Yael Bartana. Kings of The Hill

Kings of The Hill, 2003, 7’45”
Courtesy of the Artist, Annet Gelink Gallery Amsterdam and Sommer Contemporary Art Tel-Aviv

Shot in a resort town near Tel Aviv by Israeli video artist YAEL BARTANA, Kings of The Hill captures a weird spectacle in which men drive their sport utility vehicles up and down sand dunes on Friday afternoons. With a meticulous use of camera standpoints, composition, light and editing, this video is constantly walking a tightrope between the abstraction that allows the viewer to be amazed and the narration that allows the viewer to get a critical understanding.

BARTANA is partly based in Amsterdam but makes work in her native Israel. Her photography, film, and sound works are constantly mirroring human conditions, political situations and questioning the abstract idea of a nation’s collective identity. Her work calls attention to that which underlies what we see, what is hidden in images and actions, taking the perspective of an ‘amateur anthropologist‘.

Among other prizes, YAEL BARTANA was awarded the prestigious Artes Mundi 4 in 2010. Her work has been included in numerous public collections, amongst others at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Tate Modern in London and the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. In 2011, she represented Poland for the 54th edition of the Venice Biennale.



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