Spring 2018, CairoThematic Course
Physics for Poets
a writing lab
Course details
- Cycle
- Spring 2018, Cairo
- Taught in
- English / Arabic
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About the course
What is time? How does Einstein's theory of relativity affect our perception? Do we exist as separate entities or are we a part of a whole? Is existence based on the notions of negatives and positives? Can we transcend theses opposites? How can particles' behavior give us clues to decipher life? Can we communicate without any means of communication? What if we don't have a moon? What if we have two moons?
Would you answer these questions . . . through a poem?
Every day we engage in acts of anti –entropy, resisting the randomness of life. Physics explains this randomness and art helps us communicate it. Gathering the bits and pieces of existence and ourselves, through writing, we'll deal with the infinite possibilities of reality.
Physics for poets is a course initiating the break of barriers between Art and Science. It's a space to realize the interdisciplinary nature of life, science, philosophy and art practice, through exploring the creative relationships between art and science and how to communicate them artistically. We will read texts discussing theories and "stories" about physics and let the discussion take us to a metaphysical level where we understand how physics is a part of everyday life and our imagination. We'd like to go beyond what we know and take for granted, and discuss notions of possibilities, nothingness, and dimensions out of the context of equations and numbers and move them to the context of poetry and fiction.
Declaration:
We are not physicists. This course is an experiment and a personal challenge for us; who come from a non-scientific background yet are open enough to science as a personal theme that doesn't only lie in books and complex terminologies. We believe that science is not exclusive to scientists, neither is creative writing exclusive to right-brained people. We are here to bridge between both disciplines and both sides of the brain, hoping to experience what it means to be a whole.
Why apply?
To read about/discuss physics not as rigid equations and dull theories but as a source to question the meaning of existence and for poetic inspiration.
To unleash your imagination and use it as a tool to create meaning out of randomness.
To develop your writing skills and your ability to use writing as a tool to express, feel, understand and connect.
To gain different ways of seeing
To connect the dots and find the links between scientific theories, philosophy and art, between analytical/ rational thinking, imagination, intuition and emotions.
Who teaches it
Alaa El-Bannan is this year's Arts and Culture co-fellow, Space lab director, and a previous CILAS student. She is currently working on developing her interdisciplinary art practice focusing on creative writing and drawing as a form. She studied media and mass communication, and had worked as a copywriter, an editor, and in the NGO sector for a while. Alaa's now interested in consciousness as a theme, and in experimentation as an approach. She believes in acceptance as a way to deal with the random, chaotic nature of reality, and believes in imagination as a way to expand her life experience. She refuses the distinction between reality and imagination as for her both are two faces of one thing and both feed each other. She daydreams and practices martial arts.
Doaa Shahin currently works as a co- fellow for the natural science field of study at CILAS and as a director of the media lab. She also works as a part-time translator for Huffington post. She had graduated from the faculty of mass communication and had worked in various journalistic institutions. She uses writing and photography as tools to express and communicate with herself and the other. Doaa is a person who never stops asking questions, and making weird connections. What makes her extremely curious nature embraceable is her chilled flexible attitude toward her wonderings. She is a philosophy enthusiast who brings abstract concepts and theories back to the everyday life and in relation to the human self. Doaa usually challenges her comfort zones. She is currently interested in exploring how our bodies can be a tool to express and connect, and how that could be different than using verbal language.
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