Klaus Biesenbach on Gilad’s Ratman 588 project, Monopol, 2009

” The question whether a city stands for music or art pops up for a second within one week: in Barcelona, where the Sonar festival, which receives global attention, has reanimated electronic music scene of the city. It has been a few years now that shortly before the Sonar festival there happens the videofestival LOOP which takes place in a hotel. It is truly terrifying how well the projectors and monitors work in that environment. They appear autonomous and powerful, not like decoration. Art has the place, the time and the attention it needs.

One room by Michael Joaquin Grey and another by the young Israeli artist Gilad Ratman stand out. Ratman made two actors submerge into mud, and now they breath through tubes. Like with artificial breathing devices in hospitals, the noisewall is hardly bearable.”