Design Process II: Gross Encounters
Gross Encounters, developed by Reem Saleh and Noam Toran, explored how perceptions of monstrosity, alienhood and “otherness” are shaped by colonial and imperial legacies. Drawing on horror, science fiction and exploitation cinema, the workshop examined how marginalised genres and low-budget production can challenge dominant cultural and aesthetic value systems.
Students were invited to imagine intimate encounters with monstrous beings through short films, performances and installations. A hands-on “gore-fest lab” provided a space to experiment with no-budget special effects, horror makeup, resourceful cinematography and sound production. Embracing DIY methods and the expressive possibilities of materials deemed “trash”, participants contributed their experiments to a collective cookbook for no-budget filmmaking.
Lectures, screenings and discussions connected these practical explorations to histories of subaltern and counter-hegemonic filmmaking, considering how monstrous fictions can question the construction of the “other” and create space for alternative forms of representation.
