Toran’s practice-based research leads to objects and films at the intersection between design, technology, cinema and psychology, critiquing contemporary culture. His work appears internationally and is included in the New York MoMA and Paris FRAC collections.
‘Things Uncommon’ was a solo show of four works presenting Toran’s recontextualising of cinematic formulas within the gallery space. The research examined the potential of objects and spaces as protagonists within cinematic narratives. It aimed to enhance understanding of the critical yet under-acknowledged relationship between the film and design disciplines: how cinematic narratives can expand the value and function of ‘things’, and how designed objects and spaces can play key roles within filmic narratives and as symbols of meaning. The affective aspects of designed objects and spaces are foregrounded, as is the way cinema is able to challenge preconceived notions of functionality and value.
Toran’s process begins in classifying components such as built spaces and designed objects under thematic categories, then critically understanding the relations that develop within those spaces or around (and because of) those objects. This complicates their accepted status as settings and props. Instead, elements in film treated as marginal or peripheral (such as living rooms or swimming pools, masks or briefcases) are given a completely different mode of attention and take on a new force.
The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue (2010) in English and French versions, with essays written by Alexandra Midal, Nav Haq and Toran. An artist’s talk to the public took place on the opening day of the exhibition.
The exhibition was reviewed extensively in the French press, notably a full-page review in Libération (2010) and in numerous online magazines and periodicals. Three of the films exhibited were recently acquired by the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, for its permanent collection.