Abstract
In this paper, we report on fields of knowledge and experiences that are accessed through Human-Material Interaction. We describe the experiences of people who worked creatively, in a process-oriented, slowly observing and exploring practice with one material for four months, and who shared these experiences and their interpretations with us in interviews. Based on references to the realities of their lives, they shared individual narratives, which testify to an appreciative and caring approach to the respective material and, beyond that, to the environment, society, and the respective self. In our analysis, we identify Human-Material Interaction as access to learnings, interpretations, relationships, and feelings which leads us to argue that this way of relating to the environment is a practice for care. We further propose this practice as beneficial for education, sustainability, and future challenges, to promote diverse, interested, and involved perspectives.
Keywords
material engagements; access to knowledge; process-orientation; design education
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.903
Citation
Hirscher, M., and Posch, I. (2024) Human-material interactions as practice for care, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.903
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Research Paper
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Human-material interactions as practice for care
In this paper, we report on fields of knowledge and experiences that are accessed through Human-Material Interaction. We describe the experiences of people who worked creatively, in a process-oriented, slowly observing and exploring practice with one material for four months, and who shared these experiences and their interpretations with us in interviews. Based on references to the realities of their lives, they shared individual narratives, which testify to an appreciative and caring approach to the respective material and, beyond that, to the environment, society, and the respective self. In our analysis, we identify Human-Material Interaction as access to learnings, interpretations, relationships, and feelings which leads us to argue that this way of relating to the environment is a practice for care. We further propose this practice as beneficial for education, sustainability, and future challenges, to promote diverse, interested, and involved perspectives.