Abstract (short paper)

Nowadays we are living in a fluid geo-politic landscape, the emergence arts and educational movements are playing between material and immaterial, this can be read as a symptom of unstable situation. Consciousness and perception of reality are related to internal and external factors as the sum of collective and social interactions. On the other hand, awareness and consciousness have an epicentre through our body as internal milieu or interoception and from outside/inside as proprioception, the awareness of body in space. The ancient Aristotle’s peripatetic School and the context of Zen Buddhism highlighted the senses and the experimental knowledge as the first important tool in order to cultivate intellect. We might assume that each of us perceive the world differently according to the culture where we live in. To be able to perceive again we need, as Ivan Illich suggested in 1971 in “Deschooling Society”, de-institutionalize the society and perhaps the first step could be de-institutionalizing education. The article will describe an experimental blend between physical theatre and design education in a non-tactile society (Thailand). Moreover the article will explore and underline how a physical theatre approach could be an important stimulus for a product design education especially in Southeast-Asia.

• Tommaso Maggio, PhD Candidate, Planetary Collegium, Plymouth University, UK; Montfort del Rosario School of Architecture and Design, Assumption University of Thailand

Full text (PDF) p. 313-318