Ranjit Makkuni is an eclectic figure who
describes himself as a "tactile, interactive and computing designer".
His designs are a cross between traditional Indian culture, which centres
around faith in the sacredness of life and nature, and the most futuristic
of post-industrial technologies. He is also an extremely accomplished
musician, who plays that most Indian of all instruments: the sitar. In
the two decades since the 1980s he has worked at the Xerox Palo Alto Research
Center; where he helped to make fundamental innovations in the development
of programme languages and of the earliest user interfaces' that went
on to be used by the world's leading IT corporations (Apple, Microsoft)
for the creation of operating systems like Windows and what have now become
the most widely-used software applications. In San Francisco in the 1990s
he founded the Sacred World Foundation, which won numerous international
awards. In 2001 he returned to India, where he created the Sacred World
Laboratory in New Delhi, which developed major projects including the
"Crossing Project", Varanasi 2000 and the "Multimedia Gandhi
Museum", New Delhi 2005. We asked him to try to help us to understand
how India, known also as "the Big Mother" developed the idea
of creativity of a female kind. In his projects the idea of the feminine
is not concerned with finding a form, but the more subtle awareness that
it can be used to re-channel energies that were once conveyed by nature
into this sharp-cornered technological world of ours.
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Let us start with "World as Woman",, the design of a temple dedicated to a huge global goddess. R.M. "World as Woman" is a temple designed in honour of Fe- male Energy; personified by a "super-goddess", whose form transcends different cultural and religious traditions. All traditional divinities, images of which decorate the walls of the temple, are associated with the idea of nature; fertility, creativity, compassion, maternity and nourishment. The details of the huge sculpture placed inside embody all these values. In addition, the iconography presented is also an ironical reinterpretation of the myth in which the god Vishnu lies down and dreams of the cosmos while the goddess Lakshmi massages his feet. In this case a huge, curvaceous goddess is being worshipped by the small god Shiva (the male counterpart of the goddess Shakti), who sits at her feet playing the sitar for her. The land that welcomes her will enjoy her benevolence, be it Delhi or San Francisco. |
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Male and female energy, the god Shiva and the goddess Shakti, refer to two different symbolic dimensions. In the Upanishad it is written: "The gods approached Shakti and asked: 'Who are you?' The goddess replied: 'I am the embodiment of Immensity"’. Shakti is form, the thing that creates, power, divine energy. But energy is inseparable from the one who possesses it: Shiva. When Shiva (immobile substance) and Shakti (dynamic energy) unite, they create a spark of desire and this feeling of love gives rise to the universe. The joining together of these two principles is present both in the symbolism of the hermaphrodite, half male half female, and in that of the linga (the phallus, the active force) and the yoni (the female organ, passive force). The cult of the linga also renders the idea of transcendence in the immanence typical of Indian culture: it is the representation of love in every sense. |
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union
of the two principles Shiva (male aspect, immovable substance) and
Shakti (female aspect, dynamic energy, matter) from which the universe
originates. |
| How is the female aspect characterized in symbols, art and objects? Indian culture has a different perception of sexuality, to which it attributes a sacredness not found in western culture. So Indian art has an abundance of forms and colours and is rich in sensual female divinities. The roundedness of the hips and breasts are the distinctive iconic features of female energy; while the downward-pointing triangle is its symbolic representation. Known also as the "root triangle", because nothing can be surrounded by a geometrical figure made up of less than three straight lines, it contains within it the linga (phallus). Vases, amphorae and round containers are the most archetypical female objects, symbolizing the womb. Grasping their rounded sides with concave hands arouses feelings of tenderness and compassion. I have taken up this archetype many times in my work, turning it also into an interactive object, to offer, for example, a new angle on the myth of the birth of the Ganges ("Ganga E-pot", "Mind vs Matter Pots"). |
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| "Rediscovery of the Goddess" marks out the route by which you intend to popularise gentle technology artifacts. In the objects I design I always try to take into account the idea of intelligence spread throughout the body, not just jn the mind. In Indian philosophy there is flat only the physical body but also a "subtle body". The latter, which is made up of channels (nadi) and centres (chakra) of energy, represents precisely this intelligence spread throughout the body. Mindful of the intelligence spread throughout the body. Murda (hand gestures) reveal its potential. Mindfu of the fact that a thumb and fore finger |
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joined
together can induce a state of meditation. I often wonder what the
effect of tactile interaction with the objects I design might be.
Rounded forms are associated with the female, because in order to
take hold of them the hands assume a concave form. The gestures
conjure up the wholly feminine idea of welcoming acceptance. Mother
nature certainly has no sharp corners! But how do you arrange for
all the female energy she once conveyed to be channeled into the
world of high tech? I think there should be many more computers,
lamps, furnishings and ornaments that echo the values of femininity.
This would imply rebalancing the energy levels of today's society
and bring about a revolution through design. |
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The latest project
you are working on is actually dedicated to a goddess: "Magic
Sta-ings of Sarasvati". "Magic Strings of Sarasvati" is an interactive exhibition dedicated to the myth of the goddess Sarasvati. Sarasvati is the goddess of the word. The word is the force through which knowledge is expressed in action. The goddess is the source of creation through the word, running parallel with the creation of forms. She is the goddess of eloquence, of wisdom, of knowledge, mistress of the plastic arts, of poetry and of music. The object symbolically associated with Sarasvati is the lute (veena). As in the "Crossing Project" and in the Gandhi multimedia museum, the exhibition is a dialogue between tradition and innovation. More than this, the mythological content becomes an excuse to explore new forms of interaction. The subject of the exhibition is an object that is particularly important in Asian culture: the lute, which developed into the sitar. Its origins are described in the exhibition and it is shown in the various forms it has taken on throughout Asia: India, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia and Korea. The exhibition should, then, be an opportunity to enter into the world of Asian music, through electronic installations and recordings of performances by Indian maestros. A way of approaching another musical culture (characterized, for example, by a modal structure that has been largely unexplored in western music) and of being transported into Asia's spiritual, cultural and artistic psyche. A traveling exhibition that hopes to come also to Italy, the perfect place for the "goddess of creativity"! |
 Ranjit Makkuni, "True Vase", Gandhi Museum, New Delhi 2005: when the smoke coming out of the wooden vase is blown on, the words "Be True" appear in light. |
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