Meet a Sandboxer: Dagan Wald
June 29th, 2010 by Katrin Winiarski
Dagan Wald is known in Tel Aviv, Israel, as DJ DR.ROSS, the best DJ for french music in Israel. Djing on every genre, Dagan has a perminant line every friday night, in Shaffa Bar, in the flea market area in Jaffa. In Tel Aviv he is also known as a filmmaker and created certain Video art projects and a movie named “Whiskey Sour”, which critisize Tel Aviv, and it’s bourgois people cross over. Dagan also created an exhbition named “The Ben Yishay Family”, in which he took pictures of over 500 people and created from them a special family tree/social Network. Dagan on Facebook.
Tell us the story of your latest occupation.
I am now working on a satire television, which I am doing a research dealing on creating the “Ultimate Peace Agreement” between Israelis And Palestines” named “The Balkan Agreement”
What are you doing and how did you get there?
I am now working for Gisha Organization. I spread around a special interactive game named “Safe Passage” which concerns about the beuarcritic problems of Palestines living in the west Bank and Gaza, through lives of a student, a family and an Ice Cream Disturbiter. It is the largest and most comprehensive new media project about human rights in Israel. The Game allows the user to experience interactively the restrictions on movement between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and understand the grave consequences resulting from the separation of Gaza and the West Bank for people living in the two areas. “Safe Passage” makes innovative use of animation, Flash documents, video and a blog, and comprises a political and legal archive, including dozens of official documents that shed light on the military legislation and legal rulings since the 1990s, when Israel began imposing increasing restrictions on movement between the areas. You can choose one of three figures – a student, a businessman and a family man – to try to get to their chosen destinations. After each character’s bureaucratic “adventures,” the user can watch video clips and get to know the real people behind the characters. And most important – users can impact the situation, not only in the game but also on the ground, by addressing decision-makers. For those who don’t want to play, it is also possible to watch the game as movie. we hope that many people across the globes can watch and view the game and approach it to it’s humanistic views, and maybe create a special impact about it.
Tell us about the biggest successes and failures in your life. What worked, what didn’t, and what did you learn?
My biggest succsess I think is spreading my movie, and my works throughout the world in festivals in USA, China, Italy and more. And also getting appriciation from many friends and colleagues everywhere.
My biggest failure, which i am taking a part of it, but not a dominant piece of the failure is when i was a manager of a night club, in charge of publicing, and booking the artists. The club wasn’t successful because of other bookings, locations and budget. Unfortanlly i didnt make good money of it, and it also stopped my artistic motives. but hey, at least i was considerd as one of 1000′s most important people of TIME OUT Tel Aviv
What do you want to achieve in the next week, the next year, the next 10 years?
I want to achieve next week to find a good resort to do residence outside Israel during August and the holidays, if someone from Sandbox Can Help me, to escape the desert warm heat of Tel Aviv,
Next Year, i would like to find a special place where i can study M.A. In Cinema and arts, prehaps in Germany or Holland, and create my arts and also start pitching maybe filming the show of “The Balkan Agreement”, maybe also hopping to be married.
Next Ten Years? maybe getting married for the second time, maybe having an Emmy or an Oscar 
… who knows…. i prefer not having a long distance plan
What was your most inspring moment during the last two weeks?
My inspiring moment in the last two weeks? probably as i recived from a special woman, special golden high hills boots, which returned my love and fetish as a straight funny guy my love for high hill boots, returning my trademark in the city, and with crazy inspirations as this, my creativety could return to my usual senses and my mind can wrap it good… along with other lately inspirations lately such as bad movies i saw lately: Prince Of Persia, Howl, Agora, Sex And The city 2 and good commercial crap makes me learn how not to make mistakes.
How could other Sandboxers and the outside world support you and why would that be exciting for them?
Well as a fresh member of sandbox, i am still researching what common language i can dialouge we can all work together, and prehaps planing a good vibrations target for good humor for good target…
Dagan’s favorites:
- book: High Fidelty by Nick Hornby, Targeting for Genocide- Norman Cohen
- movie: M.A.S.H. – Robert Altman/USA/1970, Pierou Le Fou – Jean Luc Godard/France/1967
- place on earth: Jaffa, Berlin
- travel destination during last year: Zagreb, Wien, Madrid, Prague
- food: Lasanga, Hamburger
- drink: Martini, Baylies
- quote: An Opinion is Like A rectum- anybody has one (Ron Kofman, an Israeli Journalist)
