David Karave

David Karave (born 1977-10-14) is an American contemporary cinema, theatre, and robotics artist. Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Karave studied at Bennington College (BFA), the British American Drama Academy, and Concordia University in Montreal (MFA).

Karave's most recent artworks combine cinema, robotic art and pyrotechnics within a single performance. The subject of Karave's art include issues of propaganda, the nature of war, and the struggle for human autonomy.

Karave uses mechanized crash test dummies to unsettling effect. He is most well known for the controversial animatronic and pyrotechnic crash test dummy artwork called Home Automation, a parody of the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory System.

Theater
Karave's formal art training was originally in theatre. At the British American Drama Academy in London, England, Karave studied under playwright Bernard Kops. During this time, Karave also worked with playwright/director Harold Pinter who was rehearsing at the same school, in preparation for an Itallian tour of the play []. Karave accompanied Pinter in his rehearsals during the fall of 1998. It has been speculated that the bizarre dialogue of Pinter's characters, and the mysterious fearful worlds that Pinter's characters inhabit have had a direct effect upon Karave's own artworks.

As of '07 David Karave had begun a collaboration with playwright Edward Albee on an immersive theatrical artwork that will involve trees that speak to one another when triggered by proximity sensors.

Cinema
Karave's 1999 film Dreamwalking, was a full length feature film set in the modern slums of Troy, New York, the historic home of Uncle Sam. The film was shown at the Boston Underground Film Festival, the Chicago Underground Film Festival and the Rhode Island International Film Festival. It was initially presented as a traditional cinematic experience, but was later turned into a 3 screen simultaneous projection installation.

Robotic art
Karave is most well known for a controversial robotics, sculpture, pyrotechnics, and multimedia art project called Home Automation, a performance that was created over a period of 4 years by more than 30 artists in the USA and Canda.

Home Automation features a crash test dummy family that speaks to one another, seated at a couch, on a theatrical stage. As the show progresses, a projected TV image in the dummies' living room indicates a rise in the color code threat alert system. The dummies begin to move in repetitive, musical metal grinding spasms, in reaction to the alerts. The family's movements become hopelessly violent and repetitious, their limbs beginning to break off. Eventually, the dummy robots' heads ignite into flames.

The project was created with moulds of a crash test dummy that according to Karave, was loaned to him from the US defense department. The show has met with some controversy, especially after its 2007 performance for the art against fear festival in Florida.

One chief editor at a Tampa newspaper reacted to the show by suggesting that Karave and his art should be treated as terrorism and that he should therefore be delivered to Guantanamo bay. Despite Karave's request that this statement be retracted, the reporter's blog still remains on the net.

In response Karave has stated "While we understand that our leaders need a system of communication, we contest its experiment on the civilian population. We simply have no use for the color codes other than as an object of our fears."

In 2006 the Home Automation project was supported through a fellowship from playwright Edward Albee and his foundation in New York.

In 2007 "Home Automation" was shown at the [] before a crowd of some 80,000 spectators.

The Tampa Tribune called David Karave "a rising star in the artworld."

Films, videos, exhibitions
Dreamwalking, 1999, Feature film.

The Pain is Really Gone, 2004, Experimental video.

Imaginary Bowels, 2004, Installation, Borget Gallery, Montreal.

Fear Gives Rise to the Illusion of Human Life, 2005, Installation, Borget Gallery, Montreal.

Who Invented this? (Qui est l'inventeur?), 2005, Experimental collage video.

Home Automation, 2005-2008 a multimedia performance. " shown at the ] (Society for Art and Technology), Montreal, Quebec", The Ybor Cigar Theater, Tampa, The Powerhouse Gallery, Memphis, TN, and the Edward F. Albee Foundation, Inc., New York

The Television That Sees 2006. The cinematic component of the Home Automation project.

Terror Test B122211A 2007. An installation at The Powerhouse Gallery, Memphis, TN.

Home Automation 2007, v.2. A pyrotechnic robotic art and multimedia art performance, 2007 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Manchester, TN

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