As a media artist, I revendicate a pluralistic practice channelling film direction, music composition, performance, academic research and graphic design. Since 2010, my attention has increasingly been drawn towards the interactions of ancient cosomologies and modern technologies. While my creative strategy is essentially performance-based, at the core of my work is an attempt to rethink the ideological functions of language – whether verbal, visual, musical or behavioral – and to reconsider the power relations between art history and popular culture. My solo works and collaborations with MiracleNu Collective have been associated with movements such as Neo-Dada, Conceptual Art, Psychedelic Pop, Post-Irony and Corecore. In 2020, I started a PhD research in Philosophy of Science and Anthropology, focusing on the depiction of prehistory and deep geological time in video game history, while continuously producing multimedia artworks.
Benjamin Efrati
Works
2024
Iphigénie, concept album release : September 28, 2024, produced by Avec Ou Sans Vous (France)
Mon Algorithme à moi, music video for Iphigénie, co-directed with Balazs Turai, in collaboration with Robert Seidel & Mark Juhar, produced by Avec Ou Sans Vous (France)
Cheikh Efrita, album release, electronically enhanced archive music, album artwork by Alex Baladi, Label Monograph
Original soundtrack for Misionary Pose, animated short directed by Balazs Turai, Off the Air : Sex, created by Dave Hughes, Adult Swim
Original soundtrack for Adgwa Ata, animated short directed by Zsuzsanna Kreif, produced by Avec Ou Sans Vous (France), Boddah (Hungary)
Le Rêve de Polyphème, album cover design in collaboration with Diego Verastegui, for gamelan Puspawarna & Wassim Halal
Ancestors : Before Us, discussion with Patrice Désilets, Eléa Gadéa, Claudine Cohen, Rendez-Vous du Jeu Vidéo, BnF (Paris)
2023
Antiquiser, radio piece for Métaclassique
IoU : Forbidden Zone, artist-in-residency and exhibition, with Shu Isaka, Dimensions Art Center, Chongqing (China)
Original soundtrack for Inner Feels : Everything Flows, animated short directed by Carin Klonowski, produced by ESACM (Clermont-Ferrand)
L’Enlèvement d’Europe, web-comic, Philosophie.ch
Après Sapiens, discussion with Didier Guillion & Claudine Cohen, Rendez-Vous du Jeu Vidéo, BnF (Paris)
2022
Original soundtrack for Amok, animated short by Balazs Turai, produced by Terry Gilliam (USA), Boddah (Hungary), winner of the Annecy International Film Festival Cristal
Paradi(c)e, VR experience, with Shu Isaka, Garden of Ψ – Dream of Φ, curated by Ayako Mino, Next to Hojo Komuten Gallery, Tokyo (Japan)
Original soundtrack for Oligarchia Season 2, animated web-series directed by Balazs Turai, produced by Partizan (Hungary)
Deep Time, transdisciplinary conference, with Yann Le Jeune, Elisa Caron-Laviolette, Jean-Sébastien Steyer, Claudine Cohen, Fleur Hopkins, Clare Mary Puyfoulhoux, Alix Desaubliaux, EHESS x UChicago (Paris)
Original soundtrack for The New Kid, feature film directed by Arnaud Dezoteux, produced by Les Volcans (France)
2021
IoU : artist-in-residency with Shu Isaka in Arbois (Franche-Comté) and Langon (Bretagne)
Archaeological dig at Etiolles (Paris 1)
Associate Researcher at BnF (Paris)
2020
Gnozo : Automatic Information Processing, album release, Reality 3
Gnozo x Wassim Halal, multimedia performance, Institut Français de Hongrie (Budapest)
The Joan of Arc Complex, exhibition co-curated with MiracleNu Collective & Zina, Institut Français de Hongrie (Budapest)
On depictions of prehistory in video games, Arts et Langages PhD candidate program (Philosophy of Science, Anthropology), CRAL / EHESS (Paris)
Metaleptic Games, DIY game studio
Stoned 0.1, online exhibition co-curated with MiracleNu Collective & Metaleptic Games
