Doctoral candidate Aktas Bilge

Entangled Agencies: examining material agency in felting to understand human-nonhuman co-existence

Tieteellinen tutkimus ja taiteellinen työ / niihin pohjautuva työ | Yksivuotinen

The crises we are witnessing indicate that our existence has become destructive, and sustaining life on earth requires taking immediate action from multiple perspectives. Finding new ways of co-existing with other entities is a significant part of these actions as life on earth is formed with many entities, both living and non-living. Understanding the renewed ways of co-existing can guide us on joining in the flow of continuous changes rather than instrumentalising nature and animals for human needs. By examining our interactions with nonhumans, we can generate more sustainable and responsible ways of being in this world. Accordingly, to gain an understandings of being with the world, rather than being in the world, this research investigates the ways in which humans interact with the material and how these interactions affect our thinking, making, and essentially being in this world by utilizing crafts and design to gain first-hand experience on realising that our actions require nonhumans, such as materials, tools and animals. This research examines felting at different skill stages to understand how we bodily become one with the material, how we design with it and think with it. These studies argue that our existence depends on nonhumans, and we do not dictate or own materials but we exist with them.