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The biological body is a complex, highly organized structure composed of unique cells that work together to perform specific functions necessary for the maintenance of life.
Social Body
The social body acquires cultural significance and becomes a medium for its presentation, communication, and reflection within social interaction.
Political Body
The political body refers to power practices that regulate, control, and restrict the human body (e.g., based on gender, race, sexual orientation, etc.). At the same time, the body can also serve as a tool of protest
The Situation
In the process of evolution, humans have become skilled tool users, functionally extending their bodies and reshaping their environment. Neuroscientific research confirms that we perceive a tool as an extension of our biological body, thereby modulating its boundaries. This process continues today; tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated, extending our bodies on a global scale from the moment we connected to the network. However, tools also reshape us in return—not only our thinking and ability to learn but our physical bodies as well. We are in a constant cycle of designing, but also redesigning, ourselves.
Current design methods are dominated by conceptual, logical, language-oriented, and heavily visual interactions—a trend further amplified by digital tools and media. The role of the body as a specific source of intuitive knowledge and a creative tool has been sidelined.
In his book The Thinking Hand, Juhani Pallasmaa highlights the importance of the body's creative intelligence and discusses its key role in the development of skill, intelligence, and conceptual capabilities.
Thesis
In the context of the current ecological crisis caused by human activity—fueled by the belief that man is the measure of all things and that, through technology understood as an extension of one's own biological body, he has the right to reshape the world in his image—it is necessary to redefine the relationship between humans and nature. Perhaps we can begin by rediscovering the relationship with our own bodies and their biological essence.
„The deep question of design is encountered when we realize that in designing tools we are designing ways of being.“
Terry Winograd and Fernando Flores (1986)
AssignmentThe task is to focus attention on the body as a specific source of knowledge and explore its creative potential. It is possible to focus on its physiological possibilities, but also its limitations, identity, communication, conventions, historical narratives, etc., and to formulate an individual research path where the body can be both the object and the tool of the creative process.
List of Student: Lenka Ingeliová, Alina Jochim, Adam Kukuc, Alexandra Kusá, Jaroslava Labudová, Veronika Majerčíková, Mária Martinická, Michaela Ujčeková
Index of projects