Published March 14, 2026 | Version 1.1
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Epistemic Design: DEMA and the Condition of Thinkability Before Form

Authors/Creators

Description

Design operates before form. Form marks the moment in which configurations

consolidate into consequences. Form coincides with relational stabilization. The project intervenes

before, during, and after such stabilization: it does not begin from the object, but from the

condition that renders relations thinkable. It situates itself in the threshold between what is visible

and what may emerge, transforming possibilities into decisions before they become necessities.

For this reason, design is both epistemic and ontological: it produces knowledge while

reconfiguring relational fields.

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Antonio-Scarponi_Before-Form_DEMA_Epistemic-Design_2026.pdf

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Additional details

Dates

Issued
2026-03-14
This paper introduces DEMA (Displace, Expose, Mediate, Activate) as an epistemic device within the emerging field of Epistemic Design. The paper argues that design does not operate only through the production of objects but through the configuration of conditions that make certain futures thinkable before they become materially irreversible. By articulating the relation between Epistemic Design, Spatial Thinking, and the four operations of DEMA, the text proposes a way to understand design as a practice that acts at the threshold between epistemic and ontological transformations.

References

  • Scarponi, Antonio (2026). Epistemic Design: DEMA and the Condition of Thinkability Before Irreversibility. Preprint.