Near East

2004 | vinyl video disc | 9 tracks |16'00 | B&W | Hebrew and German

A souvenir record of the Zeppelin orient tour
In 1929 the German airship Graf Zeppelin LZ-127 made its first "Orient Tour". It departed from Friedrichshafen, entered Palestine above Haifa bay, circled above Palestine for a few hours and then returned to its base. This event, though extremely attractive, from both air and ground, was hardly documented. In the "Near East" album, Effi and Amir reconstruct the historical event based on facts and fantasies. The 2-sided format is used for telling a 2-sided story; "side A" takes the local point of view and "side B" - that of the passengers.
This record aims to revive an extinct vinyl format: the souvenir album - special record releases, printed in commemoration of a noteworthy (usually national, historical) event. And it also aims to revive a forgotten incident.

side A
1. Here She Comes
2. Fear through Joy
3. The Visit A
4. E! (-lu tzi-po-rim) (If Birds)
5. Souvenir (private collection)

side B
1. Du Zeppelin
2. Memories
3. The Visit B
4. Come Take A Trip In My Airship

A souvenir record of the Zeppelin orient tour
In 1929 the German airship Graf Zeppelin LZ-127 made its first "Orient Tour". It departed from Friedrichshafen, entered Palestine above Haifa bay, circled above Palestine for a few hours and then returned to its base. This event, though extremely attractive, from both air and ground, was hardly documented. In the "Near East" album, Effi and Amir reconstruct the historical event based on facts and fantasies. The 2-sided format is used for telling a 2-sided story; "side A" takes the local point of view and "side B" - that of the passengers.
This record aims to revive an extinct vinyl format: the souvenir album - special record releases, printed in commemoration of a noteworthy (usually national, historical) event. And it also aims to revive a forgotten incident.

side A
1. Here She Comes
2. Fear through Joy
3. The Visit A
4. E! (-lu tzi-po-rim) (If Birds)
5. Souvenir (private collection)

side B
1. Du Zeppelin
2. Memories
3. The Visit B
4. Come Take A Trip In My Airship

The front cover of the vinyl

The front cover of the vinyl

About VV:
VinylVideo™ is a new, wonderous and fascinating development in the history of audio-visual media. For the first time in the history of technological invention, VinylVideo™ makes possible the storage of video (moving image plus sound) on analog long-play records. Playback from the VinylVideo™ Picture Disk is made possible with the VinylVideo™ Unit which consists of a normal turntable, a special conversion box (the VinylVideo™ Home Kit) and a television set.
The current installation at the Digital Art Lab presents a specially commissioned work by Israeli artists Effi & Amir: "NEAR EAST- a souvenir album from the Zeppelin Orient Tour ".

About VV:
VinylVideo™ is a new, wonderous and fascinating development in the history of audio-visual media. For the first time in the history of technological invention, VinylVideo™ makes possible the storage of video (moving image plus sound) on analog long-play records. Playback from the VinylVideo™ Picture Disk is made possible with the VinylVideo™ Unit which consists of a normal turntable, a special conversion box (the VinylVideo™ Home Kit) and a television set.
The current installation at the Digital Art Lab presents a specially commissioned work by Israeli artists Effi & Amir: "NEAR EAST- a souvenir album from the Zeppelin Orient Tour ".

side A

side A

side B

side B

side A, track 1

side A, track 1

side A, track 2

side A, track 2

side A, track 3

side A, track 3

side A, track 4

side A, track 4

side A, track 5

side A, track 5

side B, track 1

side B, track 1

side B, track 2

side B, track 2

side B, track 3

side B, track 3

side B, track 4

side B, track 4

Video excerpt (1'30)

Video excerpt (1'30)