Counter Phenomenon by David Behar Parahia
Artist Films and Talks Programme in Gloucestershire
In autumn 2009 we collaborated with other organisations to present a public programme of events: beginning with a film screening and talk by David Cotterrell - presented by Mezzanine - at SVA, Stroud, followed by a talk at the Beechenhurst Visitor Centre, Nr. Coleford, about his approach to his new commission for the Trail. The following week David Behar Perahia talked about his practice at 2 venues, entitled “Site specificity, community and public involvement”.
Behar Parahia’s visit was supported by the British Israeli Arts Training Scheme – BIARTS, a British Council initiative in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture and Sport. Behar Parahia was recently shorltisted for a commission for the Sculpture Trail. He is an Israeli artist whose work researches the notion of place to discover the layers that compose a local context. He asks questions about the physical process of active perception, the participative “spectator”, and the appropriate use of materials for a given situation. His interventions in site/place/context seek to convey a new perspective about people’s sense of locality, considered through physics, chemistry and architecture, drawing on his multi-faceted background that manifests a unique way to carve out meaning from a given situation. He completed his BFA Sculpture at
The University of Gloucestershire in 2001 , and was awarded a Ph.D. in Architecture at the Technion, Israel this year. He has exhibited extensively in Israel, the U.K., France, Italy and Greece. www.davidbehar.net