The Journal of Somaesthetics Volume 8, Number 2 (2022) 103 Page 103–113Bartlomiej Struzik Artistic Statement Is space recognizing a form? A contributory study for the theory of Somactive Art Bartlomiej Struzik Abstract: In the content of the paper, I refer to meetings with people whose reflections, general comments or even unspoken gestures have become a source of inspiration no less important to me than readings and theoretical study. At this point, I would like to particularly emphasize the role of my acquaintance with Richard Shusterman, whose concept of Somaesthetics, growing from his talent, many years of honest philosophical work and solid theoretical foundations, is probably the most striking contrast of the research method in relation to the artistic intuitions proposed in my text and postulates resulting mostly from art practice. The concepts presented in this paper, especially the two key issues of Somactive Art and space recognizing as a form, will consequently have the character of an artistic supposition and represent a theoretical sketch, rather than a thoroughly researched, well-founded, and mature scientific hypothesis. Introductory Remarks My respect for the readers of a well-established scientific journal requires me to introduce more extensively my intentions and justify the reason for presenting the concepts of Somactive Art and space recognizing as a form. I am an artist and in my daily creative practice I use the sculpting workshop and design competences. The concepts presented in this paper, especially the two key issues of Somactive Art and space recognizing as a form, will consequently have the character of an artistic supposition and represent a theoretical sketch, rather than a thoroughly researched, well-founded, and mature scientific hypothesis. Equally important is the assertion that the concept of systematizing my artistic intuitions and giving them the concise form of a scientific paper, as well as an attempt to embed them in a broader discourse, is a relatively new idea. However the above-mentioned intuitions regarding Somactive Art and the concept of space recognizing as a form have accompanied me for years and I use them profusely in an intuitive and often subconscious way in my daily creative practice. The presented text will often refer to the creative process, in particular to my series of large-format sculptural compositions entitled Transitus. In the paper I will devote a lot of space to the Transitus cycle - which will probably Body, Space, Architecture104 Is space recognizing a form? A contributory study for the theory of Somactive Art not escape the reader’s notice - becoming the main point of reference and a handy illustration of the theoretical issues presented in the text. Although it may seem that too many personal threads and emotionally charged statements are included in the scientific discourse, I include descriptions of spaces and places whose atmosphere left indelible memories in me, becoming both a canvas and a medium for both proposed concepts: Somactive Art and space recognizing as a form. Referring to my own artistic intuition, body memory, emotional experience and the poetics of language seems to be justified by the fact that I am looking for a theoretical context for my considerations in the field of somaesthetics, which is no stranger to treating the subject as a highly complex and constantly dynamic individuality. I am aware that as an artist I am entering unfamiliar territory and undertake a difficult task - giving up the comfort of hiding in the shadow of my sculptural projects - consisting in the most transparent formulation and convincing justification of a separate methodology of artistic creation called here Somactive Art. I believe, however, that such a proposal may in the future result in the inspiring discussion and development of a brand-new branch of the vitally growing tree of somaesthetics, supported by solid scientific roots and engaging art practice. For the clarity of the paper, two more used in the text - semantically bound but obviously separate - expressions, require a short explanation. These are the concepts of space-art and sculptural space. I will use these terms understanding space-art as a semantically roomier concept and covering the area of creativity in which elements of sculpture, sculptural installation, and architecture or landscape design are orchestrated and purposely combined. An example of what I define as space-art are for instance multi-element memorial compositions - spaces of remembrance1 (vide: Peter Eisenmann: Berlin Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe). In this way, it also defines the work of the Israeli artist, Dani Karavan, whose memorial designs and projects in public spaces are a synthesis of disciplines and refer to a multi-sensory, intellectual and emotional dialogue with the recipient. (Vide: Monument to the Negev Brigade: near Beersheba, Israel, Walter Benjamin Memorial: Portbou, Spain). Sculptural space, on the other hand, is understood as the