Exploring Tim Ingold's Argument on Bringing Things to Life through a Self-Made Book and Its Implications for Education

This article aims to explore Tim Ingold's argument on bringing things to life, which was explained in his 2010 paper called Bringing Things to Life: Creative Entanglements in a World of Materials.

Just before this exploration, I created the Winter book of the Seasons series, in the process of which I recycled the papers. I intend to use this book for the EFL course that will start in January. Also, it has its place in my professional portfolio, which I prepared for a course that I took. My tutor, Paul Hougham, suggested that I connect the process of making a book with Tim Ingold's insights, which led me to the aforementioned article.

Ingold's (p. 2, 2010) argument critiques the Aristotelian way of thinking about things, and how they are made and used, which advocated for the idea that form (morphe) and matter (hyle) have to be brought together to create something new. On the other hand, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari argued that the fundamental relation is not between matter and form but between materials and forces, which is parallel with Klee's statement, “Form is the end, death. Form-giving is movement, action. Form-giving is life” (Ingold, p. 2, 2010).

Ingold, in his 2010 paper, stated that his aim is to subvert the hylomorphic model and offer an ontology that assigns priority to formation processes rather than finished forms, and to the flows and transformations of materials.

My aim is to reflect on my process of making a book with Tim Ingold's insights, and to consider how they can inform the education and educational practices.

