Sigalit Landau, 41, one of Israel’s most prominent artists, is representing Israel at the Venice Biennale, which opened June 4 and is running for six months. Her Biennale exhibition deals, among other subjects, with the Dead Sea, Sigalit’s work venue for the last seven years.
A good partner is hard to find, but Sigalit Landau, one of Israel’s most important and well-known artists, is displaying at the Venice Biennale a work she created with her full-time partner – the Dead Sea.
Advocating for the lowest place on earth
“For years the Dead Sea has been my partner”, says Sigalit.” Now I have a chance to be its Jordan River. It seems natural and right for me to give something back to the sea. I am now at one of the most significant times in my life, and so is the Dead Sea. If we win — the Dead Sea in the [New7Wonders of Nature] competition, and I, by getting recognition at the Biennale – we win together.
“There is symbolism here and a universal message that goes beyond time, beyond the lone “me.” The Dead Sea gives life to the world. Salt both preserves and dissolves. It is important for me to take part in the preservation and promotion of the Dead Sea, for myself and for future generations”.
Sigalit urges everyone to vote for the Dead Sea, and has said so on her new website.
To Sigalit Landau’s website >>
The Dead Sea, competing against 27 nature sites across the world in the New7Wonders of Nature competition, is considered a front-runner. The New7Wonders Foundation sponsoring the competition is expecting about 1 billion votes from all over the world by the time the voting campaign ends on 11.11.11. This means that to be named one of the New 7 Wonders, a site will need between 300 million to 400 million votes.
“One man’s floor is another man’s feelings”
Sigalit Landau is one of the few artists invited to exhibit at the Venice Biennale for the second time. Her exhibit at the Biennale is titled “One man’s floor is another man’s feelings,” her takeoff on the saying “One man’s floor is another man’s ceiling.” The work deals with the interdependence of people everywhere. As always, Landau uses the materials of life – water (a theme easy to connect to in Venice), earth and salt.
Sigalit Landau was born in 1969 in Jerusalem, where she was raised. Today she lives and works in Tel Aviv. Landau is a graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, and has won numerous awards, among them the 1996 Anselm Kiefer award for young artists from the Wolf Foundation, the 2001 Acquisition Prize from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the 2004 Nathan Gottesdiener Foundation Israeli Art Award from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and the 2006 Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport award.
In 2008, Sigalit was honored with a solo exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and is currently participating in an important “women in art” exhibition at the Pompidou Center in Paris.
Below are links to some of her works, inspired by the Dead Sea or actually created in it:
http://www.sigalitlandau.com/page/video.php
http://www.sigalitlandau.com/page/projects/salt_sails.php
http://www.sigalitlandau.com/page/projects/projects_87.php
