Bor­der­less en­coun­ters — Sig­alit Land­au and the work “Az­kel­on” at the Je­wish Mu­se­um

The in­ter­na­tio­nal­ly re­now­ned ar­tist Sig­alit Land­au, born in Je­ru­sa­lem in 1969, is known for her im­pres­si­ve sculp­tu­ral in­stal­la­ti­ons, mo­ving vi­deo works and per­for­ma­ti­ve pro­jects. Her works of­ten ad­dress pro­found so­cial, po­li­ti­cal and cul­tu­ral con­flicts. In the ex­hi­bi­ti­on at the Je­wish Mu­se­um Lan­des­mu­se­um Schles­wig-Hol­stein, her work Az­kel­on ta­kes cent­re stage. This art pro­ject sym­bo­li­cal­ly con­nects the two neigh­bou­ring ci­ties of Aza (Ga­za) and Ash­kel­on, which share a beach but are se­pa­ra­ted by a bor­der that is dif­fi­cult to cross. In 2011, Land­au film­ed young peo­p­le play­ing the tra­di­tio­nal “kni­fe game” — an ac­ti­vi­ty that is play­ed on bo­th si­des of the bor­der. The Ga­za Strip, one of the most den­se­ly po­pu­la­ted places in the world, stands in sharp con­trast to the Is­rae­li ci­ty of Ash­kel­on, which was foun­ded by Je­wish im­mi­grants from North Af­ri­ca and Arab count­ries.

Land­au sees the kni­fe game as a form of si­lent com­mit­ment bet­ween the young peo­p­le, who share simp­le ru­les and the prin­ci­ple of win­ning and lo­sing. But re­al en­coun­ters across the bor­der re­main ra­re. Espe­ci­al­ly against the back­drop of the re­cent Is­ra­el-Ga­za war, the work ta­kes on a new, deeper mea­ning and in­vi­tes re­flec­tion on hu­man in­ter­ac­tions in the shadow of po­li­ti­cal di­vi­si­on. The ex­hi­bi­ti­on in­vi­tes vi­si­tors to re­flect on this sym­bo­lic and re­al bor­der ex­pe­ri­ence and to dis­co­ver the power of art as a me­di­um for dia­lo­gue and re­flec­tion.