Five Components of Ingold's (2010) Argument on Bringing Things to Life	Self-Made Winter Book with Poems Inside	Implications for Education
Things and Objects: Ingold claims that there should be a distinction between objects and things, stating that he follows Heidegger on the thing in terms of a thing being more of a ‘going on’ or a place where several goings-on become interwoven, while an object stands before us as something already completed and is defined by the way it stands separate from its environment. Observing a thing means participating in its ongoing gathering; on the other hand, the role of the observer of an object is to stand apart.	Many things were used in this process. They were papers thrown outside, a bag that I collected them in, a big yellow bowl, a small green bowl, a sieve, a blender, a baby bath, a big rectangular net, a small square frame, beads, thread, a needle, watercolors, a piece of woolly yarn, and scissors. Each one of them, taken individually, might appear as separate objects. However, when we view them as ‘things’ in Ingold’s sense, they become active participants in an ongoing and emerging event, a ‘going on’, where their interactions, uses, and transformations interweave into the living process of making the book. They are also present due to several previous goings-on having become entwined.	Educational environments can be designed to invite children to expose more ‘things’ rather than objects. Children can be encouraged to engage with things as part of ongoing ‘goings-on’ by integrating arts and crafts into all subjects. This supports children in working with materials in motion and experiencing learning as a participatory, form-giving process. As they reshape everyday things, children experience how these things keep evolving through use, revealing learning itself as an unfolding process that alters both the material and the child.
Life and Agency: Ingold points out a paradox: although the world seems to have no objects based on the definition made in the first component, we may still move through a world of objects with their final forms; yet, to inhabit the world is to participate in the processes of formation of things. This distinction is important for reflecting on life and agency. According to him, attributing agency is ignoring the life of things. For Ingold, things are alive because they participate in ongoing currents of materials, forces, and relations, leaking into the world. Agency, by contrast, appears when we freeze things into objects and treat them as if they act from within their own boundaries, overlooking any other materials, forces, or relations.	During the formation of the self-made book, water helped the ripped pieces of paper to turn into a pulp and air dried the square-framed wet papers in the balcony. The papers, water, air, and my hands continuously interact, leaking into the world through exchanges and movements. It was the very reason why Ingold thinks that the things are alive. Life is present and emerges because these elements flow into and through each other, shaping the process together. If agency is attributed in the formation of the things, then, it would mean that the papers dried acting within their own boundaries, becoming objects without responding to ongoing currents of materials, forces, and relations.	Once children are more engaged with things and the processes of formation, it is possible that they sense the liveliness of things that are composed of interwoven lines of becoming and that leak into the world. Learning environments can also be positioned as one of the lines along which things emerge; then, they also become co-creators in learning. If the life in things is experienced by children, they can feel more connected to them, their environments, and the world, leading to a sense of protection, reverence, and appreciation. It implies that children can embody unity with the human and more-than-human world.
Materials and Materiality: Ingold states that he follows Deleuze and Guattari with regard to their perception of matter, who argue that whenever we encounter matter, it is matter in movement, in flux, and in variation, and as a conclusion, it is a matter-flow. According to Ingold, this matter-flow is material, and the world of things is not a material world; rather, it is a world of materials. He states that tracing these materials opens up a world that is in constant change. To him, the perception of the world, then, should not be associated with a museum where several objects are exhibited based on their attributes; alternatively, a huge kitchen is a more appropriate analogy for a world perception where there are all kinds of different ingredient gatherings, leading to an endless processes of transformations. This challenges materiality when it is treated as if the world is composed of stable and finished objects.	In the process of making the self-made book, I felt like I was in the world of materials, in other words, in the world of matter-flows and things. I followed these materials in the world. Collecting papers thrown outside to recycle them was one of these moments. The big rectangular-framed net was once hung on the window to provide limited access for flies entering our house. However, it later appeared in the role of providing a ground for the wet papers, which was an example of matter in movement, in flux, and in variation; namely, a matter-flow or a thing. As I moved through each step, it became clear that none of these materials were fixed in their roles. Therefore, the book itself emerged as a gathering of materials in flow and their repurposed uses. A constellation within the wider world of things. If you would like to see another possibility of what ingredients in the kitchen - literally and figuratively - can turn into, please click here.	Tracing materials in the world with children creates experiential, hands-on, and exploratory learning. We, as teachers, can cultivate an approach in which learning happens anytime and anywhere with endless varieties of materials. Also, if a child perceives the world as a kitchen with different ingredients that can be used in endlessly different ways, rather than as a museum with stable and finished objects, then the child has a mindset to see the world as abundant with possibilities and as something that has its own way of talking, which they can listen to better. They do not learn in a material world in which people try to take over materials in the making process; rather, they live in a world of materials in which humans and materials are in a process of formation through reciprocal and relational engagements. The teacher can also show them his or her self-made things, after which he or she traces their materials in the world. This would inspire children on many levels.
Improvisation and Abduction: Ingold critiques the idea that creativity starts from a new idea in an artist’s mind. Instead, he sees creativity as an improvisational process in which the artist follows the flow of materials, which makes the artwork a thing. Improvising is to follow the ways of the world, rather than to connect up. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari, he argues that life unfolds along lines of becoming, and things are gatherings of these lines. These lines are not defined by the points they connect. A line of becoming moves between points. A becoming is neither one thing nor another, nor the relation between them. It exists in the in-between, as a line of becoming cuts across both.	Although I started the process with a clear vision of what I wanted to make, it unfolded through a series of responses to the tendencies of the materials. It is not a passive process; materials join in too. For example, the colors of the papers, from the gray to white spectrum, did not match my idea of having all white pages. Similarly, some of the papers became thicker than I had envisioned. The materials influenced what the book became. In this respect, the process became improvisational, shaped around my plan and the tendencies of the materials, along the lines of becoming. It was a pleasant experience to listen to the world of materials, to develop a dialogue with them, and to enjoy the process.	To cultivate creativity in children, teachers can give greater space to learning moments that emerge in the flow of the moment and take shape in response to what is happening or already present. Being rigidly bound to a fixed program and coursebooks risks ignoring the present situation or suppressing what seeks to emerge, which runs counter to an improvisational approach. Children can be encouraged to engage with materials and ideas as they evolve, allowing the learning process itself to shape outcomes. Classrooms can become spaces where children follow the lines of becoming of things, responding to expected or unexpected qualities, constraints, and affordances. This approach fosters flexibility, experimentation, and problem-solving, showing students that learning and creativity are not about executing a pre-defined plan but about dialoguing with the world and co-creating with materials.
Network and Meshwork: Ingold uses the term meshwork, which he borrowed from Henri Lefebvre, to describe the world as a texture of flowing, interwoven lines. Unlike a network that connects points, a meshwork consists of lines along which life unfolds, like a spider’s web that extends from its own body as it moves. Because these lines continually leak into the world, things are not bounded entities but open, ongoing, fluid processes in constant exchange with their environments. The boundaries exist only because of ongoing flows of materials. This challenges the rigid division between inside and outside.	In the process of making the self-made book, this idea of meshwork became tangible. The materials, tools, movements, and the environment did not function as separate points in a sequence but as interwoven lines that shaped one another. Nothing stood alone; everything unfolded through and along these entangled lines of growth and movement. I could not help but think how the poems will move along the lines of becoming, even though this is not visible, in a learning environment, for example. After all, although it might seem that all of the poems were written and the book was bound, and thus appeared to be in a final form, poems, like any other things, have a potential for another form-giving.	In educational settings, materials, tools, movements, forces, ideas, and the environment can be seen as interwoven lines that shape one another, creating a dynamic meshwork. It is more than fixed, connected points. Learning experiences designed with this perspective allow students to view learning as fluid, emergent, and participatory, where knowledge, creativity, and understanding unfold through ongoing engagement rather than being delivered as pre-formed objects. Activities such as collaborative and individual arts, crafts, and project-based work can help children perceive the lines of becoming in materials and ideas, recognizing that even completed products, like poems, artworks, songs, etc., have the potential for further growth and transformation in the self and the community.

On another note, I would also like to suggest that our perceptions of a material may influence how we perceive children and their development, as well as education and educational practices.

References

Ingold,T. (2010) Bringing things back to life: Creative entanglements in a world of materials. NCRM Working Paper. Realities/Morgan Centre, University of Manchester.