2019
The Gnozo Show, web-series co-directed with MiracleNu Collective
Gnozo : Fossil Songs, album release, Reality 3
Ta Mère Te Regarde, music video, co-directed with Diego Verastegui, for Punk-Jazz band Pulcinella
2018
The Gnozo Show, multimedia performance with Yann van der Cruyssen, Marion LB, Luc-Etienne DBDR, Talk Show Festival, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud, La Panacée Mo/Co (Montpellier)
Original soundtrack for The Fall of Rome, directed by Balazs Turai, produced by Adriatic Animation (Croatia) and Boddah (Hungary)
Le Patriarche, short film
Nomadic Grids, group show, Mumei, Tokyo (Japan)
Is it Alive?, multimedia performance with Nao Nishihara, Midnight Museum, Nuit Blanche (Kyoto)
Galeism, multimedia performance, Midnight Museum, Nuit Blanche (Kyoto)
Mat vs Atari, multimedia performance, with Fabien Fromont, FRAC Normandie-Rouen
Le Cri du Cyclope, album artwork in collaboration with Diego Verastegui, for gamelan Puspawarna & Wassim Halal
2017
La Bible du Xénoxénisme, interactive animation short, co-curated with MiracleNu Collective, Nuit Blanche (Paris)
2016
Xenoxenism Bus Tours, multimedia performance, in Les Nouveaux Mondes Industriels, collective exhibition curated by Nicolas Bourriaud, Galleria Continua (Paris)
Xenoxenism, multimedia performance with Mine Zoo and Nao Nishihara, Earth + Gallery, Tokyo (Japan)
Le Xénoxénisme, multimedia performance, in Briser la Glace, Le Magasin (Grenoble)
2015
L’Expérience Statistique, multimedia performance with Balazs Turai & Diego Verastegui, FIAC
Gargamel, music video, co-directed with Diego Verastegui, for Punk-Jazz band Pulcinella
Destin Pute, multimedia performance, in collaboration with Mine Zoo, Cabaret Hors-Champ, Mains d’Oeuvres (Saint-Ouen)
2014
Gugus 4, multimedia installation with Balazs Turai, Petra Marjai, Diego Verastegui, 59e Salon de Montrouge (Montrouge)
Interconférences, video program, 65e édition de Jeune Création, collective exhibition (Paris)
Original soundtrack for series The Adventures of Candide, animated series directed by Zsuzsanna Kreif, produced by Popfilm (Hungary)
Original soundtrack for Oligarchia Season 1, animated web-series directed by Balazs Turai, produced by Partizan (Hungary)
2013
Nuit de la Philo, multimedia festival co-curation with Samson Sylvain, Institut Français du Japon (Tokyo)
La conférence des objets, lecture-performance, with Nao Nishihara, Institut Français du Japon (Tokyo)
Gugus Claclé, un Crocodile de Cruauté, animation short in collaboration with MiracleNu Collective
Chercheur aveugle, short film
Masters in Multimedia Arts, Beaux-Arts Paris
2012
Active Smoker, short film
Exchange at Geidai : performance, video, sound experiments ; research on Tatsumi Hijikata, Kazue Kobata Lab, Intermedia Arts Faculty, Tokyo University of the Arts (Tokyo)
Fonctions de la cruauté dans l’oeuvre de Tatsumi Hijikata, Master Thesis at Beaux-Arts paris under the supervision of Clélia Zernik and François-René Martin [Annexe 1] [Annexe 2] [Annexe 3]
2010
Meta Post Modern Mythology, cardboard science-fiction video series with Louise Siffert
La Tunisie d’après Nathan Frati, documentary (Tunisia)
Le Savoir Meuble, netart 2.0
2009
Démissionnaire, documentary (Bénin)
2008
Merjom Climacus, multimedia performance at Théâtre de l’Usine
Masters in Philosophy of Science at Lyon 3 University (research on REM sleep, psychoanalysis and surrealism from an evolutionary perspective)
2005-2007
Pan Dort, comic strip
Kuki, animated short co-directed with MiracleNu Collective
Psychomachie, improvised multimedia performances, with MiracleNu Collective
Rêve, Imagination, Simulation (2008) & Arts, Sciences, Langages (2009) Master Thesis in Philosophy of Science at Lyon 3 Jean Moulin University under the supervision of Denis Forest