By Tal Levy
23 August, 2021
Meet Itzik Gil Avizohar:
A multidisciplinary sound artist, who's performances and installations resonate in space with a delicacy that is very rare these days. Grown up as a musician, Avizohar decided to explore other mediums, which led him in recent years to create performances and sound installations.
If by any luck you’re in Tel Aviv now, you can see his latest installation on show at the 'Edmond de Rothschild Center'.
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Remnant of Mesada, 2020, wind mobiles made out of ready made scraps hanged over 10 window frames.
site specific
Tell us about yourself.
I am a composer, but even though my works are deeply rooted in the fields of sound art and music, my compositions spread over other mediums such as performance, installation, light, sculpture, video and poetry. I was born and raised in Jerusalem, which still accompanies me through my current journeys. Even though I am not based there anymore, I still take part of the community which I came from. I am a member of the extreme art collective ‘Studio Straus’, My noise duo (together with Eyal Bitton) ‘Kashaiof’ is called after an archaic local electronic components store and my solo musical project name ‘Avizohar’ is both my surname and a street’s name in Jerusalem.
Where did your passion for art begin?
Metal!!!
During highschool years I was an outcast, I had many fights with my classmates and was pushed aside from society and the education system. Listening to metal was sort of a refuge for me, a way to escape reality, to relieve my anger on the one hand, but to bring me energy on the other hand. These abilities of music fascinated me completely and drove me to start creating by myself, so I got a bass guitar when I was 13 and the rest is history.
Remnant of Mesada, 2020, wind mobiles made out of ready made scraps hanged over 10 window frames.
site specific
How would you describe your work to someone?
My work investigates the witchcraft and mysticism that sound contains within itself as a medium and the ways in which these magical properties affect the power structures and micropolitics in our culture and society, our perception of reality and the creation of virtuality.
What are you currently working on?
Just recently I premiered a site specific sound installation at ‘Edmond de Rothschild Center’ in Tel Aviv as part of a group exhibition called ‘Rest Mess’ curated by Tali Ben-Nun and will be on view until the first of October. This work deals with subjects such as sonic warfare, virtuality and illusions through questioning terms such as ‘Hauntology’, ‘Deja Entendu’ and ‘Schizophonia’. I can only tell that it feels like I still need to deepen my understanding in these subjects with more projects to come.
‘Homesick’, 2021, curtain, ultrasonic speaker and 3 normal speakers.
500 x 250 x 150, site specific
When you start a new work or project, do you plan what you’re going to create or do you improvise?
It is a symbiosis of both. I blend my muse from theoretical readings, discussions and critical thoughts, but also from the randomality the world has to offer when listening to my habitat, staring at an object or witnessing weird scenes that are happening. When I make music in the studio, I literally “play” music, I try not to be judgmental and just record everything going out of me, then during the compositional process I set different recordings in timeline, testing out new counterpoints and encounters between different materials and examining the new forms that emerge. When it comes to installations, I am gaining most of my muse from the spaces themselves, the way they resonate and the things they contain, then I adjust my concepts and sounds to the space’s requirements and characteristics.
Avizohar, 2021, Singing is Contagious performance for 5 pianos and electronics, The Artists Residence, Herzliya.
Can you highlight some of your influences and discuss how your influences have made an impact on you and your practice?
As already mentioned above, I was (and still am) mesmerized by the magical powers sound in particular and art in general has to offer. Therefore I am mostly influenced by wizards such as Alvin Lucier, David Lynch, James Turrel, Coil, Luc Ferrari, Mayhem, Brion Gysin & William S. Burroughs, Georges Perec, Giacinto Scelsi and so many others.. They all have in common the ability to enchant the viewer / listener, which is ultimately what made me want to learn how to do magic as well.
What are your plans for the remainder of this year?
I am working on my second solo studio LP at the moment and for the rest of this year I will work on a new sound installation commissioned by ‘Musraramix Festival’, which will take place in the beginning of December. And together with Eyal Bitton, we are working on a new performance for Kashaiof’s 2nd album release (which will be released at the beginning of 2022) while composing and producing our 3rd studio album.
A WHOLE (Screenshot img), 2021, generative light and sound installation for 2 LEDs and a hole in a drywall.
site specific