The East Bound Salt Route and the Crystal Islands

Sigalit Landau, an Israeli sculptor, video, and installation artist, will present the Ruth Ellen Steinman and Edward J. Bloustein Memorial Lecture, “The East Bound Salt Route and the Crystal Islands” on Monday, September 10, 2012. The event will be held in the Special Events Forum at Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Civic Square Building, 33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ. It will begin at 5:00 p.m.

A corresponding exhibit of Landau’s work will beheld at the Princeton University Art Museum, August 18, 2012–January 13, 2013.

Landau’s work is that of a bridge-builder, fueled by politics and poetry. Consciously and unconsciously, she looks for new and vital materials to connect the past to the future; the west to the east; the private with the collective; the sub-existential to the Uber-profound; the found objects to the deepest epic narratives and mythologies.

In her lecture Landau will trace movements, modes of action, and pulses of reaction by focusing on her creations from the last 10 years. She will also discuss future projects.

Landau’s discussion will pivot around her creations, exploring the past, present, and future at the location of the Dead Sea, which features prominently in her work—its unique geology, the diverse histories of the surrounding countries, and the ongoing geo-political agony of its intersecting borders. Her work will be presented on-screen in a series of imagery and videos.

Her newest project, The Salt Route, is a planned bridge structure and trail linking the Israeli and Jordanian shores of the Dead Sea. The project’s goal is to create a bridge that makes a genuine connection between Israel and Jordan—two countries that for the past several years have been walking the fine line between cold and warm relations—while helping in saving the unique Sea and encouraging civic activism.

The event is free and open to the public. It is co-sponsored with the Rutgers Institute for Women and Art’s project, “The Fertile Crescent: Gender, Art, and Society,” which seeks to focus on illustrating the heterogeneity of countries, cultures, and individualities of women artists in the Middle East and its Diaspora.