Abstract
This pictorial paper stages the generative dialogue between a designer-researcher-teacher and a philosopher-teacher-painter in the Chinese tradition. Through cultural decentring and exchange of perspectives, we aim at questioning designers’ posture. More specifically, the polarities of “empty” and “full” are used to discuss the sense of authorship, and the balance between engagement and letting go in practice. The paintings that punctuate the text are neither used as simple illustrations nor as achievements, they constitute another type of narrative thread in our dialogue, that we hope will trigger readers’ sensitivity, reflection, and action.
Keywords
Chinese painting, design posture, creative void, dialogue
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.609
Citation
Berger, E.,and Christian, D.(2023) The full and the empty. A dialogue between Chinese painting and design, in De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F., Spallazzo, D. (eds.), IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design, 9-13 October, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.609
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
pictorials
Included in
The full and the empty. A dialogue between Chinese painting and design
This pictorial paper stages the generative dialogue between a designer-researcher-teacher and a philosopher-teacher-painter in the Chinese tradition. Through cultural decentring and exchange of perspectives, we aim at questioning designers’ posture. More specifically, the polarities of “empty” and “full” are used to discuss the sense of authorship, and the balance between engagement and letting go in practice. The paintings that punctuate the text are neither used as simple illustrations nor as achievements, they constitute another type of narrative thread in our dialogue, that we hope will trigger readers’ sensitivity, reflection, and action.