In 2013, Arkadi Zaides was granted access to the video archives of B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in The Occupied Territories. The archives contain thousands of hours of footage, documented by Palestinian volunteers for B’Tselem’s Camera Project. Zaides’s research resulted in two works: Capture Practice (video installation) and Archive (stage performance).
Capture Practice is a two-channel video loop, commissioned by the Petach Tikva Museum of Art in 2014. The work examines the bodies of Israelis as they were captured on camera, and focuses on the physical reactions to which they resort in various confrontational situations in the West Bank. The Palestinians remain behind the camera, nevertheless, their movement, voice, and point of view are highly present, determining the viewer’s perspective.
Capture Practice features Zaides as he dances in a studio on one channel and footage from the B’Tselem archives on the other. With his gaze continuously facing the other screen, Zaides mimics the movements of the documented subjects. He uses his own body to tie together the occurrences on both screens.