creation, in which purely sculptural qualities such as textures, materiality and expression of sculptural weights and dynamics of form become the dominant aspect of the created space. (Vide: Richard Serra, The Matter of Time - Guggenheim Museum Bilbao). In the content of the paper, I refer to meetings with people whose reflections, general comments or even unspoken gestures have become a source of inspiration no less important to me than readings and theoretical study. At this point, I would like to particularly emphasize the role of my acquaintance with professor Richard Shusterman2, whose concept of Somaesthetics, growing from his talent, many years of honest philosophical work and solid theoretical foundations, is probably the most striking contrast of the research method in relation to the artistic intuitions proposed in my text and postulates resulting mostly from art practice. Nevertheless, it was my collaboration with professor Richard Shusterman that became the breakthrough impulse that emboldened me to write this article and embark on an intellectual adventure. The structure of the article has been built in such a way as to clearly indicate the role of creative experience as the basis of research (practice-based research). In this context, I would like to thank professor Jürgen Weidinger3 from Berlin - the tireless advocate of studio practice as 1 Each time large-scale spaces of memory are mentioned, I will consistently use the term memorial rather than monument except when citing the official names of them. 2 Richard Shusterman, a pragmatist philosopher, Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar in the Humanities. Director of the Body, Mind, and Culture Center at Florida Atlantic University. 3 Jürgen Weidinger, a landscape architect and director of Weidinger Landschaftsarchitekten Berlin. Professor and head of Chair for Landscape Architecture at Technische Universität Berlin. His research interests are theories of atmosphere and aesthetics in landscape architecture. The Journal of Somaesthetics Volume 8, Number 2 (2022) 105 Bartlomiej Struzik an indispensable and inseparable basis for formulating theories in the field of design. One of the greatest illuminations on my artistic way was friendly meetings with Dani Karavan4, with whom I first met in his studio in Tel Aviv. I remember the atmosphere of our last meeting, his bright, joyful eyes and firm handshake when we said goodbye to each other. It turned out to be our last handshake ever but I constantly feel his mysterious presence in my artistic life. The issues of Somactive Art and space recognizing as a form, discussed in turn, should be considered in parallel, with the assumption that Somactive Art applies to creators - designers of public spaces, public art or space-art as mentioned above, and to artistic creation in general, while space recognizing as a form refers to the recipients who, in the cognitive, spatially active and spread-over-time process, have a chance for a deeper interaction with the space of the art work. I will present the significance and possible synthesis of these two concepts at the end of the paper. Transitus: Conceptual Objectives and Inspirations In this chapter I seek to present my inner imperatives and creative inspirations, to define the highlighted issue of space recognizing as a form and Somactive Art, as far as possible, to transfer these two elements to teaching space-art. Many of the themes, especially those relating to teaching space-art, were partly discussed in the Przestrzeń – Czas – Forma5 [Eng. Space – Time – Form], a monographic cycle published since 2011 and in a paper printed in the Ethos quarterly in 2013. The conclusions made then remain up-to-date, blazing trails towards expressive and methodological autonomy of Somactive Art. The path of my creative and intellectual development was inspired primarily by my juvenile fascination in classical Greek philosophy and by later trips to Japan, followed by visits to China, and by the influence the cultures of these countries had on my perception of space as well as the role of body in space perception. The dialogue between the West and the culture of the East is undoubtedly the most characteristic feature and background of my considerations. In the first place, I should mention traditional Japanese garden design as well as the historical achievements of the country’s architecture. For me, Yoshinobu Ashihara's book titled, Exterior Design in Architecture6 is an example of simplicity and clarity of the argumentation accompanied by adequate illustrative material. I reach for it often and with great benefit. Yi-Fu Tuan’s celebrated publication Space and Place and classic Topophilia remain an inexhaustible source of inspiration for me. Intellectually open and filled with mutual trust, my meetings with Toshihiro Hamano7, Juhani Pallasmaa8 (phenomenology of space) and Svein Hatloy9 (reception of Oskar Hansen’s Open Form Theory) helped rationalize my creative intuitions and reinforce many of my views. My large-size space compositions from the Transitus cycle look for the audience’s direct physical, intellectual and emotional contact with the sculptural space created (Somactive Art approach). Objects and sculptural details are a springboard for, and invitation to, an intimate journey inside the conscious, the subconscious, and the realm of impressions, premonitions 4 Dani Karavan, a prominent Israeli artist. Born in 1930 in Tel Aviv. Died in 2021. 