Yorame Mevorach

Yorame Mevorach (also known as "Yoram" and "Oyoram," Hebrew: יורם מבורך ‎; born 26 December 1951) is a visual artist specializing in video installations in an architectural context. His multimedia works create cinematic scenographies that activate environments by introducing elements of movement and flux. They are constructed as complex immersive systems that both envelop the viewer and project him or her outside of the confines of architectural space and into decorative and scenic narratives.
Since the mid-1990s, Oyoram has received regular commissions from LVMH houses including, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Cartier (jeweler), Kenzo, TAG Heuer and numerous others.Guillaume, Hélène (2 March 2015). "La petite musique brésilienne de Dior". Madame Figaro. Retrieved 23 June 2020. These commissions have allowed him to show his work in boutiques and corporate offices around the world. Every day, more than 3200 screens in 54 cities and 22 countries around the world are set in motion. Half of this number are installations known as Moving Fresques, with a display resolution quality of up to 65K. Oyoram updates these installations four times per year. As each of these works is site-specific, Oyoram often works in close collaboration with world-famous architects such as Tadao Ando, Christian de Portzamparc and Peter Marino.Feutry, Justine (11 May 2016). "Dior inaugure sa nouvelle boutique à Cannes". Madame Figaro. Retrieved 23 June 2020.Martin-Bernard, Frédéric (26 April 2012). "Le Lady Dior érigé en œuvres d'art". Madame Figaro. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
Oyoram's most recent work, Le ring (2019), attempts to extract the immersive experience from its architectural support, creating an installation that is mobile and dematerialized.
Oyoram is owner of the Paris-based company Films Hors Écran / Offscreen Motion Pictures.
Oyoram is married to US-based professor, academic and anthropologist, Katya Gibel Mevorach.
== Biography ==
Born in Jerusalem on December 26, 1951, Oyoram earned his undergraduate degree in 1973 at the Beit Zvi School for the Performing Arts (בית צבי‎). The training that he received at Beit Zvi was largely practical, related to the technical and engineering aspects of filmmaking. In the 1970s, Oyoram then moved to Paris to study cinema theory at the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3- Paris 3. As his mother was of French Algerian origin, Oyoram was able to successfully apply for French citizenship.
During this time, Oyoram frequented the Theatre Lucernaire in Montparnasse, where he met and became close with the director, Christian Le Guillochet. Le Guillochet would often invite Oyoram to film the plays put on by the Lucernaire, including Stratégie pour Deux Jambons featuring the French playwright and actor , The Bald Soprano (La Cantatrice Chauve) written by Eugène Ionesco andThe Tenant (novel) by Roland Topor. In 1981, Topor introduced Oyoram Professeur Choron, François Cavanna and Fred (cartoonist), editors of the weekly satirical magazine Hara-Kiri (magazine), (the precursor to Charlie Hebdo) to which Topor was a regular contributor. Oyoram collaborated with Bernier, Cavanna, and Aristidès to make his first fictional short-film Hara-Kiri #1.“Choron derrière” Press packet [online] URL : https://www.cp-productions.fr/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/choron_dossier-presse_bassedef.pdf; accessed 24 June 2020.
In 1993 he founded his own company, Films Hors Écran/ Off-Screen Motion Pictures, which produces his videos for out-of-the-box sites. 
Oyoram now lives with his wife Katya Mevorach in Des Moines, Iowa and Grinnell, Iowa , Iowa, USA.
=== Experimental filmmaking ===
A series of short satirical films that Oyoram directed for Hara-Kiri soon lead him into a career of experimental filmmaking. What interested him particularly was the growing importance of television in late 20th century French life, notably the new possibilities to emancipate his filmmaking practice from the ossified world of traditional French cinema, which Mevorach found asphyxiating. Mevorach became part of the generation of young experimental filmmakers whose creativity was financed and encouraged by the French television station Antenne 2, known shortly after its creation in 1975 creative liberties that it allowed its producers to take."RÉTROPHOBIES A CHAILLOT Les 26 folies de Fatale Morgana". Le Monde. 4 November 1990. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
In 1987, Oyoram founded Fatale Morgana Productions with producer and actrice France Baud. Together, the duo realised numerous short films and television series, including Les contes de Poulozodor and La Main for the French television station TF1. 
=== Rétrophobies: Chansons d’amour et folie pure (1987) ===
Writing and directing for television allowed Mevorach to temporarily satisfy his desire to explore other public meeting points for visual arts that were not confined to the movie theatre. However, his first major break with traditional forms of cinematic viewing was the series of 26 short films titled Rétrophobies - Chansons d’amour et folie pure (1987).“Fatale morgana”, MIP-TV’87 News, nº2Wednesday April 22nd, 1987, p. 60. Each of the 26 short films was shown simultaneously on separate screens, hung in the long hall of the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. The visitors wore lightweight headphones that only transmitted sound from particular viewing points and were invited to walk about freely, effectively choosing which short films they wished to view and in what order. 
