Dani Gal
Book of the Machines (2023)
Dark Continent (2023)
Book of the Machines, courtesy of the artist
Dark Continent, courtesy of the artist
Book of the Machines (2023)
Book of the Machines, Dani Galʼs new film, explores the fear of and fascination with the other by looking at automatons, primitive mechanical robots popular in the 19th century. Close-ups of these exoticized figures and their racial stereotypes are accompanied by excerpts from Samuel Butler’s novel Erewhon (1872), which describes a society that has banned all machines after recognizing that they might take over the world. This resonates with today’s debates on AI and its potentially demonic powers.
Dark Continent (2023)
Dani Gal’s new minifeature deals with the racial phobias resulting from the colonial imaginary and their transmission through music. His film reenacts a case study from Martinican psychiatrist and anti-colonial writer Frantz Fanonʼs book Black Skin, White Masks (1952): a young White French woman suffers from a nervous disorder triggered by the sound of African drums—prohibited by colonial regimes in Africa because they were suspected of carrying signals of rebellion.
Dani Gal (1975, Jerusalem, Israel) is a visual artist and filmmaker. His work investigates the production of memory and collective history. His films and sound installations reconstruct and reconfigure preexisting documentary materials, blending them with fiction, and address current political events. They have been shown widely, including at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011); New Museum, New York (2012); The Jewish Museum, New York (2014); Berlinale Forum Expanded (2014); Kunsthaus Zürich (2015); Kunsthalle Wien (2015); Documenta 14, Kassel and Athens (2017); and Centre Pompidou, Paris (2018 and 2023). Gal lives in Berlin.
Book of the Machines
Commissioned by steirischer herbst ʼ23
Produced by Dani Gal in coproduction with steirischer herbst ʼ23
With the kind support of the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen and Artis
Dark Continent
Commissioned by steirischer herbst ʼ23
Produced by Kirberg Motors and Dani Gal in coproduction with steirischer herbst ʼ23
With the kind support of the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen and Artis
Dani Gal at Artist Talks
22.9., 12:00–13:00
Book of the Machines
Video, 14 min.
English
Dark Continent
Video, 26 min.
English with German subtitles
Demon Radio
Group exhibition
Book of the Machines
Commissioned by steirischer herbst ʼ23
Produced by Dani Gal in coproduction with steirischer herbst ʼ23
With the kind support of the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen and Artis
Dark Continent
Commissioned by steirischer herbst ʼ23
Produced by Kirberg Motors and Dani Gal in coproduction with steirischer herbst ʼ23
With the kind support of the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen and Artis
Dani Gal at Artist Talks
22.9., 12:00–13:00