Installation and Performance in the Exhibition Vertrauen (engl. Trust) at KIT Düsseldorf from June 24 to September 24, 2017

Curated by Prof. Tomma Abts

Medium: High-tech fabrics, ingredients, straps, ribbons, wood, plants, 6 cultivation sets, 6 planting sets

Size: Variable

Inspired by people’s growing longing for nature and the trend of urban gardening, Liora Epstein designed a functional fashion collection for gardeners. The work consists of two outfits, one conceived for men and the other for women, which impress with their high-tech materials from Schoeller and Extremtextil. These fabrics are robust, weatherproof, and simultaneously offer comfort and protection. They are characterized by an innovative design that integrates practical elements such as adjustable drawstrings and various pockets for gardening tools.

In the ascendingly constructed entrance area of the tunnel at KIT Düsseldorf, the artist presented her installation foraging in 2017, which, through its presentation, was reminiscent of the appearance of a fashion presentation area. The outfits lie on a pedestal, flanked by two cubes, each adapted to the slope of the tunnel, containing cultivation and planting sets for hydroponics. This aesthetic arrangement creates a stage that brings the garments closer to the viewers in the unity of art, fashion, and technologized plant cultivation.

During the presentation of the same name, foraging there was a performance in which the connection between humans and nature was symbolized by repotting plants. This performance found its way into the science fiction film Amber, which was created in collaboration with the artist Nora Zielinski and was part of the exhibition. Visitors could observe the progress of the plants throughout the exhibition period and enjoy the harvested herbs and salads at the end.

Amber [2017]

Medium: Film

Duration: 19:52min

Format: 1950 x 1080 px

Amber tells the story of two survivors in a dystopian world who have found refuge in a tunnel where they cultivate plants. Their life on the razor’s edge between survival and memory, as well as their interaction with art in a museum, raises questions about the meaning of survival, memory, and the role of art in post-apocalyptic times. The work is a two-channel video installation, consisting of a film about the two survivors and another film about the opening performance.

Installation in the exhibition “Asking for a Friend” at the Kunstverein Nürnberg from February 24, 2024, to April 5, 2024

Further development of the work foraging [2017]

Medium: High-tech textiles, ingredients, straps, ribbons, raised beds, wood

Size: Variable

At the invitation of the Kunstverein Nürnberg, Liora Epstein is participating in the exhibition Asking for a Friend at the Albrecht-Dürer-Gesellschaft in Nuremberg at the beginning of 2024. The exhibition, led by the artist and curator Achinoam Alon, unites primarily Jewish artists. In the shadow of the October 7, 2023, massacres by Hamas in Israel, the curator saw an opportunity to have artists take a position in their sculptural, installation, drawing, and video works, and to offer a commentary on the status of Jewish artists within the German cultural sector.

Asking for a Friend, a phrase that refers to a presumed other to address issues and circumstances of one’s own biography through this disidentification, provides the context in which the eight artists can relate their own work—their own role—to overarching societal narratives of both German and Israeli history. For Liora Epstein, who was invited to show her work foraging, this context means further developing the 2017 work and, on this basis, questioning the concept of „Jewish art“ in general: „What makes art Jewish art? Does Jewish art even exist?“ Until now, the work had no thematic connection to Judaism, but through the Nuremberg exhibition, it has gained a horizon that now needs to be explored. The aspects of self-sufficiency are interwoven with the history of Jewish settlement. The alter egos in the gardening costumes refer to cultural practices of the Jewish diaspora, not least the Hakhshara (preparation), where, at the beginning of the 20th century in Zionist youth homes in Germany, people were prepared for the agricultural challenge of emigration to Israel.

The exhibition was characterized by exchange among the artists and was framed thematically by the Kunstverein with two panel discussions. This collective thematic engagement and the recontextualization of foraging result in the continuation of the work, which was realized in the piece Sandbox Pilgrimage starting in 2025.

Image 1 Installation view foraging as part of the exhibition Vertrauen (engl. Trust)
Photo by Ivo Faber

Image 2-3 Video stills Amber as an integrated part of the work foraging
Screenshots by Liora Epstein / Video editing by Nora Zielinski

Image 4-6 Installation view re-foraging as part of the exhibition Asking for a Friend
Photos by Lukas Pürmayr (© Lukas Pürmayr)

© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn