Abstract
Grounded in theories of embodied cognition, extended mind, and mediating artifact, this paper proposes a human–artifact–human perspective to explore the relational mediation of artifacts in social interaction. Through a systematic review of 30 key studies published between 2010 and 2025, a four-dimensional analytical framework is constructed—embodied cues, interaction modes, mediating artifact features, and affective outcomes—to reveal how embodied design generates relations among the body, artifacts, and society. The analysis shows that embodied interaction is shifting from functional control toward relational generation, presenting four tendencies: micro-intimacy, ambient co-presence, culturally embedded bodily rituals, and slow relational rhythms. Building on these insights, the study proposes a human–artifact–human relational framework to explain how embodied mediation operates across individual, social, and cultural contexts, and advocates a relational and affective approach to embodied design that provides theoretical grounding and future directions for understanding artifacts as relational mediation.
Keywords
embodied interaction; relational mediation; human–artifact–human interaction; affective relationality
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2181
Citation
Zeng, Y., and Zhang, J. (2026) Relational embodiment: Rethinking artifacts as mediators of being-with-others, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2181
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Relational embodiment: Rethinking artifacts as mediators of being-with-others
Grounded in theories of embodied cognition, extended mind, and mediating artifact, this paper proposes a human–artifact–human perspective to explore the relational mediation of artifacts in social interaction. Through a systematic review of 30 key studies published between 2010 and 2025, a four-dimensional analytical framework is constructed—embodied cues, interaction modes, mediating artifact features, and affective outcomes—to reveal how embodied design generates relations among the body, artifacts, and society. The analysis shows that embodied interaction is shifting from functional control toward relational generation, presenting four tendencies: micro-intimacy, ambient co-presence, culturally embedded bodily rituals, and slow relational rhythms. Building on these insights, the study proposes a human–artifact–human relational framework to explain how embodied mediation operates across individual, social, and cultural contexts, and advocates a relational and affective approach to embodied design that provides theoretical grounding and future directions for understanding artifacts as relational mediation.