In contrast to the ideas of a linear, inevitable flow of time toward universal “progress” in modernity, composition suggests an approach leans towards diverse prospects rather than a singular, unified future. Derived from the Latin componere, “to compose” emphasises putting thing together with care while preserving their heterogeneity. To compose is to evade the binary of past and future of progress and move on to tentative and precautionary progression leading towards distinct futurities, along with the possibility of failure.

Nothing is taken as given while composing; there is no external “truth” waiting to be uncovered beyond appearances. Instead, it values immanence—the process of constructing shared matters of concern through slow, negotiated interactions rather than utopian, transcendent ideals from the division of Nature and Culture. Moving beyond the anthropocentric view, composing is the continuous redistribution of agency across various actors. It is the collaborative process where all entities actively participating in the cosmopolitics towards the common world that must be composed piece by piece, back and forth.