Video Art and Slideshows by Dov Lederberg

Video Art Installations

Even though I am devoting most of my energies now
to the paint medium,
my first love in artistic creation was, and probably remains,
working in the video medium.
Twenty-five years ago I made a large number of
video art compositions in analog home video format,
using whatever image processing and special effects devices
I could get use of or devise.
About ten years ago after reviewing these works
I found them to be still engaging and even cutting-edge.
I bought an inexpensive device to convert the works
to digital and some editing programs
and through my home computer
I was able to rejuvenate them into works
that could be presented in DVD installations and screenings.
The following is a partial listing
with some stills taken at random from videos.
The stills are only small hint as to the
intensive visual dance of the real time video presentation.

Direct Links to Video

#The Sacred Letters

#The Lights of Hanukah

#The Twelve Tribes

#Voyage into the Matza Interior

#Meditation in a Jerusalem Field

#Songs - USA

#Memories of Hadar HaTorah

#Shaking 770

#Jerusalem Memories

#Kfar Chabad Visual Melodies

#Meditation on a Point

#Farbrengen

#TV Interviews and Slideshows

The Sacred Letters

Overture of the Sacred Letters (11 minutes)
which shows each of the Hebrew letters
in the torah scribal style for about 30 seconds
with track of special electronic music derived
by assigning each Hebrew letter of the first chapter in Genesis
a specific tone 1.5 seconds long and instrument

and then "playing" the letters of Genesis one after the other.

Low definition version in YouTube below:

https://youtu.be/nLlhtroZgoc

The complete version of the Sacred Letters.
(72 minutes without sound)
Each of the 22 Hebrew scribal letters is presented
as a separate module (4-8 minutes)
with its own unique
color scheme, video dance and special effects.
You will find a great variation of styles, such as
from the minimalist Dalet (ד) to the wildly psychedelic (צ),
the sensual Chet (ח), the surrealist Kuf (ק)
and the mandala symmetry of the Ayin (ע) and more.
These "differences" have correlations with ideas
from Kabbalah teachings about the letters
(hinted at by the subtitle to each module).

link to subtitles to modules

A sample module in YouTube of the letter SHIN ש

https://youtu.be/vyCt7K3dYS0

A sample module in YouTube of the letter HAI ה

https://youtu.be/-u96PDadMHg

The form of the Letter HAI
has two perpendicular lines
representing Thought and Speech
and a detached YOD (Hand)
representing Action.
It being upside down
suggests pregnancy and birth.

A sample module in YouTube of the letter Vav ו

https://youtu.be/ew3sFfsLE_U

The Letter VAV represents connection and influx
and is the exact MIDDLE LETTER of the Torah
and can be understood as the AXLE around which
all the other letters of the entire Torah revolve.
Iyar links together the two months of Nissan and Sivan.

A sample module in YouTube of the letter Chet ח

https://youtu.be/1airPLs5YLo

The Letter CHET represents the marriage aמd union
of the different Masculine and Feminine Energies,
represented by the letter VAV ו on the right
and the letter ZION ז on the left.
They are connected by a "bridge", ma'avarta,
which in holy marriage, is symbolized
by the chupa חופה,
the encompassing spiritual light.

A sample module in YouTube of the letter TET ט

https://youtu.be/PomaL8mMqas

Tet is the Ninth Letter of the Hebrew alphabet
and obviously connects with the “holiday”
of Tisha b’Av – the Ninth Day of Av,
which commemorates
the Destruction of the Temples
and other tragic events in Jewish history.

A sample module in YouTube of the letter YOD י

https://youtu.be/3P2myv-c6Wg

The Yod is the first letter of the Tetragrammaton,
G-d’s essential Name Havayah, the Name of Mercy.
All created form begins with this essential “point,”
of energy and life-force, the point of the letter Yod.
Likewise all of the scribal letters in the Torah
are first written beginning with a Yod.

It would be most effective to show as an installation
each module side by side or as a 2 x 11 matrix on 22 screens
each attached to its own DVD device and running continuously.

א	ב	ג	ד	ה	ו	ז	ח	ט	י	כ
ת	ש	ר	ק	צ	פ	ע	ס	נ	מ	ל

What comes to mind is the famous code א- ת ב- ש (AT-BASH) ,
where the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet connects to the last
and the second letter with the second from the last and so on.
A more complicated installation would be to place the screens
inside large cardboard or plywood cutouts in the shape of the letters
which would stand in middle of an exhibition space
and people would pass through like in a maze and hopefully be amazed.

The Lights of Hanukah

A Lamp of G-d Is a Man's Soul:
Video Kabbalah Meditations on the Lights of Hanukah
in eight silent modules of 4-5 minutes each for a total of 30 minutes.
A video art composition based on special effects and feedback interface
with the actual burning lights of the Hanukah menorah
but having an artistic and universal relevance
not restricted to the Jewish holiday alone or a Jewish audience.
Some low definition samples from the composition
(with a sound track) are available on YouTube:

The First Light:https://youtu.be/YHheFYBfkgU

The Fourth Light: https://youtu.be/qDzaV_Ksmu0

The Seventh Light: https://youtu.be/YhBRUoDw980

The Eighth Light: https://youtu.be/fddvOWqNZe4

Most effectively viewed as an auto-run eight monitor installation,
each module being seen on separate but adjacent monitors.

