An interview with
Alona Rodeh We have selected for this Stigmart10 edition artists giving a contribute to video language from the "outside". Alona Rodeh is one of them. it should be too easy to call her a videoartist, since her artistic practise is not only focused on video: she have collaborated with children from south-east Tel Aviv for her previous "Fire, Work", however she cannot be classified as "socially engaged artist", since the "political" effort present in her work refers more to Buster Keaton sense of grotesque and absurd than to "moralistic" intent. Alona, what caused you to be an artist? The education in the house I grew up in was to do what you were good at. I was recognized with a talent for drawing at young age (12 or so), and that's how my romance with art started. Obviously, by now, I lost that particular skill, since the education at the art academy was to dump your "crafty" skill in favour of conceptual ideas, which for some reason seemed more important.
Alona Rodeh
We have been impressed by the balance you achieve in your film between a rare keatonian taste and a deep political analysis. Could you introduce our readers to Barking Dogs Don't Bite?
and outside seems blurred. Could you explain this aspect of your film? It belongs to a conceive about the nature of time and space? The idea for the shots as well as the editing, was to keep only architectural compositions - there are no close ups or medium shots, and the cameras are fixed on standard eye height.
Originally thought of as a documented performance, Barking Dogs don’t Bite is a video piece composed of two parts – day and night. Both sections show a vacant storefront of a commercial gallery in Tel Aviv. The video features a series caused by a sudden burst of smoke.
So it's very straightforward: from inside out, from outside in, and 90 degrees in between the two - it's as if the space is watching itself, or as if you are standing instead of the camera.
The reaction of the space seems automated and self-propelled, as if performed from start to finish by the space itself. There are no intruders or trespassers, only passers-by who do not notice the action. Instead, the viewer remains the sole witness to this drama in its entirety.
Since the camera is so passive, the presence of time is in front - and all the actions are punctuated into the timeline, leaving not one second too much (hopefully...). Could you take us through your creative process when starting a new project?
It's really interesting the way you use editing in your work: the camera angle continuosly switches, the concept of inside
I'm usually triggered by an image I see, some
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