I attended an architecture lecture at the RCA. The professor, who was giving the talk, forgot his laptop. A member of the RCA support staff had to give him his own. After a few slides, the computer all of a sudden logged out. The professor couldn’t continue. The laptop wasn’t his and the original owner had left the room. No one from the RCA staff could help. The laptop asked for his owner’s fingerprint by stating “Please place your finger”. The presence of these words on a big screen in a full auditorium made an incredibly strong impression. It took a good half an hour for the poor staff member to finally come back. He simply placed his finger on the top right side of the keyboard. Everyone applauded. The presentation could continue. All that was needed, was human touch, specific human touch.

​

Despite being always highly controversial, due to its inherently political charge, international diplomacy is the embodiment of the searched mediation in the physical world. ‘The Human Factor’1 is a 2019 American-Israeli documentary that follows a thirty-year effort to establish peace in the Middle-East, told from the perspective of the US diplomats. Leaving aside its political entanglements, for me the importance of this film lies in its ability to capture the vitality of human contact within an extremely serious situation. Alongside the obvious public statements, proclamations and the secret negotiations behind the scenes, it is precisely the gestures that a politician does towards its counterpart that determine how relationship will be formed and perceived.

​

​

​

​