The research group, active between 2017 and 2019 at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, brought together industrial designers, scholars, and artists to create an outline for studying the question of the ethical life of the object.

The agency of inanimate objects has become one of the key issues of the 21^st century. Smart technologies enable us to have increasing interactions with seemingly inanimate objects: Siri, smart homes, robots, and even vacuum cleaners have all become active partners in our everyday lives. What is the ethical meaning of these reciprocal activities? Is there a moral or ethical code for behavior toward inanimate humanoid objects?

The group set out on a journey in which each participant chose a unique means of expression to highlight the question discussed in the meetings. The works created as part of the research group will be made accessible to the public.

Click here to view the works created by the participants in the research group (in Hebrew):

• Opening Lecture: The Ethics of Objects / Edo Litmanowitch
• An Ode to a Swivel Chair / Talia Tokatly (presentation)
• But How Many Times Will You Play with It / Lihi Rossman-Papier
• Pretense / Michal Rinot
• Salvation of the Collection Objects / Noga Shimshon
• Bad Objects / Edo Litmanowitch