The Concept of Tantra as Meta-Design to Create Sustainability

Abstract

This article is an ongoing research and takes Tantra (Saraswati, 1981) to present an academic project that refers to the expansion of knowledge, understanding the body of an object through as a supreme shelter link. On the one hand, the female element represents the a whole as the beginning of everything and the supreme power of creation. On the other hand, the male element is associated with transcendence.Similar to designing, from the perspective of tantrism, the union of the two energies - feminine and masculine – is crucial and for this reason, the care of the object's body is essential.Phenomenologically, as Feuerstein (2005) states the tantric point of view does not deny the world of experiences, but views positively the culture of potential intrinsic psychophysical body and mind. This thesis comprises not only time and space, but also the external factors that cross-fertilize reality and, for this reason, enter into design process. In this sense, objects’ body is full of organs, but visible only to designers, requiring guidance from a master.In art, in early 20th century, there were similarities between the abstractions of Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian or Robert Delaunay. After that, Neo Tantrism emerged in the 1960s with the indian artist K. C.S. Paniker (1911-1977).In design, it seems Tantra contest divisions between opposites by teaching that everything is respected and incorporated, which includes the concept of marginal in society. For instance, Bauhaus (Germany, 20’s), Memphis (Italy, 60’s), Droog Design (Netherlands, 90’s) seem to represent it, as this is more about change in the world, via the body, rather than transcendence of it. In design Tantra can be understood as a moment of reflection on the nature of design and an occasion to continually think and get to know design, for instance, a process-oriented process. A reality that enhances scenario hypotheses, but without reaching a productive result.This ongoing research is non-interventionist and interventionist. The non-interventionist phase consists of the analysis and interpretation of concepts, contents from the past as well as visual imagery of Tantra. The interventionist phase resides on a pilot project.Thus, thinking about method in design means thinking about a phenomenological process such as interpretation. A path that is inductive like self-production, deductive like engineering, abductive intelligently linking hypotheses through experience, and also intuitive, imaginative, inventing, telling the story of material culture in another way. An alternative that needs to die and to live again, a process that, between analysis, intuition and experience, appeals to the dialectical reflection of design as an interlocutor between the individual and material culture in order to create sustainability.