Stones with a Human Heart, or: Talk to the Trees and Stones

What can stones tell us about ourselves? And how can we get them to tell their stories, or ours in human language?
In the course we will meet stones, explore them and dub them, in order to gain a new perspective on human existence in the Jerusalem space and generate conversations that go beyond the realm of the possible. During a week of intensive work, we will acquire new skills using AI-based tools, experiment with speculative and narrative characterization, develop site-related skills and examine spatial context, create worlds and points of view, and experiment with literary modes of conversation design .

The course takes a multimodal research approach that moves along the axis between the topical and the poetic. On the theoretical level, the course draws on contemporary theories in material culture, speculative/alien phenomenology and object oriented ontology, and on the tension between humanism and posthumanism. On the practical axis, the course combines art research and site-specific intervention, ready-made work, research in architecture and urban design, and design - in particular speculative design, storytelling and AI-based interaction design.