5 Przestrzeń, Czas, Forma. Monographic cycle. Scientific editor Bartłomiej Struzik. Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków Publishing House. Kraków 2013 (vol. 2), 2016 (vol. 3), 2021 (vol. 4), 2023 (vol. 5 - in progress) 6 Yoshinobu Ashihara, Exterior Design in Architecture, Revised Edition. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York 1981. 7 Toshihiro Hamano - born in 1937. Japanese artist and Zen master. Lives and works in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. 8 Juhani Pallasmaa - born in 1936. Finish architect and former professor of architecture and dean at the Helsinki University of Technology. 9 Svein Hatløy - born in 1940, died in 2015. Norwegian architect. Founder and professor of Bergen Architekt Skole (BAS) in Bergen, Norway. Body, Space, Architecture106 Is space recognizing a form? A contributory study for the theory of Somactive Art and intuitions. Transitus is a gate, an arbitrary borderline, or passage, yet at the same time a movement that exists tangibly and realizes itself in a symbolic space. A body is immersed in a sensual experience, and intuition takes the initiative. In this sense, the objects presented are not only to be viewed but instead acquire their fundamental sense in direct, intellectual and physical multi-sensory contact – in recognizing their emotional space. The objects, although unstripped of their deliberate formal and visual frame, acquire their essential form in the process of the recognizing of their space logic. I look for a more personal and fundamental experience of sculptural space through touch, smell, the strain of the muscles, the feeling of warmth or chill, emotional tension or intellectual reflection. As a creator – the first recipient and a critic of an artwork – I also have the experience of the creative process. Each time a direct, intimate touch opens an individual path of interpretation, which leads further on towards Sacrum Humanum10, the space of our glooms, glows and illuminations, our doubts and hopes, elusive joys, sense of security, anxieties and phobias; towards intellectual liberation, moral credibility and humanistic condition up to eschatological pathos. I look at a small photograph of the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. Know yourself – γνῶθι σεαυτόν. The rumpled water surface disturbs the calm. Where do I come from? Who am I? Where am I going to?11 I leave these notoriously recurring questions unanswered for now. Constant movement and the inevitability of choosing a direction are relatively probable. Transitus as a process – space recognizing as a form. Body Movement in Space – Space Recognizing The experience of a dynamic or leisurely march; discovering the urban tissue with its space logic and fluid atmosphere. Amsterdam, Basel, Luxembourg, Zurich. What I am after is to feel the place and movement. Florence, Rome, Nice. Roaming the cities aimlessly for hours. Like Herbert12, I try to, so to say, go astray, to lose my bearings, so that later I can search for signposts and traits engraved in my memory and muscles to help me find the known trails back. Remembering and space recognizing. Vienna, Stockholm, Helsinki. I try to recall in my works the places and spaces I remember. I employ imagination where memory turns out imprecise. I set off intuition and make use of gesture and the memory of the body. I visit Zen gardens in Kyoto thoughtfully. The famous Ryōan-ji. The Kenrouken garden in Kanazawa. The Ritsurin garden in Takamatsu, where I am showed around by Zen master Toshihiro Hamano explaining to me the complex structure of Japanese gardens. Having studied a lot on the subject and met the master I seem to be getting the idea. I keep asking, looking for confirmations. The master cannot be consoled. After a several-hours-long walk through the tissues of the garden, with our exhausted bodies we start a tea ceremony. I give up. I am unable to put together all the bits of information into a logical structure. The master smiles: You got it? At last! The magic island of Naoshima13, where the masters of Impressionism found a safe harbor amongst the latest achievements of architectural design and contemporary art. This is where I 10 Sacrum Humanum - expression used by my friend and preceptor, an artist Bogusz Salwiński to describe deepest dimension of human existence. 11 A reference to the existential character of the painting by the French artist Paul Gauguin titled: D'où venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Où allons-nous? (Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Mass.) 12 Zbigniew Herbert - a prominent Polish poet, essayist, and drama writer. Born in 1924, died in 1998. 