The first 13 shorts from Rétrophobies was shown at the Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels|FIPA Festival of Cannes in 1987.
=== Double You See (2001–2002) ===
The exhibition of Rétropobies at the Palais de Chaillot was the first of a short-lived series of exhibitions in venues outside of traditional gallery and museum circuits and was followed by the exhibition Double You See (2001-2002) at the Museum of Eroticism in Paris and the Erotic Art Museum (Hamburg) in Hamburg."Gros Plan, Au Musée de l'Erotisme « Your most erogenous zone is in your mind » et « Double you see »". France Soir. 23 October 2001. It was on this occasion that Oyoram displayed, for the first time, seven "mixed canvases," consisting of both moving images and still photography.Nicot, Marie (2 November 2001). "Chausse-trapes au musée de l'Érotisme". Stratégies (1211). p. 39. To realize these works, Oyoram installed LCD screens behind screen-printed images of bathroom stalls seen from an aerial viewpoint.R.L., (November/ December 2001). "Au Musée de l'Erotisme". La Gazette de Montmarte. Faces of orthodox rabbis appeared inside these the toilet bowls which would speak and interact with the visitor, as during a catholic confessional."Expos parisiens, « Double you See—wc »". Point Soleil le magazine. December 2001."Agenda, Événements & Expos : "Double you see"". Union. October 2001. 
=== Diamonds and the Power of Love (2002–2003) ===
The next exhibition, “The Power of Love” (2002-2003) signaled the beginning of Oyoram's collaboration with luxury brands, creating original works of art in unique and innovative formats. "Diamonds and the Power of Love" involved an installation consisting of eleven female mannequins set against a plain white backdrop in a circular formation. In was round room of approximately 1000 square meters, a pedestal with a vitrine containing a piece of jewelry from one of the participating brands (BVLGARI, Mouawad, Van Cleef & Arpels, Damiani (jewelry company), Chaumet, Repossi, Shlomo Moussaieff (businessman), Fred Joaillier, Mikimoto Kōkichi, Graff (jewellers), Escada was placed before each one of the eleven "scenographies," as the artist calls them. The pedestals also contained a hidden projector and sound system that projected clothes and scenery onto the mannequins and their backgrounds. Each scene told a story that corresponded to a brand or jeweler that it represented. These short films lasted each less than two minutes and were accompanied by an original musical score composed by , also known as Kent. In addition to composing the score, Kent worked as the acoustic engineer who devised a way for the spectator to listen or experience the music of individual scenes without experiencing interference or cacophony from the others. 
Another major technical innovation that this project engendered was a screen that was not only flat but also included the mannequin. The idea of projecting onto a three-dimensional surface and eventually onto the humanoid forms of the mannequins came to Oyoram in the context of a visit to the . There, he saw a display with a hidden 16mm projector projecting on a wax face in a box.
A small scale maquette was initially made to test out the projecting simultaneously onto a flat surface and a three-dimensional object. A doll belonging to the artist’s daughter was used in an experimental projection onto a miniature mannequin. This experiment demonstrated that it was possible to use a single projector to “wrap” or “map” both the mannequin and the background with the projected image. A special lens was required to project onto a large surface from a short distance. The image needed to have an extremely high definition. It also required very precise positioning of the camera. 
At the time Oyoram lived on rue Vieille du Temple near the Musée Picasso in a space that was too small to make the full-sized maquette. It was thus the home of Oyoram’s then assistant, Françoise Rien, in Vincennes, that was used to test a larger version of the conception. During casting, the actresses’ faces were simultaneously filmed and projected onto the mannequin. In this way Oyoram was able to see how the morphology of the face and body might need to be adapted to the mannequins. The experiments allowed him to realize that the face and body of the figures needed to be two different elements. After casting in Vincennes, actors were retained to act in the scenes and actresses to play the faces.
A former engineer from the Thompson Media Group, Jean-Sebastien Dubission manufactured a wide-angle lens for a normal projector that allowed two images to be projected onto the mannequins and screens from a very short distance. 
In the former studio on rue Vieille-du-temple, Oyoram met with each one of the heads of the diamond brands concerned. These meetings formed the basis for the short filmic narratives that Oyoram would then develop and stage in the installation.
The company Les Ateliers du spectacle was consulted to help fabricate the scenery of the installation. 
To ensure the security of the visitors and the diamonds on display, eleven guards were hired, one for each display. Two versions of each video were also made: The original one that accompanied the display of the diamond on the mannequin and a second in which the diamonds were merely projected onto the mannequins. This was an additional security measure when there was a high volume of visitors. 
It was on the occasion of this third and final iteration of the exhibition, in Paris, that Oyoram designed a CD for journalists.
