Constituency as a Matter of Practice: Moving a Plant Studio

How more-than-human gatherings configure and change to support designing is not well understood. In the more-than-human theory of designing-with, these gatherings are called constituencies. This paper aims to shed light on the practices of a constituency, by analyzing the moving of a plant studio from one city to another. The plant studio includes over 250 plants and is where living-with and designing-with plants are conceptualized. The move offered an opportunity to understand the dynamics of the plant studio as a constituency using design events, a vocabulary and analytical tool, for understanding practices and temporality. In our analysis, we surface the role of humans as speaking subjects and five repertoires or considered actions that together articulate the practice of a constituency. We also illustrate the use of design events as an analytical tool for nuance and critical reflections on more-than-human design.

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Publication Details

Published
2025-04-25
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713916
Citations
4
Primary Topic
Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
7.74

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article

Constituency as a Matter of Practice: Moving a Plant Studio

Oscar Tomico, Doenja Oogjes, Ron Wakkary
4 citations
Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
7.74
article

Constituency as a Matter of Practice: Moving a Plant Studio

Oscar Tomico, Doenja Oogjes, Ron Wakkary
article en
4 citations

Abstract

How more-than-human gatherings configure and change to support designing is not well understood. In the more-than-human theory of designing-with, these gatherings are called constituencies. This paper aims to shed light on the practices of a constituency, by analyzing the moving of a plant studio from one city to another. The plant studio includes over 250 plants and is where living-with and designing-with plants are conceptualized. The move offered an opportunity to understand the dynamics of the plant studio as a constituency using design events, a vocabulary and analytical tool, for understanding practices and temporality. In our analysis, we surface the role of humans as speaking subjects and five repertoires or considered actions that together articulate the practice of a constituency. We also illustrate the use of design events as an analytical tool for nuance and critical reflections on more-than-human design.

Simon Fraser University (CA), Eindhoven University of Technology (NL)
Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
7.74
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