The Department of Industrial Design at Shenkar is pleased to invite you to a new second-semester lecture series:

Green Tree of Plastic: a series of guest lectures on trees, people, and new fossils

In recent years the world of design and art has taken a great interest in issues involving trees and forests, both because of the ongoing climate crisis and as part of a broader discussion regarding the relations between human beings and the ecosystem in which they live and act.

This series of lectures offers the viewpoints of contemporary designers and artists who work with scents, leaves, and plastic waste, and who raise complex questions that stimulate the mind and senses: What is the sound of an avocado leaf? What are the new fossils made of? Does a location have a taste? What is a forest shower stall, and where do the tree pots go when the park closes?

The lecture schedule:

First branch

April 29, 8:00 p.m.

Omer Polak

Ofer Asaf

Second branch

May 6, 8:00 p.m.

Shahar Livne

Tamara Efrat

Third and final branch

May 20, 8:00 p.m.

Anat Safran and Tal Erez

Michal Evyatar

Wish to join our lectures? Please email sitemanager@shenkar.ac.il to register. Please note: The lectures are in Hebrew!

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About the guest lecturers:

Omer Polak – On the senses during times of epidemic, urban experience, scents, crafts, technology, ecology, and humanity through the prism of speculative design. An open discussion of design, the designer’s responsibility, and the sensory experience.

Omer is an artist and designer working in Berlin. He provides research, design, and development services, and he runs a research laboratory for independent projects. His lecture will present the Olfactory Forest project — an installation that focuses on a speculative futurist scenario, and examines our connection with nature and technology, by means of an artificial forest.

Ofer Asaf – An engineer and designer, with a B.Sc. in Polymer Engineering and a master’s degree in Design from Shenkar. His master’s project, “Three Études with Trees,” is currently on display as part of the “Black Box” exhibition at Design Museum Holon. His lecture will present the work process of that project, which links theory, design, and technology in order to examine the complex relations between culture and nature via the connection of people with trees in the present day.

Shahar Livne – A prize-winning conceptual designer of materials.

Her lecture will discuss a long-term research project of hers called “Metamorphism,” which began as her 2017 graduation project at Design Academy Eindhoven. The project broadly investigates the future of plastic as a substance mined in nature, from the perspective of discursive and speculative design.

Tamara Efrat – A multidisciplinary designer and entrepreneur. Her works deal with the connection between traditional crafts and advanced technologies. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design from Shenkar and a master’s in Industrial Design and Technology (cum laude) from Bezalel. She manages her own independent brand and is a lecturer and consultant in textiles and design for startups and other companies. She is a founding partner in the ecological startup Mon Terra. She has works featured at many museums and galleries in Israel and around the world, including exhibits at Berlin Design Week, Tokyo Design Week, Craft ACT in Australia, Design Museum Holon, Beit Ha’ir Museum, and more.

Anat Safran and Tal Erez – Leading figures in Jerusalem Design Week; Anat Safran is the artistic director and Tal Erez the chief curator. They will both be presenting the “Con|Serve” Design Week dedicated to preservation and conservation as tools for keeping our hold on the past at a time of technological upheavals. 30 local and international events, exhibitions, and projects were created and presented under the rubric of “Con|Serve,”, examining the relationship between past and future by way of the present—in its social, human, technological, and cultural senses—and with respect to the power of design to inhabit and influence them.

Michal Evyatar — An interdisciplinary artist specializing in culinary performance. She will expound on the “Salt Repast’ that was created for the “Con|Serve” week. That project, in cooperation with Carmel Bar, dealt with the preservation and restoration of food through work with salt. The “Salt Repast” that they created included some 15 tons of salt that became a sort of white archaeological site. On the opening night, performers mined foods out of it, passed them to stations where restoration was performed—based on practices as ancient as the Roman period and used until today—and served these meals to the visitors for tasting.