13 Naoshima - an island in Seto Inland See in Japan. A home of finest contemporary art museums and artists' residencies. The Journal of Somaesthetics Volume 8, Number 2 (2022) 107 Bartlomiej Struzik first see Monet’s Water Lilies14, standing barefoot on a white marble floor that gently vibrates with its texture under my feet. Dominated by the cognitive function, a western man’s space perception received a surprising tactile impulse. Here too, on Naoshima, I meet the great artist James Turrell. We gaze together15 at the blue of the sky framed by the impossibly white Skyscape. Nearby, there is another fascinating object by Turrell and Tadao Ando: a black pavilion where I see all that cannot be seen. The minimalist form of the object and the intriguing concept of the Dark Side of the Moon make me revise my cognitive habits. I go back to Europe, visit the Merian garden in Basel, which is like a oneirically perfect meadow created by a gardener’s hand. I relish the spectacle of fragrances in the heat of the afternoon sun, outdoors. When in the gardens of the Viennese palace of Schönbrunn I feel like the inside of a postcard, where the crunch of gravel under my feet responds to every step I make. In Bergen, I am dumbed by the intensity of color of the painted walls of wooden architecture washed and sharpen by continuous rains. Body gets wet, clothes stick to my skin. In the suburbs of Bergen I visit Svein Hatløy’s Black House that leans against a rock, where the open form of the building, its peaceful residents and the surrounding wildlife become one. Fascinating. I walk through the house, from room to room, and keep wondering if I am already outside or still inside the building. Open Form! In the hazy scenery I follow the landscape Path of the Seven Streams16 the Chinese rulers of every dynasty strode so as to make their companions gasp with awe. Light shower mist and fog along with the sounding landscape create the perfect atmosphere. I admire the sunset over the West Lake in Hangzhou17 and the ornamental Venice: the light and the cityscape dissolve in the surface of the water. A par excellence sfumato piece. The coldly humid district of Grund18 in Luxembourg opens an interesting vista onto a proud skyline of the upper city built on a towering rock summit that appears with the blue sky as its backdrop. An atavistic element, or perhaps the genius loci, whispers to my reasonable mind: do not steal that atmosphere. Go on. What I gain is priceless to me: the atmosphere of the place. My body gets immersed in a multi-sensory topographic collage. Body and Intimate Memory The subject of memory I talked about with Juhani Pallasmaa is a recursive one. It is more than a world of facts recorded in my mind. It is also, or perhaps above all, the memory of our body, of our emotional and subconscious impulses. A 500 feet long, hornbeam lane which my grandfather once planted and which originally formed a low hedge, is now a lordly parkway lined with high trees. This is the way I remember it from my childhood too – a monumental form. Each autumn, the lane overflows with golden leaves. Gold rules unchallenged. As I wade through them, the cover of rustling leaves releases the camphor of melancholy and passing time. That lane has fascinated me ever since I was little. A linear space that offers a shadowy shelter in summer heat and turns into a rapidly flowing brook in the heavy rain. A space-and-time tunnel that ends with a rarely frequented local road. A window on the world and the beginning of my 14 Oscar-Claude Monet - a prominent French impressionist painter born in 1840, died in 1926. Among others author of the Water Lilies paintings cycle. 15 I haven’t met James Turrell in person and I am using the expression together to emphasize my deep understanding and appreciation to the artist’s concept of Skyscape. 16 Scenic walking path near Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, China. 17 A freshwater lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Considered as a natural wonder, a source of inspirations for poets, painters and garden designers, reflecting harmonious fusion between nature and human being. 18 A part of the downtown in Luxembourg City located in a deep valley and contrasting with the upper part of the city. Body, Space, Architecture108 Is space recognizing a form? A contributory study for the theory of Somactive Art dream about Great Journey19. On the other hand, a place of summer holiday playtime, a forester’s lodge in the midst of a wood, isolated from the entire world. Transitus - A Form Relatively Recognized I use pinewood for creating the Transitus cycle, charring its surface with a gas burner. Each square feet means several hours of careful work. I do it gently and with precision to make sure that fire does not consume and destroy the structure. I have always been interested in the alchemy of executing an artwork - in creative process. In my Memory of Space sculptural project white paraffin