This article considers how traditional notions of singular authorship in design reproduce hierarchical power structures that limit a more ethical, relational engagement of multiple actants. It proposes reframing design as a co-creative, more-than-human process, foregrounding emotional response, embodying and performativity as core dimensions of co-design practice.
Drawing on new materialism, posthumanist thought, affect theory and a feminist positionality, the article develops two methodological strategies: performative “attunement” and “remaking”. It positions these as epistemological groundwork to artistic research and distributed design practice. Performative attunement engages bodily and sensory practices to cultivate situated and affective forms of knowing, while remaking involves reconstructing and critically reworking existing objects, processes and structures to confront traces of cultural memory with speculative possibilities. The framework is explored through a one-week co-design workshop at the Bauhaus-University Weimar, using performative and material practices.
The article argues that integrating such reflective approaches into design practices reveals the intersecting social, ecological and material networks that shape objects and spaces. It draws on Maria Puig de la Bellacasa's approach to go beyond “mere care”, considering the ethical dimension that emerges through relational and performative engagement. Performative attunement and remaking redistribute authorship, challenge hierarchical norms and enable designers to engage responsively with human and more-than-human actants.
Rather than being positioned as secondary considerations, we propose that affective dimensions can be embraced as core mechanisms of design practice. By prioritising reflection and responsibility, this approach promotes design practices that are socially inclusive, environmentally sensitive and oriented towards co-creation.
