The "Oriental approach" to propaedeutics in the context of "somatic-oriented" design

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The relevance of the research is justified by the need to develop the bodily self-awareness of future designers. The problem of the study lies in the somewhat simplified perception of bodily experience by Western designers, since in the West the development of conceptual thinking is a priority. In the course of the research, the author hypothesizes that practicing Oriental calligraphy can contribute to the development of designers' bodily self-awareness, since calligraphy is a product of "somatic-oriented" thinking rooted in the Eastern tradition. The author of the study considers "somatic-oriented" design in the context of an environmental approach, but suggests moving from the opposition of man and environment rooted in the West to understanding their relations as mutually generating and even "one-body". The author analyzes the first attempts to develop "somatic-oriented" propaedeutics at the Bauhaus and comes to the conclusion that relying on the bodily experience of the teachers of the basic course served purely theoretical tasks, which ultimately demonstrated the priority of conceptual thinking over thinking "somatic-oriented". The eastern avant-garde calligraphers have been moving in the opposite direction, moving from the linguistic meaning of the sign to its "embodied" meaning content. Since they rely primarily on bodily consciousness, space in calligraphy symbolizes a single world "body" (while space in European painting is, to a large extent, the space of linear movement of the mind). The empty space of a calligraphic work is filled with sensations and embodied meanings. The author of the study concludes that, propaedeutically, attention to this empty space can allow a designer to start thinking by the way, when the designer "sees" a new object where it does not exist yet, but where it cannot but be – that is, where its appearance seems absolutely natural.