Obviously, in the wave of contemporary materialism, human spirit cannot be reflected on the industrial products, and industrial products cannot nourish human spirit itself. As a result, there is only a continuous stream of machines without spiritual world and living bodies ineluctably be mechanized by it.

How to avoid this gloomy wave? How to revive the inner world of the nature which contains both material and life? New materialism regards man and nature as the whole system of a dynamic process. In other words, the human spirit is reflected on the material, and the material also acts on the human spirit. Meanwhile, human is not the only subject who have spirit. When the subject switched, human bodies become the material environment of the bacterial community. Human beings have been sent out of subjectivity, but this is different from cynicism and ascetic’s self isolation. New materialism don’t suggest us break away from all materials, but reestablishing our relationship with them. Making, mending and sharing objects are considered as effective ways to awaken this relationship between life and material environment. This reminds me of the spare time when I used cardboard to restore our dormitory with my roommates. In the whole process of painting, measuring, cutting and pasting, I felt the spiritual details of the housing designer and school community as the room itself  being the medium.

The Deep Bond of New Materialism / Ruoxue Zhao / Environmental Design: Materials, Ecologies, Futures (2020-2021)[SEM1] by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0