Trembling Time, 2001

'Trembling Time' depicts the moment of silence on the day commemorating those who have fallen in Israel's wars. Each year, throughout the country, sirens remind Israelis to observe the 'Soldiers Memorial Day'. The camera is directed from a bridge toward traffic flowing below. With the sounds of the sirens, the driving vehicles gradually slow down and eventually come to a complete standstill. Doors open, passengers get out and pause beside their cars for a moment of collective remembrance. Following the interruption, they immediately get back into their cars and resume their driving. In addition to the suggestive use of sound, Bartana employs technical alienation effects, so that the images flow into one another in various layers. 'Trembling Time' communicates the emotionally charged ritual of the state decreed minute of silence as both visual and aesthetic experience, while simultaneously formulating a critical reflection upon the collective behavior pattern of a nation. (from: Yael Bartana, exh. cat. Kunstverein Hamburg, Hatje Cantz, 2007, p. 49)