"The things you don't see from here"

The conference which was organized by the Faculty of Design together with NATAL - Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War, dealt with the "transparent" effects of trauma and how artists and designers react and reflect on the current situation in Israel.

This important gathering was also used to launch the book "Twenty years later: shaping Rabin's memory", which was published by HIT's design faculty and NATAL, marking the 20th anniversary of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination

The conference's speakers, which consisted of psychologists and psychiatrists who work in NATAL alongside HIT's faculty members, designers and artists who deal with trauma in various ways, have all related to the question whether artistic creativity can be used as a healing power in dealing with trauma.

Prof. Eduard Yakubov, president of HIT, said in his opening speech, that while Israel always strives for peace, the entire society is constantly traumatized by terror and war and yet our daily life continues under these circumstances.

In this occasion, the president had also announced the latest news regarding the establishment of a new faculty at HIT: The faculty of Instructional Technologies, following the Council for Higher Education's confirmation for an M.Sc program in Instructional Technology at HIT.

In light of this conference, the president had expressed his intention and desire to extend HIT's Design, Instructional Technologies and Engineering faculties' collaboration with NATAL.

Mrs. Judith Yovel Recanati, founder and chairperson of NATAL, said in her opening speech that NATAL's slogan is "Back to life" and indeed, one of the organization's major targets is to make a change and help people strengthen their personal sturdiness. "People who suffer from trauma due to terror and war and receive personal treatment, have a great chance of getting back to life again" she said.

The conference's speakers discussed various topics such as: "Terror, Creativity and Trauma", "Transparent creativity: on trauma representations in art", and "Shaping memory in the visual space".

The psychiatrist, Dr. Ilan Kutz, talked about what's between art and drama and photographer and lecturer at HIT, Yoav Horesh, discussed the photography angle of dealing with trauma.

Prof. Rutu Modan, from the visual communication department at Bezalel and the author of the graphic novel "Exit wounds", spoke about the ways in which terror is reflected in her works and the process of writing her book. .Modan, who has won the Eisner comic award, gives an unusual/humoristic perspective to terror and trauma in her book.

Prof. Dana Arieli, Dean of the faculty of design at HIT, talked about and demonstrated how the creative world can supply a different and unique viewpoint to that of the political world.