Hebrew Explanation - עברית
HANUKA-HEB.html

The Twelve Tribes

12 TRIBES

The Twelve Tribes
DVD video wall installation
(3 minutes when run simultaneously)
based on 12 screens showing as video art
the Hebrew names of the Twelve Tribes
as incised on the gem stones of the Kho-shen,
or the breastplate of the High Priest,
each tribe having its special
visual dance, color and special effects,
according to attached explanation.
The monitors could be placed in a
matrix three across and four high,
according to the format of the Kho-shen,
as in the poster above.

Sample module in YouTube of the Tribe of Benjamin:

https://youtu.be/dpUDCL_8_9I

Voyage into the Matza Interior

Matza

Voyage into the Matza Interior (18 Minutes).
An extended comparison of the
"round" hand-kneaded matza and the full moon.
Extreme close-ups of the matza texture
turn into a remarkable "lunar"
and even otherworldly landscape
replete with crevices and craggy mountains.
The micro becomes the macro and vice versa.
With a modern music (electronic & flute) track,
which gives it a special ambience.
It even has the sound effect of the artist
munching noisily on a matza.

Some low definition samples from the composition
(with a "stream of consciousness" sound track)
are available on YouTube:

Part One: https://youtu.be/nGJYaEvqr7k

Part Two: https://youtu.be/I8qtqroA-90

Part Three: https://youtu.be/I8qtqroA-90

For more information on Matza Video press this line link

Meditation in a Jerusalem Field

Meditation in a Jerusalem Field (21 minutes)
Live ruminations by the videographer as he roams with his camera
through what was once a typical undeveloped lot near
the Insane Asylum in Givat Shaul, an old traditional neighborhood in Jerusalem,
and meditates (or perhaps hallucinates with a Van Gogh-like intensity)
on the spiny weeds, the junk, the stones and the ants
trying to find the “harmony of nature” and a reason for being,
while hearing the grunts & screams
of the inmates of the asylum in the background
and the ominous sounds of fighter jets in the sky.

https://youtu.be/kARLIbZRflY

Songs - USA

Selected Resurrected 8mm films
SONGS - USA - 1964

Two short 8 silent mm film clips resurrected and re-edited to digital format.
Visual poems (without audio) on the Badlands in South Dakota and Sea & Cypress on California Coast.
A tribute to my mentor, Stan Brakhage.
Quality DVD version available for museum & gallery installation.

https://youtu.be/jIfwlWOFeGk

Memories of Hadar HaTorah

MEMORIES OF HADAR HATORAH - BROOKLYN NY - 1965
Four short silent 8 mm film clips transferred to digital video and recently re-edited.
Poetic "energy" impressions (without audio) of the Hadar HaTorah yeshiva in Brooklyn NY,
including 770 Quivered, a wedding with vigor, before and after clips of a baal tsuva student.
Quality DVD version available for museum & gallery installation.

http://youtu.be/HRtv5O4wUR8

Shaking 770

I made a short film almost fifty years ago (!) of the central synagogue
of Chabad at 770 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn.
I used double perforated 16 mm film and then had it slit in the middle
so it could be projected in the old 8mm film projector,
so the beginning could be the end and the end, the beginning.
It created a quivering strobe effect or what I call: Shaking or Shakers,
which is a correct translation for the word "haredi",
a term used to describe ultra-Orthodox Jews,
since they like to "shake" when praying.
The effect has been enhanced by my joining to the clip
an exact copy in reverse, so it could be played as an
"endless seamless shaking loop" (Mobius Strip)
Quality DVD version available for museum & gallery installation.

http://youtu.be/QbPTUygi3io

Jerusalem Memories

Jerusalem Memories - 1967
Three short silent 8 mm film clips transferred to digital video and recently re-edited.
Poetic impressions (without audio) of the Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem in 1967.
Titles include Kosher Meat, Resurrection Meditation on Mount of Olives, Bringing the first Sefer Torah into the Old City
Quality DVD version available for museum & gallery installation.

http://youtu.be/3_EnAuGKFJk

Kfar Chabad Visual Melodies

Kfar Chabad Visual Melodies
Two short silent 8 mm film clips transferred to digital video and recently re-edited.
Poetic impressions (without audio) filmed during the short period I was living in Kfar Chabad in Israel:
1.Waiting for the Moshiach (Messiah) coming on a cloud or a donkey
2. Elevating the Nefesh HaB'hamit (Animal Soul) during prayer.
Quality DVD version available for museum & gallery installation.

http://youtu.be/R2SzJ8Xuc_k

Meditation on a Point

Video transformation of one of my acrylic paintings:
Meditation on a Point,
simulating the entering into the "vortex of no-return"
that many people have described in their near-death experience.
The vortex is analogous to the Black Hole in Outer Space.
In terms of the soul, we are pulled by G-d's infinite gravity
to a state of "singularity" and nothingness
but ultimately to a door of an alternate universe.

Quality DVD version available for installations.

http://youtu.be/bjuCs7gb24Q

Farbrengen

Farbrengen (24 minutes))
A video art interpretation
of a festive gathering
with the renowned
Chabad-Lubavitcher Rebbe,
Rabbi Menachem Schneersohn,
and his chassidic followers.
The supernal special effects
and evocative narrative track
attempt to render
the vast excitement
and spiritual energy
that was generated
during this typical gathering,
called Farbrengen,
that occurred over thirty years ago.

In three parts on YouTube:

Part One