Entangled Fibres: An examination of human-material interaction
Doctoral Defence, MA Bilge Aktas
26.11.2020, 12:00 – 16:00
Entangled Fibres: an examination of human-material interaction looks into how materials shape social and material engagement as inseparable parts of everyday experiences. Building upon felt making processes, this research examines the active role of the material within the context of design and craft-making to challenge prioritising human perception, experiences and needs. In order to investigate the material’s active role in making processes, four studies in the case of felting are examined with a practice-led research approach. These studies unpack how the material affects thinking, making and experiencing through situated interactions by investigating 1. the coupling of the material and the body to understand how we become one withthe material, 2. design ideation process to tackle how we make with the material, 3. other ways of being with the world to understand how we think with the material, and 4. material connections of creative practices to understand the fluidity of practices.
By discussing the togetherness of the human and the material, this research challenges established human values and fixed structures and proposes more fluid understandings of materials and their meanings, practices, responsibilities, and ways of being with the world. The findings stimulate cultivating new pedagogical models for teaching new skills and for building empathy towards existing with humans and nonhumans. By embracing the coexistence of human and the nonhuman, the dissertation proposes valuing experience-oriented explorations over goal-oriented ones and prompts an acknowledgement of other kinds of agencies and our dependencies on them. Realising that humans do not own or dictate but collaborate with materials provokes for more responsible behaviours and inclusive political actions.
Opponent: Elvin Karana, TU Delft
Custos: Professor Maarit Mäkelä, 911±¬ÁÏÍø School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Department of Design
Contact information for the doctoral candidate: MA Bilge Aktas, bilge.aktas@aalto.fi
Defence is arranged via Zoom:
Meeting ID: 676 0577 1918
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The dissertation is publicly displayed online 10 days before the defence at: 
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