Chanan Ben Simon
Voice
Chanan Ben Simon
Israel/United States
Chanan Ben Simon (aka Ben Simone) is a vocalist, composer and multimedia artist, born and raised in Jerusalem, currently Brooklyn based.
Ben Simone got his MFA in Performance and Interactive Media Art at Brooklyn College and Bmus in Composition from the Jerusalem academy of music and dance.
His work uses voice and other kinds of media (video, movement, technology in different ways) in order to create a multidimensional experience, and it exists between pop culture with “high art”.
His latest works include “Telepresence” – an audio-visual piece influenced by zoom glitches, commissioned for Israel Festival, a 90’s themed interactive TV opera (the weather Channel), an LP named “Toy Store”, a youtube music video project called “Bedroom POP” produced and filmed in his bedroom and “The Dino Show”, a voice/video installation and performance.
His works usually contain a strong sonic content as well as a clear visual world, easy and fun on one hand but also sad and existential on the other.
He collaborates in his works with artists from different genres and worlds such as – Inkyoung Bae, Maya Baran and Yifeat Ziv.
Aside from his own works, he is also an active member of voice movement projects such as ‘constellation chor’. He performs music by experimental composers and creates music for theatre and dance.
<< Working with the Mantra was a very interesting experience for me. Yuval’s request was to be as authentic as possible.
I tried to understand what authenticity means. My first instinct was to shoot inside my messy room that represents this messy period, without curating the situation.
This kind of authenticity wasn’t satisfying. Perhaps because it expressed the hecticness of this period for me, when I spend most of my time in front of the computer, but a messy room and a non curated video is actually very far from my inner soul.
My soul definitely has fairy lights somewhere, in a few different colors (whatever that means). working with the Mantra and with Yuval’s instructions was a good reminder of that.
It also made me understand that my Identity stays the same, even if the materials I work with are very different, and how important it is to live the simplicity of that.
I am grateful for this experience and I hope my part in the Human-Signs universe will make other people light their fairy lights as well, no matter what is the situation around.>>
