The Living Language is a generative bio-linguistic research exploring the boundaries between culture and nature. Body and its surrounding. Language and its speakers.
It is a suggestion for a new evolution process of the Hebrew alphabet during the 2000 years it was considered to be a dead language.
The Paenibacillus vortex bacterium used to create old Hebrew characters that evolve themselves into modern ones is the main player in this research.
This multi-disciplinary research, which employs bacterium as a literally “living” language wearing a body mind and Petri dishes as a medium, morphs ancient Hebrew letters from a language that has been dead for several millennia into contemporary Hebrew letters. When considering the morphing of ancient letters using microorganisms, the unpredictable aspects of bacterial growth are included in the process as a variable.
Unpredictable changes awaiting our civilization, culture, and letters, or even the transformation of the shape and name of the media that carry everything – as to how to survive through the many generations to come.
The project deals with the tension between controlling the behaviour of living organisms and letting nature run its course. It also explores the developing states of the Hebrew language. Using the research, experiments, and results, I questioned nature, culture, character, and language with some own theories and asked in which biological fabrication can technologies interact with the design world.
The blue color, which I picked as a backbone in my research, is commonly referred to in the philosophy of art to values such as freedom and liberty, one body – one mind. French artist Yves Klein’s series of monochromatic works using IKB as the central theme is strongly dealing with control and the lack of it. Having a world filled with variations of blue on one hand, and patenting a specific shade of it on the other. In my research, I found it ironic to place such a small organism in such a large space, allowing it to fight for territory and food, making its own decisions. But actually, I’m having full control over the process – giving it food and making the life (or death) changing decisions instead of it. However, I was also not a master of my own body, forced to work in a wet-lab sterile environment and under the barriers of the language, we (the bacterium and I) both operate within its borders.
B.Des degree in Visual Communication. Bezalel Academy of Art and Design (2010-2014).
Training in Microbiology. Microbiology department, Prof. Eshel Ben-Jacob, Tel-Aviv University (2014).
Hebrew Linguistics and Archeology. Ben-Gurion University in the Negev (2004-2008).
WS with full NRW-Scholarship Program. Fachhochschule Bielefeld / University of Applied Sciences NRW-Scholarship Program (2013).
POLITICS OF THE MACHINES – ART AND AFTER. Aalborg University – Copenhagen, Denmark – May 2018.
Urvanity art fair.
JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL. Opera City -Tokyo, Japan – September 2017.
(id)ea.code++ Algorithmic Objects exhibition. HIT Research Gallery – Holon, Israel. – July2017.
Alien Minds, Print Screen Festival. Cinematheque Holon – Holon, Israel – June 2017.
University of Nicosia. Nicosia, Cyprus – February 2017.
PyeongChang Biennale. Gangneung, Rep. of Korea – February 2017.
Ars Electronica Festival. Post City – Linz, Austria – September 2016.
Beyond Tellerrand. Capitol Theater – Dusseldorf, Germany – May 2016.
Jerusalem Design Week. Villa Sherover – Jerusalem, Israel – May 2016.
Non-Contagious Exhibition. Hansen House – Jerusalem, Israel- June 2016.
ICTVC Festival. ΡΩ gallery – Thessaloniki, Greece – July 2016.
KIKK FESTIVAL. Galerie du Beffroi – Namur, Belgium – November 2015.
Beyond Tellerrand. Admiralspalast Theater – Berlin, Germany – November 2015.
WIRED. A Living Typeface That Actually Grows in a Petri Dish. (September 3, 2015).
CoDesign. Made of Bacteria, This Living Type Morphs Into New Letterforms. (September 1, 2015).
Dezeen. Ori Elisar grows typography in a lab using bacteria-filled petri dishes. September 14, 2015).
ilovetypography. Bacterial Type. (September 21, 2015).
Discovery. Living Typeface. (September 6, 2015).
Makesense. Biology, linguistics and evolutionary aesthetics. (September 8, 2015).
Page Magazine. Wie aus Bakterien ein Alphabet wächst. (September 21, 2015).
Cienciaxplora. Esta tipografía vive (literalmente) en una placa de Petri. (September 25, 2015).
Ideas lab. DESIGN, INOVAȚIE, ȘTIINȚĂ. (September 17, 2015).
Frizzifrizzi.it. L’ALFABETO VIVENTE, CHE MUTA GRAZIE A UN BATTERIO. (October 12, 2015).
Ethics of culling as a public health measure. Public Lecture@Critical Perspectives on Animal-Human relations group at The Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Tel Aviv University – January 2017.
Beyond Tellerrand. Public Lecture@Capitol Theater – Dusseldorf, Germany – May 2016.
Jerusalem Design Week. Villa Sherover – Jerusalem, Israel – May 2016.
Non Contagious Exhibition. Gallery talk@Hansen House – Jerusalem, Israel- June 2016.
ICTVC Conference. Public Lecture@Nikolaos Germanos Congress Centre – Thessaloniki, Greece – July 2016. FITC conference. Public Lecture@National Center of Sciences Building – Tokyo, Japan – February 2016.
MetaPhorest seminar. Academic Lecture@Emergence of Complexity and Distributed Creativity in Electronic Art, Video Games Production and Biosystems – Waseda University – Tokyo, Japan – February 2016.
SuperFabLab. Public Lecture@Keio University -Yokohama, Japan – February 2016.
BioFiction night. Public Lecture@BCL and Institut français du Japon – Tokyo, Japan – February 2016.
PechaKucha – Petri Dish Typography. PechaKucha talk@SuperDeluxe – Tokyo, Japan – February 2016.
PechaKucha night. PechaKucha talk@The Culture Palace Auditorium – Tel-Aviv, Israel – April 2016.
BioHack Typographic workshop. Workshop@Fabcafe MRTL – Tokyo, Japan – February 2016.
2nd material innovation forum. Panel talk@The IDC Media Innovation lab and the Architectural Association School of Architecture [AA London] – January 2016.
Nature Inspired By Design. Public Lecture@Teva Pharmaceutical Industries – Integrated R&D.
EX, arte electronico y experimental (2018). EX Experimental New Media Art Prize – The Living Language Project.
Japan Media Arts Festival (2017). Excellence Award – The Living Language Project.
TDC62, Type Directors Club (2015). Certificate of Typographic Excellence – The Living Language Project.
The 9TH Annual International Design Awards (2015). Honorable Mention – The Living Language Project.
