Wonders of the Dead Sea, revived and transformed

Suspended sculptures made from Dead Sea salt, fishing nets and salt-encrusted baptismal fonts are only some of the exhibits at Israeli artist Sigalit Landau's sensational show "The Burning Sea." Highlighting the treasures of this natural wonder, this selection of works created over the past 20 years represents an important cultural event.

It will remain open until June 17, 2023 at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

"No other artist has put so much effort and creativity into the threatened yet inspirational site that is the Dead Sea. The exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of her work and allows the visitor to follow Sigalit to the salt-saturated water to experience both the magnificence and the devastation of this endangered site. We also want to export it overseas and I think it will generate great interest around the world," Amitai Mendelsohn, the exhibition's curator, told i24NEWS.

The Dead Sea, a favorite theme

A graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, Landau has developed a pioneering artistic practice with the Dead Sea — a mythical, ecological and historical landscape that has deeply influenced her since childhood — at its heart. She encountered the Dead Sea for the first time during family outings at an early age and began to incorporate it into her work in the early 2000s. The ambivalence on which the artist relies, between life and death, wound and healing, destruction and hope, is the central theme of the exhibition.

The visitor first discovers objects that the artist has brought back to life from the sea: fishing nets from Jaffa, baptismal fonts, barbed wire contraptions, a ballet tutu or even stretchers, all of which have undergone a process of crystallization in the salty waters of the Dead Sea to transform these everyday objects into works of art encrusted with salt in a completely innovative concept, lending them a magical appearance.

Sumptuous photographs

With the “Salt Crystal Bridal Gown,” a series of eight underwater photographs, Landau documents a replica of the black Hasidic gown worn by Hanna Rovina, the early 20th-century Hebrew theater actress who performed the role of a young bride possessed by the spirit of her dead lover in the play The Dybbuk. The crystallization renders the black dress completely white with salt crystals.

Another highlight of the exhibition is the premiere of a new video work called "Island in the Sun" which reveals a pile of shoes that Landau has erected on a natural salt island in the Dead Sea and which gradually turns white as it's is exposed to the bleaching effects of salt.

The endangered sea

The exhibition also offers a reflection on the current ecological problems and the political divisions which are enmeshed with the environmental question. The man-made ecological disaster, which requires government intervention and cooperation between Israel and neighboring countries, features prominently .

“We have witnessed the deterioration of this area. The South Sea evaporation ponds are no longer examples of the Zionist vision but rather evidence of the exploitation of natural resources and corporate greed. The situation is similar on both the Israeli and Jordanian sides. The public knows and yet very little is done. The battle over the fate of the Dead Sea reveals decades of willful blindness on the part of policy makers," Landau says.

In the last space of the gallery, works related to the idea of ​​a bridge between the Israeli side and the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea are displayed, a proposal to which the artist has devoted himself for more than ten years and which is presented here for the first time in Israel.

A bridge of hope

The "Salt Bridge Summit" is a video installation that Sigalit created for the Venice Biennale in 2011 and which depicts a conference room in which a fictional discussion takes place on the bridge, while a young girl ties together the shoes of the participants under the table to show that their fate around the Dead Sea issue is linked.

"The geopolitical aspects of the Dead Sea region are what led me to the vision of a bridge. When the idea was born, I translated it into a video installation, ten years later meetings enthusiasms have taken place - unfortunately to no avail. At the state level, nothing has progressed, which means we are moving backwards. After so many years of making art on the Dead Sea, I see this sea as a gathering place. The environmental tragedy that we and our neighbors have to face can become a unique opportunity to realize our common destiny in an environment where peace and security are the key words," said Sigalit.

By ending his exhibition on an optimistic note, hoping that new advances in desalination will help renew the flow of the Jordan to "save" the Dead Sea, the artist tries to prove that collective action is essential in order to preserve this jewel of nature.

Caroline Haïat is a journalist for the French site of i24NEWS