Ariel Reichman

JMS: Ari­el Reich­man, your work «Open the gates of Hea­ven», which hangs back­lit on the cei­ling, shows pat­terns of ritu­al tex­ti­les from the coll­ec­tion of the Jewish Muse­um of Switz­er­land. What is spe­cial about Jewish ritu­al textiles?

Ari­el Reich­man: They embo­dy a deep con­nec­tion bet­ween faith, tra­di­ti­on, and artis­tic expres­si­on. The­se tex­ti­les ser­ve not only prac­ti­cal ritu­al func­tions but also reflect cul­tu­ral iden­ti­ty, com­mu­ni­ty values, and the con­cept of hid­dur mitz­vah – the beau­ti­fi­ca­ti­on of reli­gious com­mandments. Bey­ond its prac­ti­cal func­tion of pro­tec­ting the scroll from dust and dama­ge, the Torah man­t­le embo­dies rever­ence for the divi­ne word and expres­ses the community’s spi­ri-tual and crea­ti­ve devo­ti­on. Fami­lies would com­mis­si­on or dona­te man­t­les in memo­ry of loved ones or in cele­bra­ti­on of life events such as wed­dings or births.

JMS: You pain­ted the designs on parch­ment made by an Israe­li manu­fac­tu­rer of Torah scrolls. How does your work reflect on the con­cept of holiness?

Ari­el Reich­man: It was important for me to use kos­her parch­ment as a paint-ing sur­face. The­se scrolls are pro­du­ced in a fasci­na­ting work­shop dedi­ca­ted to the wri­ting of the Torah and other sacred texts. By incor­po­ra­ting this deli­ca­te mate­ri­al, I wan­ted to draw atten­ti­on to its phy­si­cal and spi­ri­tu­al qua­li­ties and to high­light its rela­ti­onship to the actu­al Torah scroll that is also on dis­play in the exhi­bi­ti­on space. On a meta­phy­si­cal level, the parch­ments car­ry an enhan­ced sanc­ti­ty, deri­ved from the meti­cu­lous pro­cess of their crea­ti­on and their pur­po­se as ves­sels for holy words.

JMS: In the past, your work has been out­spo­ken, poli­ti­cal. I’m thin­king of your light instal­la­ti­on «I AM SAFE / I AM NOT SAFE» for the Mish­kan muse­um in Isra­el. Your work for Basel is beau­tiful and aes­the­tic – but is it also political?

Ari­el Reich­man: I belie­ve that all artis­tic work is inher­ent­ly political.