was the medium, which, when liquefied and poured into a mould, became a brittle material for a multi-element, symbolic non-monumental memorial. It was a rite, so to say, that involved a repeated act of pouring paraffin into the mould while fluid, uninterrupted movement had to be ensured to have the paraffin fill the matrix completely and create an even coating, as thin as parchment paper. Transitus is my training in patience and humbleness. The high temperature of the process, the smoke and the dust swirling around my body make me learn the less friendly side of sculptural material. The textures that show on the surface of the charred wood are highly inspirational, stirring my interest in detail. The blackened vertical panel takes on new senses and new visual expressiveness. A charred crack turns into a symbolic space. Somactive Art, Sculptural Space and Materiality of Sculpture The belief that it is an inter-disciplinary process that embraces the domains such as sculpture, sculptural installation, architecture or landscaping underlies the concept of Somactive Art. At the same time, it is beyond any doubt that emotional, direct and individual experience of traditionally understood sculpture is the source element and the core of the creative process. Somactive Art draws on sculpture for conceptual foundation and formal depth. Through its material aspect, as well as intellectual value and emotional tension, this direct experience of sculpture’s physicality gives the creative process a deeper dimension. As an adept of sculpting, I learned all traditional sculpting techniques: work in wood, stone, modeling in clay and wax, as well as spatial installations using mixed techniques. The sculptor’s thoughtful hand (Pallasmaa) builds the formal structure of a work while reference to the materiality of the sculptural medium underlines its sensual dimension and asserts the creative intuition of the artist. The key elements of the design process are: freeing the body memory, the expressiveness and dynamics of the sculpture’s gesture and the disclosure of the semantic and expressive potential of the sculptural medium. With no sculptural experience gained through practice, without the experience of the sculptural medium in its multi-sensory dimension, in detachment from the physicality of the creative process and its conscious and subconscious gestures and creative intuitions, the idea of Somactive Art could not emerge at all. In this context, the space of the somatic memory is closer to the physicality of sculpture and its material significance. My affirmative attitude to the sculptural media directly associated with traditional sculpture technology, such as stone, wood, ceramics or bronze, results from their semantic saturation, rich symbolism and a variety of their cultural references and intellectual attractiveness. The non-standard approach to traditional sculptural materials and reaching for totally off-beat opportunities offered by advanced products of material engineering, unstripped of their semantic value, sensual quality and tactile allure 19 The author's personal reference to idyllic childhood spent in a secluded place, surrounded by a forest and untouched nature, and his later travels to the world's busiest metropolises and remote places on several continents. The Journal of Somaesthetics Volume 8, Number 2 (2022) 109 Bartlomiej Struzik prove an artist’s ongoing dialogue with matter and a deeply rooted need to rely on unmediated experience. Equally important is the synthetic character of a visual sign that materializes in the concreteness of sculptural act. Void - Where Space Recognizing Becomes a Form? The creative experience in Somactive Art sums up many others in proposals for memorials in which all the critical elements of the design process come to view, from the significance of the topic to the formal culture and compositional value that are determined by the personal creative potential, to the emotional experience and ethical aspects20. Memorial designs obviously give physical shape not only to the aesthetic and functional objectives of the content but in their deepest and most significant dimension they reach to their ontological and ethical sense as their original ideological foundation. The understanding of contemporary memorials as space of engagement and space for contemplation finds support in the evolution of memorials from vertical and axial objects with inaccessible bronze statues located on imposing pedestals that dominated up to the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries to vast horizontal compositions that create void, a formal and emotional backdrop for individual experience and moral reflection (Quentin Stevens, Karen A. Franck21). In his classic book Experiencing Architecture, Steen Rasmussen points to free space or the void, as the discipline’s medium treated on a par with construction materials: Instead of letting his imagination work with structural forms, with the solids of a building, the architect can work with the empty space — the cavity — between the solids, and consider the forming of that space as the real meaning of architecture.22 In contemporary memorials, the void carries a new significance. A crack in a road and a platform collapsing into the ground in the Bełżec Extermination Camp Memorial (memorial design team: Andrzej Sołyga, Zdzisław Pidek, Marcin Roszczyk), or the void space between boulders of dramatic texture that cover the expanses of the Treblinka Extermination Camp Memorial (memorial design team: Adam Haupt, Franciszek Duszeńko and Franciszek Strynkiewicz), take on a completely different meaning. The void seems to be the leading carrier of content, in dialogue with the internal Sacrum Humanum, and the medium that leads to intellectual liberation, disclosure of moral credibility and defining personal humanistic condition. Memorials - these are both urban-scale layouts using vast spatial compositions or intimate commemorative spaces. The multidimensional character of memorials links with the concept of sculptural space and its emotional experience. I understand the experience of sculptural space as a subjective, engagement-laden sphere of emotional experiences relating to the broadly-defined sculptural form in time and space. What makes this experience unique are, for example, internal tensions emerging out of dialogue with a chosen space of execution, intuition and reference to spatial and semantic context. No less important are individual sensitivity and visual imagination as well as the awareness of traditions, cultural contexts and private memory which, apart from 20 The issue of a significant void or the symbolic meaning of the lack of a monument in urban space is described by R. Shusterman in his essay The Urban Aesthetic of Absence: Pragmatist Reflections in Berlin referring to the example of a city marked by a multidimensional absence. Performing Life. Aesthetic Alternatives for the Ends of Art. Ithaca Cornell, 2000. 21 Quentin Stevens, Karen A. Franck, Memorials as Spaces of Engagement. Design, Use, and Meaning. Routledge 2015 22 S.E. Rasmussen, Odczuwanie architektury, Kraków 2015, p. 51. Body, Space, Architecture110 Is space recognizing a form? A contributory study for the theory of Somactive Art mental memory, embraces body memory too. As a result, all these factors add up to a nucleus of individual visual concepts in sculptural space and are their indispensable components. Somactive Art: Potential Academic Curriculum Widening the Field of Sculpture The vast range of issues that surface in Somactive Art puts a strong emphasis on the interdisciplinary nature of this kind of creative work. The fundamental experience of sculpture and a search for formal determinants imposed by the spatial activity of the architecture and urban plan offer natural space for mutual references. Deeper Somactive Art studies look to fine-tune the sociological aspects, and draw on anthropological reflection, proxemics and art-theoretical and philosophical, somaesthetic reflection. Somactive Art as a creative methodology, and autonomous language of visual arts that draws on interdisciplinary experience is an interesting area of further explorations, technical experimentations, including digital techniques, and a field for academic research and theoretical reflection. In a complex creative process, it merges individual emotional experiences of visual inspiration with a project-and-study method geared towards recognition of spatial relations and contexts, and, at the stage of creation and presentation, it engages a great number of competencies that build practical professional experience. That said, it becomes reasonable to try to promote the achievements and bolster the scholarly potential of Somactive Art, and ultimately to create a new academic curriculum in which conscious and responsible artists will hone their unique creative skills rooted in traditional field of sculpture. Enhancing the interdisciplinary academic discourse that makes references to the experience of Somactive Art will help increase the technical contribution to the diagnoses of the potential of public art, shared spaces, their formal significance and role in shaping the atmosphere and character of contemporary cities. Conclusion For me, Somactive Art is on the one hand based on fundamental body experience and on the other hand, it is a potentially new methodology in building the form of an artwork: first of all, in sculpture, sculptural installation, but also in memorial and public space design etc. Space recognizing as a form is understood as a process (form as process) that covers a wide range of subjective sensory perceptions and emotional impulses, engages intellectual powers, and is aimed at objectivize reflection. The monumental compositions of the Transitus cycle were presented at the Centre of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko open to interaction with the audience: they set off the process of space recognizing, which ultimately builds a multidimensional form of a Somactive Artwork and, apart from