Engaging With Non-Human Perspectives Through Embodied Design Practices

More-than-human perspectives become increasingly important with the growth of global challenges and the intervention of autonomous technologies. Research has elaborated on the rationale for more-than-human-centred design approaches but still needs more practical guidance to embody non-human perspectives in the design process. This paper addresses embodied co-creation practices that enable the involvement of human and non-human actors in the design process. The estrangement framework provides a lens for comparing three examples from the literature. The evaluation of these three different co-creation projects reveals considerations on how to alter the human way of designing to be more inclusive of non-human perspectives. In this process, relationships and agency between human and non-human co-creators dynamically change and unfold. Their entanglements impact the collaborative design process in different ways. Humans and non-humans’ diverse perspectives and vulnerabilities become transparent and facilitate the negotiation of their individual values and needs. Embodied design practices can translate the theoretical considerations made in this paper into tangible design activities. The performing arts could provide a laboratory to experiment with such co-creation processes through artistic means—to understand better non-human perspectives and how humans and non-humans co-shape their relationships in and with the world.