Three short conversations, moving between three case descriptions of different forms of expression. Through them, we will regard the varying ways in which the vital force is confronted with form, fills and perpetuates it. Our journey will begin with the Biological, through the formalistic and into the literary, and beyond. Following the conversations, Menachem Goldenberg and Nava Frenkel will moderate a discussion.

Where does the vitality of ants reside? / Prof. Ofer Feinerman

Ants gather to form colonies – the evolutionary unit for these species. In the conversation, we will try and identify the location of vitality between these two levels – the individual ant and the colony.

The Bauhaus Stagecraft Workshop / Hadas Ophrat

Oskar Schlemmer: “We are, primarily, visual creatures, and therefore a pure visual experience can fulfill us”.

A Violent life, a Desperate Vitality: residing in disaster with P.P Pasolini / Dr. Shaul Setter

Pier Paolo Pasolini, the Italian poet and filmmaker, dealt in his work with the articulation of life forms under Neo Capitalism, and the movement towards a new form of Fascism. Nearly 50 years after his murder, while contracts of Liberalism are being shattered, we will ask what can we learn from Pasolini – From the novel “A Violent Life”, through the poem “A Desperate Vitality”, his Life Trilogy and his unfinished piece “Petrolio” – about the force of vitality in the era of devastation.

Image: A cast of an ant colony