Archive

Archive is a solo performance that questions the role of embodiment and the voice in territorialisation practices on the borders of Palestine and Israel. It does so through practice-based research of the B'TSelem Video Archive.

Since 2007, the human rights organisation B'Tselem has been distributing video cameras to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to facilitate ongoing documentation of human rights violations against their community and to account for their daily life under occupation.

Sound artist Tom Tlalim has collaborated on sound composition and vocal dramaturgy with choreographer Choreographer Arkadi Zaides, researching the archive, investigating the embodied language of settlers and soldiers as captured on camera, and extracting their gestural and sonic language in confrontational situations.

Through engaging with the local reality, the work raises broader universal questions: What is the potential of violence stored in the human body, and what price is paid by collective pay for governing the other? Zaides extracts and appropriates gestures and voices of fellow Israelis. He identifies with the footage and engages in it, gradually embodying it. The mimetic choreographic practice raises questions of participation and responsibility as Zaides’ body transforms into a living archive.

• https://arkadizaides.com/archive