Jon Rafman

BB9_Jon_Rafman_07
Installation view of "L’Avalée des avalés (The Swallower Swallowed) Rhino/Bear," 2016, "View of Pariser Platz," 2016, and "L’Avalée des avalés (The Swallower Swallowed) Iguana/Sloth," 2016; courtesy Jon Rafman; Future Gallery, Berlin; photo: Timo Ohler

* 1981 in Montréal, CA, lives and works in Montréal, CA

Jon Rafman’s is a persistent, seedy, and all-encompassing documentation of the collapse of the real, ushered in by virtuality’s impingement on physical life. For the 9th Berlin Biennale he has created a new site-specific virtual reality experience using the Oculus Rift. Rafman explores the haptic and uncanny aspects of VR as he takes the viewer on a journey through a series of dramatic, ever-changing scenes. On the terrace, he presents sculptures of animals swallowing and being swallowed. The simultaneously violent and erotic encounters can function as a metaphor for our local immersion in and consumption of digital media.

List of works

L’Avalée des avalés (The Swallower Swallowed) Rhino/Bear, 2016
L’Avalée des avalés (The Swallower Swallowed) Iguana/Sloth, 2016
L’Avalée des avalés (The Swallower Swallowed) Ram/Sea Lion, 2016
L’Avalée des avalés (The Swallower Swallowed) Dog/Lion, 2016

High-density polyurethane, acrylic

BB9_Jon_Rafman_03
Installation view of L’Avalée des avalés (The Swallower Swallowed) Ram/Sea Lion, 2016; courtesy Jon Rafman; Future Gallery, Berlin; photo: Timo Ohler
BB9_Jon_Rafman_09
Installation view of View of Pariser Platz, 2016; courtesy Jon Rafman; Future Gallery, Berlin; photo: Timo Ohler
View of Pariser Platz, 2016

Virtual reality
Co-Directed by Jon Rafman and Samuel Walker

All works Courtesy Jon Rafman; Future Gallery, Berlin
Commissioned and coproduced by Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art
With the support of Canada Council for the Arts; Future Gallery, Berlin