== Artwork ==
=== Cinematic objects ===
In the latter half of the 1990, Oyoram began a series of works that combined short films and videos with everyday objects. These works, at once sculptural and cinematic, included pieces like Agenda Romance (c. 1996–1997). It consisted of an agenda booklet with brown leather binding and the iconic gold-printed Louis Vuitton motifs on its exterior. It was installed horizontally on a low rectangular coffee table underneath the glass vitrine in the waiting room on the ground floor of the Louis Vuitton headquarters, visitors were entertained by the image of a woman (played by shown on an integrated screen which imitated the pages of the agenda or personal calendar. In the film, the actress played with the pages, turning them and moving in and out of their lines. The story of this work revolved around a romance between a woman and a fountain pen. An essential element was the integration of a filmed story without classical chronological narrative elements, such as a beginning, middle and an end. The film was played on loop, the end blending back into the beginning, creating an endless narrative.​
Two version of this work were made. The first was the installation described above. The second a MovieToile hung on the wall. Oyoram collaborated with the artisans of the Louis Vuitton fabrication workshop in Asnières-sur-Seine, specifically the custom orders and modification department. These artisans took the leather bindings and fit it with a digital LCD screen.​
The film, which only lasted a few minutes, was shot in Oyoram’s studio on a green screen. Bérangère Jean was filmed from above as she laid on the ground, played and looked up as if she were on the surface of the agenda. Filming from an overhanging or “bird’s-eye” perspective allowed this MovieToile object to be viewed from multiple vantage points, none of which were privileged one over the other. ​
The film played on a loop, the end and the beginning blending into a seamless whole. 
Apart from being an innovative approach to storytelling, the Agenda Romance was also the result of important technical breakthroughs notably the elimination of a black screen or “seam” in the film, which contributed to the illusion of the story being played as an endless loop or mise-en-abyme. ​ 
=== MovieToiles ===
 
Mevorach began the MovieToiles series in 1995 and displayed the first prototypes at the Museum of Eroticism in Paris. Consisting of specialised screens containing what the artist refers to as a "graphic canvas", MovieToiles present animated, digitally rendered images seamlessly integrated into the picture's surface so that, at first glance, the MovieToile resembles a traditional painting or fixed image. A moment of patient looking is sufficient for the spectator to perceive the slow and subtle movement of the image. This movement is not an optical illusion as in Op Art, but a digital animation of the MovieToile's composition. The word "MovieToile" is a portmanteau combining the English word “Movie” and the French word “toile”, meaning the painter’s canvas or the cinema screen. In their combined form, this neologism suggests both the MovieToile's formal affinities with painting and film, whilst also highlighting the importance of its dynamic moving composition. The Graphic Canvas allows these two media to be blended seamlessly with no visible border or distinction between them. The frame can also integrate a sound system to add a dialog or music track.
The name initially given to these works was “Lights.” The term “Digitoile” was also used for these works. The model was copywritten (brevet) by Mevorach at INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property (France) de la propriété intellectual) 2004.
The first MovieToile was created at the beginning of Mevorach's collaboration with LVMH, on the occasion of the inauguration of their new corporate headquarters. The objective was to adapt the traditionally narrative format of the films into objects that would tell their own stories. Digital view, a Chinese, London-based technology company, was the first partner in Mevorach's realizations. They helped him develop a projector without moving parts that could repeat seamlessly the images from the “Lights” on loop. 
Seven of MovieToiles are currently displayed in Hong Kong, one in Bergdorf Goodman NYC, and thirteen larger versions (4 x 9 feet) were designed for the Seoul Dior Flagship in May 2015. 
=== Moving fresques === 
Moving Fresques are site-specific installations that consist of multiple high-resolution video screens integrated into interior architectural space. There are 3200 screens in 54 cities and 22 countries that are constantly in motion. The artist updates these works four times per year.
=== Le Ring === 
Inaugurated Summer 2019 in Woodland Studio Sherman Hill Historic District, Des Moines, Iowa. Le Ring is an installation composed of a 26-foot ring divided into sixteen equal segments. Fifteen are mounted with vertical LED panels, and a 16th remains unmounted, serving as the entrance to Le Ring. A short-throw laser projector covers the floor surface. The only source of light comes from the surrounding vertical panes that create a transcendental cylindric space detached from any contextual or architectural references. The exhibition is a starting point of a visual abstract composition, built as a virtual elevator climbing story by story, universe by universe, to the point that leaves no other choice but falling back deep to start.
== Filmography ==
===1996===
Voyage sublime 
===1987===
Rétrophobies : chansons d'amour et folie pure
== References ==
== External links ==
*Yorame Mevorach at The Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation
*
*Artist's Personal Website
*Press Release for Choron Derrière
Category:Visual artists
Category:Israeli people
Category:1951 births