Between April 21 - May 4 2023, VRALfeatured Benjamin Freedman’s first ever machinima Jake, which can now be watched here. In this short video, Matteo Bittanti discusses the artist’s left motifs, recurring themes, and the role of video games in manufacturing false memories.
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In his seminal essay, “The spectral geographies of W.G. Sebald” (2007), John Wylie explores the ways in which the German writer W.G. Sebald evokes the uncanny and spectral dimensions of place in his literary works. According to Wylie, Sebald’s writing reflects a deep engagement with the power of place to evoke haunting memories and uncanny sensations. He notes how Sebald’s writing often portrays places as repositories of past traumas and histories that resist simple representation or understanding. Through his use of images, anecdotes, and digressions, Sebald creates a sense of place that is deeply layered and enigmatic, inviting readers to reflect on the ways in which place shapes our perceptions and memories.
The fascinating notion of spectral geographies returns in an eponymous series by Benjamin Freedman which was acquired by the prestigious GESTE Collection in February 2023. Spectral Geographies is a mesmerizing exploration of the urban palimpsest that is Jongno, Seoul, through the use of cutting-edge LiDAR technology. LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is a remote sensing technology that uses laser light to measure distances and create 3D representations of objects and environments…
Matteo Bittanti
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Benjamin Freedman employs sculpture, video, and photography to craft his lens-based creations. His artwork often requires him to delve deeply into intricate histories, conducting extensive research and employing a nearly forensic approach to analysis. Fascinated by photographic research as a type of pseudo-archaeology or meta-ethnography, Freedman frequently uses reinterpretation and disruption in his works to reveal restorative discoveries. As he explores the relative truths and deceptions inherent to the medium of photography, Freedman deliberately incorporates visual vocabularies from genres like video games, science fiction, and horror to produce expansive documentary projects.
Moreover, the use of digital technologies to fabricate false memories and to populate virtual spaces with the weight of recent history is a common thread running through Jake and Freedman’s latest projects, such as Bad Work (2022) and Home in the Valley (2022). While there is a playful quality to the use of digital technologies in these projects, it does not always evoke a sense of joy or amusement. For instance, in Bad Work, the simulated environment captures the unsettling and eerie ambiance of an office festooned for a holiday party, yet conspicuously absent of human presence. Freedman created a series of “photographs” using CGI which depict wine glasses on documents, thrown darts lodged in the ceiling, and abandoned heels under desks, collectively imply a boisterous and spirited occasion that subverts the oppressive ambiance of the workplace…
Matteo Bittanti
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Benjamin Freedman
Jake
digital video, one channel, color, sound, 6’ 46”, 2023, Canada
Jake is an experimental film that explores simulated environments and the inherent artificiality and fallibility of memory. Composed of footage captured in Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, a videogame set in a post-apocalyptic small town, the film presents semi photorealistic views that alternate between natural and domestic environments. Despite an effort towards realism, the footage remains uncanny as a disembodied voiceover of a young man plays overtop. Expressed in first person, the young man reminisces on his childhood memories that involve his family, the town itself and in particular, his first love named Jake. Written using OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology and recounted by a human actor, the narration eventually acknowledges that in spite of the town being simulated, like the nature of his memories of Jake, there is truth to the liminal space that divides reality and fiction.
Benjamin Freedman’s artistic practice spans multiple mediums, encompassing sculpture, video, photography and computer generated imagery with a marked interest in complex histories and the restorative potential of photographic research. Through his lens-based work, Freedman artfully reinterprets and disrupts the past, navigating the relative truths and deceptions inherent in the medium. Of particular note is his embrace of science fiction and horror visual vocabularies to expand his documentary projects, compellingly challenging the boundaries of the genre. Notably, Freedman self-published his first photography book in 2015, and has since exhibited extensively throughout the Greater Toronto area, including at Pumice Raft Gallery, Stephen Bulger Gallery, Ryerson Image Centre, 8eleven Gallery, Art Gallery of Mississauga, and Division Gallery, as well as internationally at the prestigious Aperture Foundation in New York City. Beyond his individual artistic pursuits, Freedman has also made significant contributions to the Toronto arts community, serving on steering committees for the Toronto Art Book Fair and SNAP! Live Auction, and as an artist advisory committee member for The Patch Project. He is currently pursuing a Master of Design, Photography at the École cantonal d’art Lausanne (ECAL) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
