The Addis Video Art Festival is an annual video centered festival. Through videos, the festival intends to provide a platform for innovative video art in Ethiopia. The festival screens throughout Addis Ababa in both conventional and non-conventional settings (street corners, rooftops, public centers and art centers).
Shahar Marcus (b. 1971) is an Israeli based artist who primary works in the medium of performance and video art. His initial works dealt with the exploration of his own body and its limitations- incorporating various perishable materials, such as dough, juice and ice. Shahar Marcus is an active artist for over a decade and has exhibited at various art- institutions, both in Israel and around the world, including: The Tate Modern, The Israel Museum, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Petach Tikva Museum of Art , Charlottenburg, Copenhagen- Kunsthalle , Moscow Biennale, Poznan Biannale, Moscow Museum of Modern Art The Hermitage in Saint Petersburg and at other art- venues in Poland, Italy, Germany, Georgia, Japan, the USA and Turkey. Many of his works are a part of various important collections, such as The Israel Museum, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Petach Tikva Museum of Art as well as art- intuitions in Poland and Italy.
Eyal Segal(b. 1982) is a young Israeli artist with German and Indian roots. His work interprets remembrance, tradition of the past and the possibility of self-understanding. The physical space is a central motif in his work and serves as a starting point for the self-interpretation. Past and present are connected in a concrete ‘locus’; this idea is continually interwoven in a powerful aesthetic viewpoint, matched with the perception of space through multi-channel videos. Studied at Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art between 2006 to 2010. In 2009, he was awarded from the Yitzhak Rabin Center the Winning Poster for the 14th Memorial Day. He participated in group and solo exhibitions in Israel and abroad; in Kumho Museum of Art in Seoul, Pohang Museum of Steel Art in Pohang, South Korea. Cellule516, Marseilles, France. Ashdod Museum of art, Petah Tikva Museum of art, Arad Contemporary Art Center, Israel. Videoholica video festival, Varna, Facade video festival, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Projectspace of Group Global 3000, Berlin. Vorort 2 draußen - International Artist Symposium, Starzach-Börstingen, Germany.His first solo exhibition was in 2013 at the Negev Museum of Art, in Beer Sheva, followed by the solo exhibition ‘Release: Return’ in FUGA center, budapest, 2015.
The Israeli Embassy here in Addis Ababa is committed to the development of the creative industry in Ethiopia. We aim to create a dialogue between local and international artists by facilitating platforms like Addis Video Art Festival, which we hope will increase the exposure of Ethiopian artist by connecting them with the ever-expanding international arena. This why, we invited the world-renowned Israeli artists Shahar Marcus and Eyal Segal all the way from Israel to take part in this quest of ours.