Sigalit Landau is a self-styled citizen of the world whose art seeks to universalise her native country of Israel. At the Forum, she invites the viewer to experience the fascinating spectacle of olive-harvesting in the sunshine of her home country, and the emotive power of conversations between unseen women.

Landau’s show at the Forum features two distinct projects. The first takes us to the heart of the Israeli olive harvest. Four videos offer four different viewpoints of the machine used to shake the trees violently, releasing the fruit. After the spectacle of the tortured trees, the viewer regains the quiet of the open fields. The harvesting machine itself features in the show as a sculpture designed to shake human beings with equal ferocity.

The second element is an installation created specially for the Forum, reproducing an interior from the 1950s. Women’s voices emanate from the sitting-room and kitchen, talking about their lives, passing on songs and recipes. These absent women open their intimate existence to us, through the magic of their voices, and the evocative power of their recreated domestic environment.

Courtesy of Maison Hermes