Dani Gal

Born in 1975 in Jerusalem, lives and works in Berlin.

The core interest of Dani Gal's work is memory, recollection, recording and the methodology of writing history. His research into various topics results in video, installation, collaborations and performance that often involve sound. A central work in Gal's practice is the ongoing Historical Record Archive, a collection of about 350 vinyls that sound document historical events of the twentieth century. The archive contains speeches and interviews by world leaders, wars in sound, peace agreements, human rights struggles and other radio broadcasts of the events that shaped history from the invention of the phonograph to the fall of the Berlin wall. The phenomena of records that document political and historical events was popular from the 50’s until the late 80’s. Most of the records had direct connection to propaganda and for the shaping of national historical narratives. The collection underlines how a society turns its historical events into commodities and how sound documentation functions in relation to collective memory.
In Oscillations, a video and audio installation produced in 2007, the 16mm film is an adaptation of the last scene of Andrei Arkose’s film –Stalker. The scene features the stalker’s daughter who has telekinetic powers, although in the original film, which is based on a documentation film of a famous soviet telekinetic woman named Nina Kolagina, it is not clear whether the glasses move with the power of her eyes or simply move from the vibrations of a train that passes extremely close to the house. The second part of the work documents a Frankfurt punk band called Pornoheft. The video shows the band playing in their rehearsal room, which is situated in a former Nazi bunker. The camera is placed on the base amplifier so the image vibrates according the base frequency. The linking event in the video is a sound recording of Pornoheft loosely rehearsing. The sound runs independently from the two-filmed elements.

Gal’s exhibitions include 54. Biennale di Venezia, Venice (2011); 6 Conversation Pieces and A Didactic Poem, COCO, Vienna (2011); Tracing Shadows in the Dark, Holy Trinity Church, London (2011); Forum Expanded, Berlinale, Berlin (2011); Dani Gal / Patricia Dauder, Galerie Kadel Wilborn, Karlsruhe (2010); Chanting Down Babylon, w139 Arts Centre, Amsterdam (2010); Dumitrescu‘s Dream, Lüttgenmeijer, Berlin (2010); The Street As Studio- from Basquiat to Banksy, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2010); Indefinite Destinations, DEPOT, Istanbul and The Red House Center for Culture and Debate, Sofia (2010); Try Different Keywords, Galeria Estrany- de la Mota, Barcelona (2010); History / Ars Viva Prize, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne and Migros Museum für gegenwartskunst, Zurich (2010); All the Memory of the World, GAM- Galleria Civica d’ Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin (2010);

Dani Gal works with Freymond-Guth Ltd. Fine Arts.
 

For additional information about this artist, visit Mutual Art