This work taps into the sequence of events that inspired the ill-boding superstition and challenges it with the use of a sing-along animation machine. The mechanism of Sing-Along establishes a regimen that cannot be resisted, it forces the audience into bad luck.
The "Funeral March” is the best-known movement in Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 from 1830. It is recognized worldwide as the emblematic musical piece signifying death in contemporary Western culture. Many maintain that any alteration to the piece activates a superstition which hovers over the march. At a certain point even Chopin himself removed the word “funeral” from the title and called it simply “The March”. Coincidence: Eduard Elgar arranged Chopin's sonata for orchestra in 1930. He heard it live for the first time at his own funeral, which took place the following year.
Sing Along, the "grandfather" of modern karaoke, was invented in 1929 by Max Fleischer (Popeye, Betty Boop). The animator who returned from the war right when the talkies emerged, decided to create an interactive animation. The white ball of the Sing Along was based on Fleischer's pointer stick, which he used to guide his soldiers in the WWI. The ball bounces on the lyrics according to the music, in order to allow audiences to sing along new songs they were not yet familiar with.
Hypertrichosis Universalis is a condition of intensive hair overgrow on the entire body or parts of it. It is also known as "Wolf Man" disease. The first case of this condition was recorded in 1648.
Technique: machine, sound, video, motion detector, ping pong ball, bad luck
roduced with support from The Israeli Center for Digital Art
urator: Udi Edelman
The CDA's archives are operating with the support of the Ostrovsky Family Fund and Artis
