Literally Freaks is an interactive installation made with Kobi Franco for “Jerusalem Design Week 2021”
The traditional freak was a well known side show in circuses, carnivals and fairs in which distorted human figures were presented in order to evoke in the audience a sense of fear and provide a shocking form of entertainment..
Viewers are invited to become active participants in the process of image production by photographing their own faces, typing up their names (or two random words) and finally receiving a distorted portrait.
A selection of portraits was printed and hung on a wall each day during the week of the exhibition filling it slowly with freaks.
The starting point of this project was the work of artist, writer and editor Thieri Foulc, one of the founders of the OuPienPo group (1980). Foulc developed a method for portrait creation titled “Onomometric Coordinates”; based on a grid, this system manifests images using the first and last names of the individuals whose portraits are taken.