Roee Rosen, Out (Tse), 2010, film still, courtesy of the artist
Alter egos and political provocation are just two of the methods used by the Israeli-American artist, filmmaker, writer, and teacher Roee Rosen. During the first part of the session, Rosen introduces two personalities, Justine Frank and Maxim Komar-Myshkin, who usher in a complex and manipulable set of narratives. Rosen’s interweaving of the real and the surreal continues into the night with a screening of his acclaimed films Out (Tse) and Hilarious (both 2010) followed by a discussion.
Out (Tse) (2010) presents a domination/submission scene set in a mundane living room wherein pain leads to an uncanny intermingling of personal confessions with the utterance of statements used by extreme right-wing politicians in Israel. Hilarious (2010), set in a theater space, examines the possibility of dysfunctional humor and laughter stirred when there is no reason to laugh.
