Designing Biotopia: A Transmedia Experience for Natureculture Heritage and More-than-Human Entanglements

Abstract

In recent years, HCI research around post-anthropocene design has been gaining traction. Caring and inclusive stances towards more-than-humans, multispecies dialogues, and decentering the human in design are imbuing HCI and other disciplines. Similarly, critical heritage scholars have pointed to the need to re-frame heritage in light of the challenges of the Anthropocene. As part of a heritage-focused EU-funded project, we extend these efforts, thinking through collaborative research-through-design to design "Biotopia"- a transmedia experience that aims to connect museum and nature walk visitors with entangled natureculture and more-than-human heritage. We propose three Design Constructs from our exploratory phase and detail how they have informed the design of the critical heritage experience, contributing with the transmedia experience design and proposing ways of applying emerging posthuman concepts in practice. By reflecting on our process, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of designing for more-than-human heritage in a posthuman world, working towards decentered practices in HCI.