IN
I. Nicenboim
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1
Liminal Epistemological Spaces
Diffracting with Material Correspondences Between Design and Philosophy Toward Non-Modern Knowledges
The Anthropocene is not only an environmental crisis but also a crisis of knowledge. The dominant ways we produce and organize knowledge are complicit in reproducing the conditions of this polycrisis. This master’s thesis asks how design, in the encounter with philosophy, can help think otherwise in order to support the creation of non-modern knowledge. Using a research-through-design approach, informed by more-than-human design, decolonial thought, and posthumanist philosophy, the thesis progresses through four iterative design experiments that each build on what emerged from the previous. The thesis expands on transdisciplinary methods and the concept of liminality in design research, after identifying two gaps: liminality has been used only analytically, not generatively, and existing transdisciplinary methods are not suited for knowledge production that exceeds modern epistemology.The research makes three key contributions. First, it proposes that liminality can be used generatively to suspend modern categories in knowledge production, presenting liminal epistemological spaces where non-modern knowledge can emerge. Second, it develops material correspondence as a designerly approach of thinking-with and -through artefacts as a means for entering epistemological liminal spaces in transdisciplinary encounters. Third, it identified traces for recognizing when a liminal epistemological space is entered, along with conditions for material correspondence to support the cultivation of such spaces.The non-modern knowledge that emerged was about positionality: in the final design experiments, participants generated knowledge about their positionality through felt, embodied, and relational means. This points to a form of knowledge production that exceeds modern logics of categorization, representationalism, and dualist structures. The findings are based on a situated and limited exploratory inquiry, and should therefore not be seen as generalizable nor ‘validated.’ This thesis offers a humble and fallible step towards claiming design as a practice that, when oriented towards epistemological openness, can contribute to creating the conditions under which non-modern knowledge might emerge.
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The Anthropocene is not only an environmental crisis but also a crisis of knowledge. The dominant ways we produce and organize knowledge are complicit in reproducing the conditions of this polycrisis. This master’s thesis asks how design, in the encounter with philosophy, can help think otherwise in order to support the creation of non-modern knowledge. Using a research-through-design approach, informed by more-than-human design, decolonial thought, and posthumanist philosophy, the thesis progresses through four iterative design experiments that each build on what emerged from the previous. The thesis expands on transdisciplinary methods and the concept of liminality in design research, after identifying two gaps: liminality has been used only analytically, not generatively, and existing transdisciplinary methods are not suited for knowledge production that exceeds modern epistemology.The research makes three key contributions. First, it proposes that liminality can be used generatively to suspend modern categories in knowledge production, presenting liminal epistemological spaces where non-modern knowledge can emerge. Second, it develops material correspondence as a designerly approach of thinking-with and -through artefacts as a means for entering epistemological liminal spaces in transdisciplinary encounters. Third, it identified traces for recognizing when a liminal epistemological space is entered, along with conditions for material correspondence to support the cultivation of such spaces.The non-modern knowledge that emerged was about positionality: in the final design experiments, participants generated knowledge about their positionality through felt, embodied, and relational means. This points to a form of knowledge production that exceeds modern logics of categorization, representationalism, and dualist structures. The findings are based on a situated and limited exploratory inquiry, and should therefore not be seen as generalizable nor ‘validated.’ This thesis offers a humble and fallible step towards claiming design as a practice that, when oriented towards epistemological openness, can contribute to creating the conditions under which non-modern knowledge might emerge.
Arcane Designing
Getting Down to Earth with Magic
To counter the ontological disconnection of Western Modernity, this thesis develops Arcane Designing, a practice of designing with magic that opens onto-epistemic pathways Down-to-Earth. Responding to calls from Escobar (2018) for a pluriversal and relational reorientation of design, and from Dunne and Raby (2025) for moving beyond the restrictions that modern ontology places on the design imagination, the thesis explores how worlds of magic—including fantasy, witchcraft, European folklore, and mythology—can serve as resources for more-than-human design. Drawing on decolonial, feminist, and posthumanist scholarship, it frames the ontological disconnection of Western modernity as an active condition reproduced through practices, stories, and material arrangements, and develops Latour’s (2019) concept of Down-to-Earth as a critical onto-epistemic reorientation for designing toward the Terrestrial. Through three cycles of research-through-design: 1) speculating with landvættir, 2) cultivating a practice of witch-crafting, and 3) remixing fantastical worlds of magic through a card-based design game, the thesis finds that Arcane Designing can redirect attention toward the more-than-human world, create conditions for perceptual reopenings, and provide designers with imaginative spaces beyond Western-modern onto-epistemic constraints. A key finding is that magic functions as a mode of attention: the entry point is perceptual and playful, which makes the practice accessible across diverse ontological starting points. The thesis further identifies the deliberate blurring of fiction and reality as an active onto-epistemic space where ontological openings can occur. It contributes with Arcane Designing as a promising practice within more-than-human design, along with a set of guiding considerations for designers who wish to engage with magic as a way of worlding Down-to-Earth.
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To counter the ontological disconnection of Western Modernity, this thesis develops Arcane Designing, a practice of designing with magic that opens onto-epistemic pathways Down-to-Earth. Responding to calls from Escobar (2018) for a pluriversal and relational reorientation of design, and from Dunne and Raby (2025) for moving beyond the restrictions that modern ontology places on the design imagination, the thesis explores how worlds of magic—including fantasy, witchcraft, European folklore, and mythology—can serve as resources for more-than-human design. Drawing on decolonial, feminist, and posthumanist scholarship, it frames the ontological disconnection of Western modernity as an active condition reproduced through practices, stories, and material arrangements, and develops Latour’s (2019) concept of Down-to-Earth as a critical onto-epistemic reorientation for designing toward the Terrestrial. Through three cycles of research-through-design: 1) speculating with landvættir, 2) cultivating a practice of witch-crafting, and 3) remixing fantastical worlds of magic through a card-based design game, the thesis finds that Arcane Designing can redirect attention toward the more-than-human world, create conditions for perceptual reopenings, and provide designers with imaginative spaces beyond Western-modern onto-epistemic constraints. A key finding is that magic functions as a mode of attention: the entry point is perceptual and playful, which makes the practice accessible across diverse ontological starting points. The thesis further identifies the deliberate blurring of fiction and reality as an active onto-epistemic space where ontological openings can occur. It contributes with Arcane Designing as a promising practice within more-than-human design, along with a set of guiding considerations for designers who wish to engage with magic as a way of worlding Down-to-Earth.