Yuval Saar, founder of the design and art magazine Portfolio, will moderate this conversation about the materials of workers’ restaurants with Rona Zinger and Liora Rosin, who curated “Home Away from Home Away from Home: A Tribute to Workers’ Restaurants.” They will be joined by restauranteur Shahar Segal and artist Lihi Berger, whose work is featured in the exhibition.

What is a “workers’ restaurant” in Israel? The exhibition aims to disassemble and reassemble its visual, human, and culinary characteristics through different prisms to help analyze complex questions about Israeli society.

In this gallery talk (the third of four) we will delve into the selection of materials, utensils and furniture of workers’ restaurants. Collected over a long period of time, these materials were often chosen for convenience and affordability, but have become a specific aesthetic. We will discuss the new restaurants that strive to achieve that elusive authenticity by using paper maps, printing menus on A4 pages, and creating an organized mess. We will also talk about the role of the plate as a platform for food and a story, and the meaning of its absence in today's workers’ dinner.

 

Yuval Saar, Editor and Founder of Portfolio Magazine
In 2014 Yuval initiated the Tel Aviv Week of Illustration, and has been its chief curator and artistic director since. He has curated exhibitions in various museums, such as Design Museum Holon, The Museum of Islamic Art, The Israel Museum, Jaffa Museum, and others. From 2015 to 2017, he was head of The Shenkar Institute for Research and Documentation of Design in Israel.


Liora Rosin, Designer, Researcher, and Curator
Liora Rosin is a designer and design researcher specializing in the field of food. She is a lecturer in the bachelors and masters programs in industrial design at Bezalel and owns an independent studio.


Rona Zinger, Curator and Exhibition Designer
In recent years, Rona Singer worked as an exhibition designer at the Holon Design Museum. She is also a design lecturer at the Holon Institute of Technology. She graduated with a bachelors and masters in industrial design from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design.


Shahar Segal, Restaurateur and Culinary Entrepreneur
In 2008, Segal opened the restaurant Haslon with his partner chef Eyal Shani. Today, he is a culinary  entrepreneur and the owner of The Better Guys Ltd, which operates dozens of restaurants, including branches of Miznon in Israel and abroad.  


Lihi Berger, Multidisciplinary Designer and Creator
In her most recent works, Lihi’s dealt with preserving the memory of places that are about to disappear. Through wandering, documenting, and meeting people she tries to preserve the feeling of the place and collect pieces of memories. She graduated with a bachelors from the department of industrial design of Bezalel Academy of Art and Design.