being visually and materially evident, is a constitutive component of it. All the characteristic aspects of the space recognizing process have vital roles in my didactic activity and are present in the syllabi I have formulated for teaching Somactive Art. The dialogue of my artistic work with my research activity is a two-directional flow of ideas, which, coupled with my intellectual inquisitiveness, makes me strive for a synthesis and look for existential milestones. A new Somactive Artwork titled The Sense of Balance is being currently designed, and will be exhibited soon. The Journal of Somaesthetics Volume 8, Number 2 (2022) 111 Bartlomiej Struzik Closing Remarks on Somactive Art and Space Recognizing as a Form What is the purpose of the concepts introduced and elaborated above: Somactive Art and space recognizing as a form? What is the prospect of developing a new concept of creative methodology and understanding intentionally deconstructed form of work of art defined as a process spread over time rather than static object? The answer to this question again requires the formulation of two separate statements. Now-days reality, the dynamically advancing digitization of all identifiable - and most likely also unidentified - areas of human life are an unprecedented opportunity for civilizational development. The digitization of the art creation and design process in architecture and landscaping, the area of digital art developing along with the progress of technology raise questions about the role of the cognitive apparatus and creative powers inherent in and assigned to the fundamental aspects of the human body. Ultimately, the creator of public spaces, architectural objects or immersive digital art is an embodied individual - also as a part of a team - with the powers of sensual, intellectual and emotional perception. The proposal to found a creative methodology - Somactive Art - will therefore be an element of a broader anthropological perspective, in which understanding the role of the human body as an integrator of acts of artistic creation will play an important role in the development of digital creation tools. The personal perspective and attitude of an active art-creator also makes me defend the position of the artist as a subject that cannot be definitively and unequivocally defined, for whom emotional impulses and references to decisions inspired by an unconscious creative gesture indicate the important role of the human body in the process of creation. Space recognizing as a form is, in turn, embedded in thinking about sculpture, sculptural installation, public space and the space-art, taking into account the question of changing the paradigm of man as a subject determining the surrounding reality, to the perspective of active human co-presence in a pluralistic Universe. In this context, strengthening the processual aspect, increasing direct interaction with the space, sharpening cognitive powers while spreading perceptual impulses in time may be a path to deeper understanding and better integration with the environment in which a significant act of human existence takes place. Sustainable development and climate threats, which have become the primary challenges of the contemporary world, create an additional context for the development of the concept of space recognizing as a form. A better understanding of the processes of nature and meeting the environmental challenges awaiting us can be facilitated by the concept of form as space recognition and shifting the emphasis from artistic interventions focused on an individual object (a form as an object and representation of power and landmarking) to spatiotemporal solutions integrating sensual, emotional and intellectual impressions (form as process and representation of empathy, coexistence and democracy). Balancing purely aesthetic perception visual structure of the work can also become a leaven for a new, in-depth and individualized way of communing with art. The content of this article is dominated by references to illustrative material, classical footnotes remain marginal and serve as clarification of my discourse, however, in order to bring the reader closer to the territories of my theoretical research, I enclose the bibliography below, which became the main field of cognitive exploration and the theoretical leaven and reference point for the theses I formulated. Body, Space, Architecture112 Is space recognizing a form? A contributory study for the theory of Somactive Art References Arnheim, R (1954). Art and Visual Perception. Berkley: The Regents of the University of California. Ashihara, Y. (1981). Exterior Design in Architecture. Revised Edition. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. Böhme, G. (2017) Atmospheric Architectures: The Aesthetics of Felt Spaces. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. Gehl, J. (20016). Life Between Buildings. Danmark: Danish Architectural Press. Giedion, S. (1997). Space, Time and Architecture. 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