@article{ART003350987},
author={Jaeeun Lee},
title={Posthuman Co-Creation in the Era of Agentic AI: Emissaries Guide to Worlding by Ian Cheng},
journal={Journal of History of Modern Art},
issn={1598-7728},
year={2026},
number={59},
pages={31-50}
TY - JOUR
AU - Jaeeun Lee
TI - Posthuman Co-Creation in the Era of Agentic AI: Emissaries Guide to Worlding by Ian Cheng
JO - Journal of History of Modern Art
PY - 2026
VL - null
IS - 59
PB - 현대미술사학회
SP - 31
EP - 50
SN - 1598-7728
AB - This paper examines the creative structure of Ian Cheng’s live simulation Emissaries Trilogy in the context of posthuman co-creation, amid the reshaping of relationships between human and nonhuman agents in the age of AI. While existing discourses on co-creation have addressed the unpredictability that arises from interactions among participants, they have shown limitations in conceptualizing nonhuman agents as creative subjects. Therefore, this study employs Rosi Braidotti’s concept of “becoming” and Donna Haraway’s notion of “worlding-with” or “sympoiesis” as theoretical frameworks for posthuman co-creation. Four masks, Director, Cartoonist, Hacker, and Emissary, were examined as an allegory of “becoming,” in which the creative subject is transformed as a relational actor in the system of simulation. It is shown that the umwelt of each nonhuman agent functions as an environment that enables nonhuman players to break free from the control of the human creator and determine their own actions according to their cognitive processes. In this way, in Cheng’s Emissaries Trilogy, nonhuman agents are not merely objects that execute given commands, but active participants in the creative process based on their own umwelt. Ultimately, Cheng’s real-time live simulations reveal a mode of posthuman agency in which creativity emerges from relational processes of “worlding-with” through interactions between human and nonhuman agents.
KW - posthuman co-creation;becoming;wording-with;sympoiesis;nonhuman agent;Rosi Braidotti;Dona Haraway;Ian Cheng;Emissaries Guide to Worlding;Emissaries Trilogy;Live Simulation
DO -
UR -
ER -
Jaeeun Lee. (2026). Posthuman Co-Creation in the Era of Agentic AI: Emissaries Guide to Worlding by Ian Cheng. Journal of History of Modern Art, 59, 31-50.
Jaeeun Lee. 2026, "Posthuman Co-Creation in the Era of Agentic AI: Emissaries Guide to Worlding by Ian Cheng", Journal of History of Modern Art, no.59, pp.31-50.
Jaeeun Lee "Posthuman Co-Creation in the Era of Agentic AI: Emissaries Guide to Worlding by Ian Cheng" Journal of History of Modern Art 59 pp.31-50 (2026) : 31.
Jaeeun Lee. Posthuman Co-Creation in the Era of Agentic AI: Emissaries Guide to Worlding by Ian Cheng. 2026; 59 : 31-50.
Jaeeun Lee. "Posthuman Co-Creation in the Era of Agentic AI: Emissaries Guide to Worlding by Ian Cheng" Journal of History of Modern Art no.59(2026) : 31-50.
Jaeeun Lee. Posthuman Co-Creation in the Era of Agentic AI: Emissaries Guide to Worlding by Ian Cheng. Journal of History of Modern Art, 59, 31-50.
Jaeeun Lee. Posthuman Co-Creation in the Era of Agentic AI: Emissaries Guide to Worlding by Ian Cheng. Journal of History of Modern Art. 2026; 59 31-50.
Jaeeun Lee. Posthuman Co-Creation in the Era of Agentic AI: Emissaries Guide to Worlding by Ian Cheng. 2026; 59 : 31-50.
Jaeeun Lee. "Posthuman Co-Creation in the Era of Agentic AI: Emissaries Guide to Worlding by Ian Cheng" Journal of History of Modern Art no.59(2026) : 31-50.
