Sigalit Landau
Winner of Kiefer Scholarship 1995
The Ingeborg Bachmann Scholarship, founded by Anselm Kiefer, for the year 1995 is awarded to the artist Sigalit Landau for her original work addressing various narratives of Israeli society. In her distinctive style and expressive artistry, Landau explores social issues through diverse mediums, conveying themes of identity and the interrelationship between humanity and its environment. Her work reflects the fragility and resilience of the human condition, capturing the complexities of society.
Sigalit Landau, born in Jerusalem in 1969, is an interdisciplinary artist working with installation, video, photography, and sculpture. She graduated with honors from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem in 1994 and is currently pursuing her master’s degree.
After graduating from Bezalel, Landau participated in two group exhibitions as part of the “Art Focus” project. In this initiative, artists showcased their works in vacant spaces within the shops of Tel Aviv’s new central bus station. For her contribution, Landau created an installation that simulated the life of a homeless person residing in the station. As part of the performance, Landau herself chose to live there for a month.
Landau is currently presenting a solo exhibition at the Israel Museum. In her installation, Harbait, she juxtaposes Mount Moriah and the Dome of the Rock with the museum environment. Her work incorporates everyday objects, transformed and re-sculpted, to evoke broader themes. At the center of the exhibition space stands a low structure fashioned from computer mouse pads, designed in the shape of the “drinking stone” on the Temple Mount. In its center, Landau carved a crater where she grew mushrooms cultivated from unconscious humans (referred to as “plants”). Nearby, she constructed a tent from doors and household items. Expressive bronze sculptures and other objects are suspended from the ceiling on chains. The exhibition also features video projections that create a dialogue between the museum’s physical and conceptual preservation efforts and the political-social environment surrounding the museum as a national “mountain.” One video includes an interview with a restorer from the Israel Museum, explaining the “smoking” process used to disinfect artworks and eliminate fungi and bacteria. Another segment shows Landau dressed in a black nylon suit and gas mask, photographed at a landfill near the Arab village of El Azaria.