. This Black Box presentation features '67 Bows' (2006), a work inspired by a visit to the Berlin Zoo, where Pereg studied a flock of flamingos. She realized that whenever she lifted her arms, by reflex the flamingos reacted, calling to mind the response of a symphony orchestra to the conductor's baton. Employing various camera angles, the artist offers sumptuous close-ups of these exotic animals calmly going about their instinctual business. Over the muffled noise of the birds' squawks and clucks she adds a provocative, sporadically timed track of mysterious sounds, evoking a sense of suspense and heightened apprehension in the viewer.