Systems of Becoming: Mediating Dialogue between Nature and Design

The Human-Nature relationship has historically been a subject of study within numerous disciplines. From Descartes’ concept of the “animal machine” (1913) through Heidegger’s views on the abyss between human and nonhuman (1995), to the more recent studies of the “anthropological machine” by Agamben (2004) and the investigation of “companion species” by Haraway (2013), this dichotomy has assumed different forms and has been influential in how we both perceive the world and generate knowledge. In the field of Design, theoretical research has been accompanied by physical manifestations that attempt to challenge and redefine what it means to work with Nature in order to bridge this existing gap that we have created between ourselves and the nonhuman. In this thesis, I conduct a theoretical analysis of design frameworks that have undertaken this endeavor and suggest an alternative to these current practices by (1) acknowledging the current condition of a set of organisms that includes silkworms, honey bees and harvester ants, and (2) understanding the needs and means necessary for the creation of a dialogue between biological systems and mechanical apparatuses. In order to address these conceptual inquiries, I describe the development of physical tools and mechanisms that are responsible for mediating and interacting with these biological systems. These artifacts are conceived in order to challenge the common anthropocentric approach that subjugates the nonhuman in order to obtain expected results, behaviors or materials from their interactions with humans. I propose the investigation of a field within Design in which practices of becoming in parallel with machinic adjustments enable adaptation that occurs in a reciprocal manner between biological systems and mechanical apparatuses. Building on my previous work with silkworms, honey bees and ants, I show how the discipline of Design can and should shift away from the legacy of previous practices such as biodesign and biomimicry. In Design, mastering and tuning the variables of a process to exact specifications is necessary to produce a satisfactory outcome. Therefore, in pursuit of a shift in these requirements, I characterize a design approach we have developed in the MIT Media Lab’s Mediated Matter Group called templating and describe how it points towards a future in which the distance from human to nonhuman may be reduced, leading to what seems to be the next horizon in the field of Design—a movement towards co-creation and co-fabrication, entertaining improvisation not only as a goal but also as a means of research.Ph.D