Omer Fast

Omer Fast (born 1972, Jerusalem, Israel) is a contemporary video artist. He received his BFA from Tufts University, School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1995 and an MFA from Hunter College in 2000.^[1] Fast uses his films to explore the various possibilities offered by cinematic medium. His piece The Casting (2007), produced by Commonwealth Projects, was featured in the 2008 Whitney Biennial.^[2]

Artwork

The Casting

The viewer walks into the screening room of the The Casting initially encountering two hanging projection screens. Each screen contains a different depiction of a narrative showing the characters acting while silent and remaining completely still. The projection screens are double sided and contain two additional images on the rear side where the viewer sees two men engaged in an interview. The two men are a young American Army sergeant and the artist in a dialog about the narrative. The artist states during the interview that he is interested only in memory and how memory gets mediated; he says the work he is trying to achieve has or should have no political slant. Although the work is politically ambiguous it shows the powerlessness of an American Army sergeant in the current Iraqi conflict and possibly the powerlessness of perceived American hegemonic power.

CNN Concatenated

In 2002, Fast released CNN Concatenated, an 18-minute long single-channel video which uses CNN footage. The video is cut so that each word is spoken by a different newsperson. The pieces literally asks the viewers questions about media authenticity and give CNN a distinct voice.^[3]

Nostalgia

In October 2009, Fast’s exhibition "Nostalgia" opened at South London Gallery. The exhibition included Nostalgia, a three-part film installation that intermingles a man’s account of his struggle for asylum in Britain with a reenactment of his story as a 1970s science fiction movie in which he attempts to flee a dystopian Europe and relocate to a colony in Africa.^[4]

References

1. ^ Hunter College Department of Art
2. ^ "Omer Fast: About the Artist". Whitney Museum of American Art. 2008. http://whitney.org/www/2008biennial/www/?section=artists&page=artist_fast. Retrieved 2008-06-03. 
3. ^ Sherry Wong: Televisions, July 22nd, 2002
4. ^ Garcia, Carnelia. "Omer Fast." Modern Painters, November 2009.

Bibliography

• Holland Cotter, "Is It Reality or Fantasy?" New York Times, January 7, 2010 [1]

• Sabine Schaschl (ed.): "Omer Fast. In Memorry / Zur Erinnerung", Berlin (The Green Box) 2010. (English/German) ISBN 9783941644144
• Mark Godfrey, TJ Demos, Eyal Weizman, Ayesha Hameed: "Rights of Passage." Tate etc. Issue 19 (Summer 2010).

External links

• Hunter College Art Department
• Bucksbaum Award
• Whitney Biennial
• Tufts University Alumni
• Postmasters Gallery

Persondata
Name	Fast, Omer
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1972
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death