Carnival is a folk ritual that highlights elements of freedom, fantasy, and imagination. It defies the social order by celebrating forbidden desires, breaking boundaries and taboos, and unleashing of passions. The carnival created by Niv Tishbi (b. 1986, Israel) is a frozen moment in time in what may be a celebration, a demonstration, or a military parade; an orderly procession of figures being led or leading, walking in silence or shouting. Tishbi gives free rein to hidden desires; to the appeal of the aesthetics of violence, terrorism, and disasters; to the addiction to anxiety, panic, and the consumption of mass media, which inflames passions and turns horror into entertainment.

Niv Tishbi, detail from The Carnival, site-specific installation (photo: Daniel Hanoch)