The dominant approach in design research is based on observations of how designers work. This approach limits the theoretical understanding of design practice to a reflective point of view, as the aesthetic experience that only occurs in the present cannot be accounted for by the same means. That is the assertion of Ariana Amacker in her thesis Embodying Openness: A Pragmatist Exploration into the Aesthetic Experience of Design Form-Giving.

Ariana Amacker is an architect, but also has a background in modern dance. Her research project has evolved from her interest in design as an artistic and creative process. Approaching design as a physical experience differs from the traditional, analytical way of doing research in design. Her project is empirical and the artistic method she uses reflects and theorises around design practice based on her experience of Butoh, a Japanese form of improvisational dance. The project is based on an embodied approach and the inner experience of design. Amacker believes that a creative way of working is deeply tied to emotional questions of ‘self’, the fragility of the designer’s own ego and his/her ability to open him/herself up to a physical sense of uncertainty, failure, ridicule, or fear that come with facing the unknown. The dissertation shows how creativity in design has its roots in bodily experience. It also extends design methodologies by introducing a movement-based inquiry that engages artistic perception and expression of aesthetic experience. One of Ariana Amacker’s aims of the thesis is to contribute to the development of a theoretical platform for design, where aesthetic experience also has its rightful space, a qualitative space that is central to further developing research and education on artistic ground.
The dissertation was defended in September 2017 at HDK – Academy of Design and Crafts, University of Gothenburg.