In-Between 2003-2008 - Video Art Exhibition

'In-Between 2003-2008' brings together five video works addressing in-between cognitive situations, mental states of fear and anxiety, escapism, and the Real. The works reflect the political turmoil of the beginning of the 21st century, as experienced or imagined through video, echoing previous relevant video art work made by video art pioneers.

It is presented on Facebook, as an experiment in presenting video art:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/In-Between-2003-2008-Video-Art-Exhib...

The works can also be viewed on Vimeo:

http://vimeo.com/channels/258462

A number of themes, raising questions regarding the human condition are threaded through the works, such as: the horror of violence, tragedy of war, the wonder of existence, parenthood & childhood, human pathologies and contradictions, perception’s distortions, sense of place, and the nature of video itself, both as medium and art form.

The first decade of the 21st century provides specific conditions for researching these themes in-depth. Electronic media became highly accessible and ubiquitous in this decade, while violence, war and terror were very dominant in public discourse and politics (911, suicide bombings, local wars). In the days before the global economic crisis erupted in 2008, before recession hit world economies, capitalist western society continued to adore money and entertainment, while at the same time became more and more escapist and apathetic to world’s sufferings and terror appearing on worldwide TV screens and computer monitors. 

Global problems we face today, such as the economic recession and war threats, are directly connected to these characteristics of the previous decade, are highlighted in 'In-Between 2003-2008', by focusing on the individual mind caught in these turbulent times. 

In utilizing various combinations of sampled mass media footage and personal video recordings, digitally processed to create new patterns and meanings, the video works follow the tradition of video art’s reflexive aspects as found in video works by pioneer artists such as Nam Jun Paik, Dara Birnbaum and Pipilotti Rist, powered by new technologies which became accessible only towards the end the 1990s, such as MiniDV production and Internet video sampling. The works are also theoretically inspired by the work of thinkers such as Marshall McLuhan, Susan Sontag, Jean Baudrillard, and Gregory Bateson. 

These previous techniques and ideas are transferred from the centre of the western world (New York, Paris, London etc.) to the Middle East, questioning what happens to video art as artistic expression when its elements are relocated in space, time and context.

The video works have been individually presented in festivals, museums and galleries such as: Transmediale Berlin, Kassel Film and Video Festival, Videobrasil Sao Paolo, EMAF Osnabrueck Germany, the National Centre of Contemporary Art Moscow, the Museum on the Seam Jerusalem, and 'Human Frames' exhibition Lowave DVD label Paris.

The exhibition shows the works together for the first time, offering the possibility to view a slice of troubled times, with its certain social-political-technological conditions, which are still relevant today. The collation of these video art works allows a reflection on them as a whole and from a distance of time.

The exhibition is dedicated to Juliano Mer-Khamis who was shot to death on April 4th 2011 in Jenin, near the Freedom Theatre he founded. A man of great courage who embodied in his own self the tragedy of being in-between, in the Palestine-Israel region. 

Guli Silberstein was born in Israel, near Tel-Aviv, in 1969. After graduating from Tel-Aviv University Film & TV department, disappointed by the political climate in Israel at that time, he moved to New York City in 1997. He received a MA in Media Studies, focusing on media art and video editing, from the New School University, NYC, USA, in 2000. In 2002, Guli returned to Israel, going through violent political times there, responding by creating the video art works that compose ‘In-Between 2003-2008’ exhibition. In March 2010, Guli settled with his family in London UK, and he lives and works there now.