At The Walker Art Center’s August Free First Saturday, Brooklyn-based artist Tamar Ettun (she/they) will present Lilit the Empathic Demon, an immersive installation and participatory performance inspired by Lilit, an aerial spirit demon with origins in Sumerian, Akkadian, and Judaic mythology. In this project, Ettun revives ancient traditions through a contemporary feminist lens, revamping Lilit’s image as an Empathic Demon. Families will be invited to create a vessel to trap the demon that knows them best—perhaps the “demon of overthinking”—and then participate in a playful ceremony to summon and befriend your demon!
Ettun (b. Jerusalem, Israel, 1982) uses textiles, drawings, sculpture, video and performance to explore somatic empathy, trauma-healing modalities, and ritual. Her recent work centers on Lilit, an aerial spirit demon with origins in Sumerian, Akkadian, and Judaic mythology. In the 2nd-7th centuries, artist-healers created spells, drawings, and talismanic objects to trap demons like Lilit, who was characterized as a dangerously sexual female entity, and appeared frequently on incantation bowls used in protective rituals. Enthralled by the images inscribed on these ancient objects, Ettun began studying their vocabulary and eventually, developed her own language that revives these practices through a contemporary feminist lens, subverting Lilit’s misogynistic archetype and revamping her image as an Empathic Demon. Text SUMMON to 833-575-1049 to join Lilit’s text group and receive occasional messages. Lilit the Empahtic Demon is presented at the Walker in collaboration with Dreamsong.
Tamar Ettun (she/they) has exhibited and performed at The Chinati Foundation, Pioneer Works, Pace University Gallery, The Watermill Center, Art Omi Sculpture Garden, PERFORMA, The Barrick Museum, Fridman Gallery, Sculpture Center, Madison Square Park, e-flux, Socrates Sculpture Park, and The Jewish Museum among many other venues. She has received awards and fellowships from the Pollock Krasner Foundation, Chinati Foundation, Stoneleaf Retreat, BAX (Brooklyn Arts Exchange), The California Studio at UC Davis, Moca Tucson, Marble House Project, Franklin Furnace, MacDowell Fellowship, Windgate Residency, Iaspis – Swedish Grant Council, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Abrons Art Center, Triangle Arts Association, Art Production Fund, and RECESS. Ettun’s work has been featured in numerous publications, including BOMB, The Brooklyn Rail, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. Ettun received an MFA from Yale University in 2010, where she was awarded the Alice English Kimball Fellowship, and teaches at Columbia University School of Arts and Parsons School of Design. Forthcoming presentations of Lilit in collaboration with Dreamsong include NADA House in Governor’s Island, NY (Sept 1 – Oct 1, 2023) and The Armory Show, as part of Armory Off-Site (Sept 7-10, 2023).
