From Traditional Wisdom and Philosophy in Pulpit Art to the Creation of Contemporary Space Design

Abstract

The research project aims to study the traditional wisdom and philosophy, and apply them to modern-day usage.  Pulpit art has lost its popularity.  The lack of understanding and conservation, which need to take the pulpit’s changing function into account, motivated the idea to create a contemporary space design from a study.  The hypothesis for this research was that the traditional wisdom of the creation of the pulpit art in the past could be deciphered and could be further developed into a design with an outcome that could be explained. The essence of pulpit art that was studied and developed was its space and design in the changing context. The study began with a comparison of the pattern developments in different historical periods and geographical regions. Observation and interviews with the people involved with the pulpit’s modern-day usage were conducted.  The focus was on the use of space and the human behaviors related to Buddhist rituals.  Therefore, the study obtained not only the traditional wisdom and philosophy that determined the design guidelines for complete aesthetic, but also the effective usage that aligned with the beliefs and ideas of the local community.  This methodology was used to determine the design of contemporary space.  An experiment was undertaken with creative installations in different non-religious spaces following the concept of contemporary society. The philosophical conclusion obtained from the experiment was that in order to continue the development of the essence of the modern pulpit art, the creation of the art must be modified to be more in line with the idea and the feelings of the public, and must discard the idea of traditional social classes.