Boat People

2002 | video | 06'30

"A man fleeing from distress is bound to meet disaster. When wishing to avoid a snake, a dragon he'll encounter".

This quotation, from the Muslim poet Jalal A-Ddin Roomi, lies in the background of this video piece,which takes place in Paris. Its' frame is a guided tour on the Seine, in one of the showboats called "Bateaux Mouches". The recorded spoken commentary, which accompanies the tourist journey is re-edited in a way that creates a whole different meaning to this ride on the river. By intervening in the scenery we make it more hallucinated and sometimes even threatening.

The main theme of the work is paranoid state of mind, inherited in Israeli society.

This disturbed situation is reflected in the constant state of alert, which expresses itself in aggression, on one hand, or in hiding and denial, on the other. This preoccupation is derived also from our present free will exile in Europe, which brings up the need to deal with the two Histories that haunt us, represented by the snake and the dragon.

 

 

 

 

"A man fleeing from distress is bound to meet disaster. When wishing to avoid a snake, a dragon he'll encounter".

This quotation, from the Muslim poet Jalal A-Ddin Roomi, lies in the background of this video piece,which takes place in Paris. Its' frame is a guided tour on the Seine, in one of the showboats called "Bateaux Mouches". The recorded spoken commentary, which accompanies the tourist journey is re-edited in a way that creates a whole different meaning to this ride on the river. By intervening in the scenery we make it more hallucinated and sometimes even threatening.

The main theme of the work is paranoid state of mind, inherited in Israeli society.

This disturbed situation is reflected in the constant state of alert, which expresses itself in aggression, on one hand, or in hiding and denial, on the other. This preoccupation is derived also from our present free will exile in Europe, which brings up the need to deal with the two Histories that haunt us, represented by the snake and the dragon.

 

 

 

 

Stills from video

Stills from video

Video excerpt (1'42)

Video excerpt (1'42)