Animism in Design
Animism is essentially the awarding of sameness, as in same or similar ontological status, to the other-than-human. That is to treat the other-than-human equally, despite not being human. It receives the same ethical considerations as I, and it is thought of as having the same ontological richness as I. Animism then is expressed through different aesthetical interfaces; spirits, ghosts and souls, conciousness, agency, and so forth. This is the domain of the designer or storyteller, to convey and realise these interfaces. If there is no epistemological framework present to tap into this mycelium of stories, rich in material, the designer then can revert to trigger phenomenological responses; illusions of character through erratic movement, uncertainty and ambiguity, physical presences reminescent of living things, growth patterns and evolutionary processes, multi-modal feedbacks and the usage of language, understandable or not.
- Animism as an interface to complexity, without reducing the messyness (as in traditional ux design) by accepting tech as uncertain and ambiguous systems.
- What is the social relevance of an animist/non-human approach to design of technological artefacts?
- Animism as an aesthetic interface, arising from a (post-)phenomenological approach to the design of technological artefacts enabling a different approach to tech-sphere (care, bonding, ethics, messyness).
- Why an animist approach to the design of tech things is important
- could machine help us with privacy, instead of the opposite? can machine protect us from fascist regimes, manipulation