Citroën Kar-A-Sutra by Mario Bellini
An Object d’Art in 1972. An Object d’Scussion now.
Because as silly as it is to see mimes frolicking around in a bright-ass green Citroën shaped like—Devil’s Advocate here—an Olivetti Dumpster, it’s really where we’ve steered humanity.
Boxes.
I watch tiny home stuff, I’m up on #vanlife, but more relevant to the world at large, humans are increasingly being forced to build their lives from within ever-shrinking homes like nano flats, banjiha apartments, workers’ shanties from Dubai to Florida, for lack of any alternatives. Does anyone willingly downsize into a Bedspace apartment?
Maybe, however, the solution is to combine a low-cost vehicle with retractible roof—for security while parked—and reconfigurable interior like the Isuzu Zen or, my goodness…could it be…the legendary Kar-A-Sutra.
“To stretch out, sleep, smile, chat face-to-face, stand up, enjoy the sun, take photos, play cards, eat and drink, make love, buy a horse and a piano along the way... Forerunning the future, the car becomes a MOBILE HUMAN SPACE.”
-bellini.it
Promotional photos for the Kar-A-Sutra • bellini.it / Studio Castelli
Vehicles that emphasize their interior above all else are, in the grand scheme of things, few and far between, and it took a collaboration between an architect, a furniture company, Pirelli, and Citroën to produce the Kar-A-Sutra. Envisioned as a part of a larger transportation network, Kar-A-Sutra was unveiled for a 1972 MoMA exhibition titled “Italy: The New Domestic Landscape.” Without a bathroom or kitchen, it's not an RV; it's more a temporary living space that can be reconfigured as needed.
That tells you a lot about who designed it and the general themes for why things look the way they do—sadly, I couldn't find explanation anywhere for the mimes—but the Kar-A-Sutra is more than just a massive 20-foot-long art piece.
Because when you consider its year, 1972, the concept predates every MPV, from the Mitsubishi Chariot/Space Wagon to the Renault Espace, long considered the first modern MPV.
The Kar-A-Sutra’s sumptuous interior • bellini.it / Studio Castelli
Is the Kar-A-Sutra what inspired car designers to invent the MPV? No, but I'd sure love to think so, since this Big Green Lovemobile was also based on the Citroën DS, a revolutionary vehicle in its stock form, to say nothing of the mobile living room you see here.
Designed with a movable roof to increase living space, the Kar-A-Sutra could grow from a driving height of four feet, up to a stationary height of seven feet. Once raised, the interior fittings—er, cushions—could be moved around as needed.
If living in close proximity becomes untenable and the people can’t have much space, perhaps it can at least be a soft, supple, velveteen, hydropneumatically-sprung one?
Our AI drivers will self-navigate us through our increasingly bleak futures as gig workers, on six month contracts, with 1cm of the ground under our personal RVs being the only property we can afford.
When workers of the future live in mobile pods, previously remote jobs can be moved on-site, filling parking lots with souls committed to the grind; on-call, and on-brand for the eternal servitude of deploying skills for compensation. Hashtags like #vanlife will morph into #powervan, which sounds like code for a micro apartment on wheels.
I adore Bellini’s version of a mobile bedspace, but I worry our impending reality is hell-bent on taking itself too seriously, read: bleak. (I’m thinking garden shed shanty towns with solar panels and buckets? In this scenario, I’m team #powervan.)
Conclusion? Portable play pens peaked in this unforgettable fever dream from 1972.
We could have this idyllic form of transportation tomorrow, like garden gazebo hang-out zones, and that this hasn’t happened is yet more proof our vehicles have gotten far to serious and, dare I say it—too sterile?
(Pssst: it’s also a rare unicorn car here at this site.)
