Tamy Ben-Tor

October 19 – November 30 2008

The eccentric characters in Tamy Ben-Tor's video works represent a world of xenophobia, violence and selfishness. While she loudly criticizes these people's shortcomings, she is also very accurate in the portrayals. Even though the characters speak almost always recognizable languages, it is nevertheless hard to understand due to extreme dialects and excitement in the speech. The failure of the language as a communications medium is in no way an accident. Even if one can understand the individual monologue, some of the made up statements come across as manic or idiotic lamenting. The words go round and round, often times without having a distinctive point. Although the characters are so over the top and pushed to extremes they are still relatable. Tamy Ben-Tor expresses her observations of her surroundings so exactly and amazes the viewer not only with her theatrical talents but also with the precise selection of props and accessories in the videos. While the earlier works are in the form of individual monologues and statements, the newer videos are arranged in a more abstract method and become much more substantial stories. The most obvious of this is the newest work by Ben-Tor, Izaak (2008), which will be shown for the first time. The story is of a mother and her two sons Izaak and Ismael. Without of doubt, the names come from the Old Testament, yet the focus is on totally other aspects as those coming from religious traditions. In Ben-Tor's version Izaak takes revenge out on the mother, who decided to sacrifice him instead of his brother; he comes back unrecognizable and begins having an incestuous relationship with his mother.

Oliver Kielmayer