A talk led by Yuval Saar, editor and founder of the online design and art magazine Portfolio, with Ilanit Kabesa, leader in food innovation and a Foodtech expert, and artist Omer Polak, the creator of the Picnic on Mars installation.
Picnic on Mars raises many questions about the future of food, as well as the future of our society, nature and culture. A picnic, a laid-back event of spending some peaceful time in nature, is associated with spontaneity and simplicity. Yet a picnic on Mars, as a metaphor, is a complicated event, requiring serious preparations – undoubtedly, the most crucial picnic in human history.
In this talk, the three participants will turn to our past and present to try and understand how we should act – now – to shape out future.
About the guests
Yuval Saar
Chief Editor and Founder of Portfolio Magazine
In 2014 he initiated the Tel Aviv Week of Illustration, and has been its chief curator and artistic director ever since. Yuval has curated exhibitions in various museums, such as Design Museum Holon, The Museum of Islamic Art, The Eretz Israel Museum, Jaffa Museum and more. In the years 2015-2017 he was head of The Shenkar Institute for Research and Documentation of Design in Israel.
Ilanit Kabesa
Agri-Food Tech Expert
Her work is focused on building Multinational Corporates (MNC’s) strategic growth engines, collaborations portfolio, investments strategies, ventures teams and processes. To date Ilanit has built 5 Innovation / Venturing activities for 3 Agri-Food MNC’s : Nestle ( Israel, Switzerland), Dole ( Singapore) , Novozymes (Denmark). Ilanit developed an innovation and collaboration portfolio for over 20 brands bringing hundreds of products to the global market. Ilanit has been working in the global Agri-Food start-up scene since its nascent days and is an instrumental member as co-founder of the Israeli Agri-Food Tech ecosystem, as well as an active player in the Global Agri-Food Tech scene.
Omer Polak
Artist and Designer
Omer Polak holds a BA from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, and an MA from ECAL, Switzerland. His projects address the relationship between man, nature and technology, with an emphasis on social, political and economic aspects. His multi-disciplinary, Berlin-based studio combines practical objects with science and craft-based art installations which tend to focus on sensory experiences. His works have been shown in museums and galleries worldwide. He was awarded the Israeli Ministry of Culture Award in 2017 and the Core77 Design Award (New York) twice. His research Smell as a Design Tool was presented at the TED conference in Switzerland. Omer currently teaches at Berlin International University and at Shenkar College’s MA program, and he is also a guest lecturer at Bezalel and additional institutes in Israel and abroad.
