RAT TALE
About
Rats, some of us love them and some of us love to hate them. But one thing is undebatable, rats are our neighbors and they’re here to stay.
Rat Tale is an immersive installation that investigates the complex relationships between humans and rats. The installation aims to evoke emotions between disgust and attraction. By creating physical closeness between live rats and humans, Rat Tale aims to raise questions about the way we perceive animals who share our urban habitat.
Wherever there are people, be it the forest or the subway, there are animals who share our habitat. Through Rat Tale, artist Gal Nissim invites you to change your preconceptions of our fellow urban dwellers–rats!
Hi-res photos can be found here
Artist Statement
Living in a city, it is easy to forget that we inhabit an ecosystem. Yet we are required to share our urban environment with a variety of animals that have made it their niche. These animals are routinely viewed as intruders, categorized as “pests”, and evoke reactions of disgust and fear. As an artist and a scientist, Nissim is interested in exploring this human-animal relationship with the hope that viewers will reevaluate their preconceptions of nature in the urban environment. Most importantly, her work raises questions about our ecological role and responsibility as the dominant species on this planet.
Artist Bio
Gal Nissim is a New York based, multidisciplinary artist and researcher who bridges art, science, and technology to create interactive work that invites participants to explore the dynamic relationship between nature, culture, and human-made environments.
Nissim's work has been exhibited at Print Screen Festival (Israel), New York Hall of Science, NYC Media Lab at Columbia University, New York University, NYCxDesign festival at Time Square, and Concordia (Netherlands). She is a recipient of grants and fellowships from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), the Culture & Animals Foundation, NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program, Microsoft Design Expo Challenge, Experimental Storytelling research group by NYU and Google, Tisch GSO, and the Weizmann Institute of Science for outstanding young researchers.
She received her Master’s degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She studied at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design while earning her Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, in cognitive science and biology in the Special Honors Program from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.